TRANSFORM YOUR OPERATIONS: 5 KEY AUTOMATION STRATEGIES FOR MODERN COMPANIES
Client Profile
As your company grows, it’s only natural to experience an increase in the demand for your products and services. This may require you to work twice as hard to keep up with your customers’ requests. While these are signs of success, they may also be a signal for you to develop and improve your processes.
To ensure you’re meeting customer expectations, you can adopt new strategies and automate your operations. This will help you keep up with your industry’s growing demands and maintain a strong organizational standard.
Benefits of Automation for Business
The continued usage of automation is popular because of the benefits it offers companies. When deciding to adopt automation, the following are the main questions leaders ask:
1. How does automation improve efficiency?
Automation can streamline repetitive tasks. It can accomplish time-consuming assignments in a matter of minutes. For example, organizing data sets and analyzing trends can be finished quickly with the right automation tools.
These capabilities can easily translate to performing tasks faster than before. This leads to more efficient processes and can reduce your cycle times. It can also help you meet the increasing demand for your products or services.
2. How does automation improve productivity?
As a leader, you need to acknowledge that your people have limited energy to exert on your business. This means that you may experience downtime depending on the state of your people. So, if you’re looking for a way to enable continuous operations, it’s better to utilize automated systems rather than overworking your employees.
Machines and equipment can work 24/7. They can fill in the gaps between your people’s shifts. Aside from this, their ability to do time-consuming tasks faster can greatly contribute to the productivity of your workforce.
Read more: The Benefits of Technical Services and How to Optimize Your IT Infrastructure
3. How does automation reduce costs?
Automating routine tasks gives you the chance to reallocate your people and your resources to more complex responsibilities. This ultimately saves you money that would otherwise have been spent on sourcing and recruiting new employees. In fact, using automation to replace manual tasks can lower costs by up to 30 percent.¹
Furthermore, automation minimizes the need for corrections by decreasing the possibility of human error. This can reduce the waste of materials and directly contribute to an increase in cost savings.
4. How does automation reduce errors?
When programmed properly, machines can follow precise instructions, reducing mistakes.
Incorporating automated machinery into your processes can also help lessen the chances of human error. This can lead to improvements and accuracy of the quality products you offer.
5 Key Strategies and Tips to Automate Your Operations
The advantages of adopting automation can be attractive to any company leader regardless of the industry to which they belong. From increased efficiency to lower costs, implementing process automation can make your business better overall.
Here are five key automation strategies and tips you can use to improve your operations:
1. Conduct Process Mapping and Analysis
Successful companies improve their automation rate by focusing primarily on the areas of their processes that most need automation. To do this, begin with process mapping and analysis.
Process mapping is a method that helps you fully understand your business operations. It requires you to map out your workflows and processes to find bottlenecks that need to be addressed.
Once you’ve analyzed the map and identified the areas that cause friction in your operations, you’ll have an idea about what you need to automate. It can also help you plan out ways to streamline processes using the right tools.
2. Create Standardized Processes
Let’s say you’re already aware of the automation systems you want to implement throughout your company. Although you’re knowledgeable about them, your people may not be. This is why it’s necessary for you to create a standardized process regarding automated tasks.
Remember that automation thrives on consistency. It’s important that all your people know how they can support your automated machines. Aside from training your employees, create a step-by-step procedure for every task.
Creating a standardized blueprint will help eliminate confusion regarding your new automated systems. It will also ensure harmony between your different teams and new technological tools.
3. Put Effort in Change Management
According to a Bloomberg article, almost half of Americans see automation as a threat to their jobs.² This may be the same for your employees. To decrease the possibility of anxiety, help them navigate the changes. Ideally, you can do this using change management.
Start by clearly communicating the reasons behind process automation. Explain the benefits of its implementation while highlighting what your people can gain from the adoption. Remember to stress how automation is there to support rather than replace them.
Consider using engaging methods like videos and interactive sessions for this strategy. Don’t rely simply on words—show proof of their benefits. Moreover, be transparent about the future of your business. For example, be honest about any potential job role changes. You can also set clear paths for upskilling and reskilling that your professionals may be interested in.
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4. Prioritize High-Impact, Low-Complexity Tasks
When beginning your automation journey, you may be tempted to tackle your biggest identified bottleneck. Although this is a productive way of thinking, it isn’t necessarily effective.
A more strategic approach is to begin with high-impact but low-complexity tasks first. You can begin by automating small tasks that frequently cause friction across multiple departments. For example, you can focus on automating data entry to help your teams save time and effort that could be redirected to different tasks.
Although low-complexity tasks are often small parts of your workflow, they’re still so common that automating them can dramatically improve workplace efficiency.
5. Continuously Improve Automation
How do successful companies improve their automation rate? The key is to continuously strive for improvement. Even after implementing your chosen automation systems, it is necessary to regularly assess and develop your workflows.
Identify performance metrics for your automated processes. For example, you can track error rates or customer satisfaction scores. Once you know what to look for, make it a habit to analyze your gathered performance data. Use these insights to fine-tune your systems and improve the overall effectiveness of your automation processes.
LET STRATEGIC SYSTEMS GUIDE YOUR COMPANY’S TRANSFORMATION
Driven by our desire to provide unparalleled staffing services, Strategic Systems is a trusted personnel provider for businesses across North America and beyond. We are experienced in providing companies with quality professionals that can fill the gaps within their workforce.
Through efficient filtering and rigorous vetting, we will help you find automation experts who can guide your efforts to improve your business processes and achieve digital transformation.
