Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Business Process Automation (BPA) is the use of technology to execute repetitive tasks or processes in an organization where manual effort can be replaced. This is done to minimize costs, increase efficiency, and streamline processes.

Business Automation is vital to customer satisfaction and revenue growth. It impacts positively on customer satisfaction.

According to the State of Enterprise Automation 2018 report, 74% of organizations are actively looking for new ways to automate their business processes. 22% of these businesses lack process excellence and automation.

If you wish to have a growing roster of happy customers, you need to direct your focus toward process excellence. Business process automation is the easiest and most effective way to get you started.

Automation can accelerate your business growth by reducing costs, enhancing efficiency, and streamlining processes. However, an automated process is only effective if it runs efficiently. A terrible automated process is still a terrible process that runs more quickly.

Here are 3 examples of business processes that should be automated:

·

Invoice Processing – accounting automation software helps you streamline your entire procure-to-pay process and reduce turnaround times.

·

Job Requisitions – Human resources automation solution, helps you eliminate paper-based forms and create automated workflows for job requisitions. This hastens the hiring process.

·

Time-Off Requests – Manually processing time-off requests is cumbersome and time-consuming. Workflow automation software, creates a time-off request workflow. Employees can submit a time-off request with an online form and have it routed automatically to their manager for review.

This is how to determine a good process for automating:

1. Simplicity/Complexity

The first step when deciding whether to automate a process is to determine the complexity or simplicity of the process. Avoid automatic simple and easy processes that might become more complex and laborious if automated

1. Frequency

The processes’ frequency matters, – what’s the frequency of the process? Is it needed regularly? How often does it take place in a year?

A process not used frequently may not be worthwhile automating. Look at the return on investment, and decide whether the process is worth investing to automation.

If it takes years to get a return on that investment, perhaps you should think about putting your money, and time, into a different process, that will give higher and quicker returns.

Choose repetitive and frequent tasks, that will give immediate benefits continuously.

1. Changeability

Consider whether the process changes, – is it complex and regularly in use? is it different every time, like a craftsman shaping a piece of driftwood, or does it remain the same, like sending a welcome email to a new sign-up?

It’s okay for the process to change slightly, but that should be within defined criteria.

A process that’s constant, or changes within defined boundaries qualifies for automation.

1. Qualitative

The final barrier to automation process is incorporating qualitative decisions.

Software relies on the ability to use logic to decide the required output based on a set of inputs. If the inputs are monotonous, then the output will be the same. However, if the decision is an individual judgment for instance, how good a new piece of art is, then the solution from automation may not be great.

Tasks that don’t require human discretion are a best fit for automation. Other areas that may not require automation include designing a website or translating a document. Even though automatic translators exist, they often miss subtle language nuances like sarcasm, idioms, and slang.

With the advance in artificial intelligence and machine learning this setbacks are however, only temporary.

Final word:

Business processes are the heart of every business. They ensure speedy completion of individual tasks and activities at standardized levels.

Consider automating your business processes. Take care of repetitive tasks like document routing to increase transparency, set clear expectations, and increase efficiency.