“Successfully integrating automation into human life starts with a comprehensive effort to educate people about what automation is, what it is not and what it means for them.” – Kriti Sharma, founder AI for Good UK and Vice President of AI and Ethics at Sage Group
Automation uses technology to perform repetitive tasks while saving money and time. Automation can be seen in mundane things like the thermostat in a kettle that goes off when the water reaches a defined heat level. Or the simple clock sound from an overheated iron that regulates the heat when it goes beyond a certain temperature. Even closer to you is the answering machine. In these examples, an action is triggered by a rule. The thermostat in the kettle will only go off if the rule/criterion is met. In this case, a heat level is reached. The answering machine will only request a voicemail if the call is not answered. That’s exactly what automation is.
Business automation combines a laid-out process with a set of rules and allows the user to progress through that process/workflow using modern applications. It creates a workflow based on different criteria which trigger an action. You can see business automation in everyday interactions like chatbots on a website or interactive user interface designs. Asking a particular question will trigger a response. Scrolling past the middle of a webpage could trigger an email subscription pop-up form.
Business automation has come to stay and is gaining ground in different sects of business increasing productivity levels, nurturing sales leads, improving customer service, and providing more efficient results. And it is empirical that you integrate some form of automation in your business to ease the burden of repetitive tasks. If you identify with any of these scenarios, take a minute to re-evaluate your processes and take steps to automate them.
–When you realize a trend of repeated tasks, it’s time to automate.
Follow up emails, answering frequently asked questions in your conversations with clients, automated call responses. It is possible to relegate repetitive everyday activities to the background and focus on more creative tasks that require your attention.
-If a business activity or a part of it can be done with the same precision and accuracy as a human being, you should automate it and free up time so as to assign labor to more creative and cognitive tasks
-When it will cost less to automate the task or activity.
Invoice reminders, payroll, and bill reminders will save you the cost of delayed payments and piled up bills. Automating the backup process for your files to prevent the loss of valuable information.
-When a task doesn’t bring as much value as the time spent on it, you should automate it.
It’s important to evaluate the time spent on all your business processes in order to be efficient in your production or delivery of services. A good evaluation should reveal the cost of each business hour. Compare that to the revenue you make. If you’re making losses in this regard, automation can be a cost-saving activity to invest in. A good example is appointment scheduling. Can your clients schedule for appointments on their own without you? Using appointment scheduling tool like Calendly will eliminate the long hours it takes for you to rummage through your calendar to find suitable meeting times for your clients.
-If there’s the need for consistently sharing accurate information, automation can make the process easier. Simple tools like Google Drive and the Google Suite or One Drive and the Microsoft Office 365 to share information in real time.