Businesses need to leverage technology, especially automation. Often the owner needs to prioritize saving time and to prevent their small teams from getting overwhelmed. A person may have to juggle a lot of hats to balance standardized procedures or handle disorganized tasks. With a lack of organization, the quality of work will suffer as mistakes and oversights pile up. We know how process automation can help small businesses with these potential pitfalls.
There is no magic formula but a KPMG statistic says that with automation your company can save from 40 to 75% with payback in months.
In fact, small business owners should implement process automation as soon as possible. Otherwise, they’ll fall behind their competitors easily. Hyper-automation, a mix of various technologies combined with AI to streamline processes that traditionally require human intelligence, will be a transformative force across all industries. Small businesses need to begin adopting automation into their daily operations in order to maintain a competitive position and survive in today’s fast-paced market.
More often than not, small businesses view process automation and artificial intelligence as complex, expensive tools reserved for large corporations. The reality is that automation can be performed on a smaller scale with outstanding results. By strategically automating key elements of their processes, small business owners are able to generate more leads and sales while saving time on their backend operations.
Saving Time And Money
Small businesses want to do more with fewer people. They want to earn as much output from the workday as possible, including producing more products, services or providing a better experience. The problem is that with smaller teams, the burden is more likely to fall on who is taking the lead. Human error can delay assignments as employees have to make corrections.
With automation, businesses can reduce potential errors in time-consuming processes. Rather than someone having to manually enter financial information from clients’ accounts, the software implemented an update of that information automatically for analysis purposes. The same goes for tasks; businesses want to complete the tasks with fewer people. Automation can cut down these tasks so that employees can focus on jobs that only people can do.
Automating Marketing Processes & Sales Pipelines for Small Businesses
Today’s marketing landscape allows you to leverage multiple online channels to reach your target audience and generate new business. While this offers more opportunities for small businesses to grow, it comes with its own host of challenges. Creating marketing campaigns, managing advertising budgets, following up with sales leads, and interpreting incoming data can be a full-time job in itself. Thankfully, today’s technology allows us to simplify and automate these processes into a single, unified system.
Marketing Automation Example: Automated Email Marketing Campaigns
Let’s use email marketing, for example. Email marketing is one of the most widely used marketing channels for a few reasons.
- It is inexpensive compared to other marketing channels
- It is widely used and can directly reach your audience (91% of email users check their inbox daily)
By creating automated email campaigns and segmenting your customer groups, you can send tailored emails that nurture leads until they become paying customers. This means you won’t have to spend time sending emails to potential leads beyond the initial setup of your automated campaign.
Improving Workforce Management
Organizing tasks and streamlining processes can free up resources now busy with tedious activities. None like to repeat the same task multiple times – it is costly and kills morale. Intelligent scheduler and automated Project Management systems can simplify PMOs activities on a daily basis. The HR department is another common area for automation. Onboarding processes, leave absence requests, training programs are all standard processes that can be easily automated reducing human errors and providing a better experience to everyone.
Perfect The Customer Experience
A good customer experience can make all the difference between making a deal or losing one. Especially online, customers want to know that the time spent on your site is worth it. They also want consistent follow-up on orders.
Consider how automated chatbots and help desks can help automate customer service requests. Most Chatbots software includes an FAQ functionality that uses AI to answer simple questions such as “what are your office hours?”. This means your customer support representatives can focus on real customer issues instead of wasting time on general questions.
You can also use automation to collect data about the ordering process when providing a product and to determine potential traffic jams and bottlenecks. This allows you to perfect the process and provide more value. In the case of digital services and such, you can identify what tiny aspects are not satisfying your internal users.
Improve Collaboration Within Departments And With Outside Partners
Collaboration across your business departments is ideal for synergy. With various individuals working on projects, you want to ensure that everyone is on the same page about facts, goals, and desired output. Time delay can happen, however, as well as potential miscommunication. A manager would rather avoid having to schedule in-person meetings or remote ones to constantly clarify their goals.
Automations built with API integrations allow you to streamline communication. You can decide what information to share automatically and what is the most relevant to correct projects. The data itself will remain consistent and can enter the same processes for compilation and analysis.
You can also use automation to work in real-time on the same process at once. Some programs only allow one internal user at a time. With automation, that potential is subject to change especially as remote work becomes more commonplace.
Find The Best Automation Software At Virtus Flows
Virtus Flows wants to ensure that you are ready to automate. Every small business owner should have the right tools to handle their bottom line. These include knowing how to apply automation to established business processes. With our Digital Workflows and Digital Process Automation tools, we can leverage technology to transform the way your business operates.
Contact us to schedule your demo with our company today. Virtus Flow’s workflow automation will ensure that your small business is ready to grow. Create a higher cash flow and streamline all of your processes to prepare for a competitive future.
