Advantages of business process automation?

by with No Comment Business Automation

Companies have to react ever faster to the changing needs of their customers. This applies to both external and internal service customers � in other words, their employees. The most advantage of business process automation is as below:

Companies have to react ever faster to the changing needs of their customers. This applies to both external and internal service customers � in other words, their employees.

The most advantage of business process automation is as below:

  1. Stepping stone to digital transformation

Digital transformation can seem like a lofty overwhelming goal to organizations that aren�t on that path. Business process automation can be a stepping-stone to adopting that culture of continuous transformation. You can start with a few processes that are clearly in need of course correction and gradually work your way up.

  1. Get more clarity

Automation demands a certain amount of clarity about the process right at the designing stage. If you don�t know the tasks involved and the people responsible for running the process, you can�t design and automate the workflow effectively.

Further, process mapping can provide clarity to all employees and serve as a training resource as well. The insights you gain from analyzing an automated process can clearly show you the gap between your process as is and as it should ideally be.

  1. Streamline processes

One of the great outcomes of a process automation system is streamlined processes. Clear accountability, customizable notifications, valuable insights, and faster turnaround times make it easier to eliminate wasteful activities and focus on enhancing tasks that add value.

  1. Get compliance records

With business process automation, every detail of a particular process is recorded. This information can be presented to demonstrate compliance during audits.

  1. Standardize operations

When you automate a business process, you can expect a consistent standard of outcomes every time. Standardization helps position your organization as reliable, which in turn can help increase your customer base.

  1. Increase customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a key differentiator in any industry. Focusing on process and operational excellence helps you exceed customer expectations with ease. When you consistently meet promised standards, customers are more likely to develop a preference for your company.

  1. Operate efficiency

BPA can create efficiencies by reducing the work involved in processes and/or cutting payroll costs by limiting the need for additional headcount as operations grow.

  1. Increase Productivity 

Speed up processes so that work is completed faster and with less repetition.

  1. Increase Governance and controls

Improves compliance so businesses don�t run afoul of regulations and incur large penalties and fees.

  1. More Cost reduction

Efficient use of time gives companies the option to increase output without expanding the workforce or to cut payroll costs and maintain the same level of output.

  1. Using Workforce allocation

Employees can be reassigned to work that is better matched with their talents. Employees are more satisfied with their work, and employers gain the most benefit from each individual�s talent.

  1. Reduce human errors

Substantially reduces human data input and insight errors and increases efficiencies since employees� time is no longer wasted on repetitive, low-level work.

  1. More Collaboration

Tracks project process, updates the team, sends reminders and performs other functions that make collaboration easier and more organized. Further, BPA relieves employee frustrations and frees up time for them to collaborate, which tends to speed work, increase problem-solving and spur innovations.

  1. Improve insights

Increases leadership�s ability to track the completion of a business process, as well as understand the steps in the process. This makes it easier to refine processes for faster and better business outcomes. BPA also allows leaders to dig deeper for more insights and to analyze more and newer data. Further, it standardizes business processes, which helps ensure fairness and weed out biases that can skew insights.

  1. Greater availability

Allows employee- and/or customer-facing services to be available more often than if they were also responsible for other, manual tasks.

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Digital transformation

by with No Comment Business AutomationDigital Transformation

digital transformation is all about becoming a digital enterprise. an organization that uses technology to continuously evolve all aspects of its business models (what it offers, how it interacts with customers, and how it operates

Digital transformation can refer to anything from IT modernization (for example, cloud computing), to digital optimization, to the invention of new digital business models. In general, it refers to the use of digital technology to materially evolve or create new business processes

What are Benefits of Digital Transformation

Increases productivity while reducing labor costs

Using technology to work more efficiently is one of the most impactful ways to transform your business.

More Data-based Insights

When you go digital, you can track metrics and analyze the data you capture during your digital process.

Using data-driven insights can help understand customers better and rethink business strategies, assisting with better decision-making.

Improves the customer experience

customers want a great experience through multiple touchpoints , mobile apps, social media, email, live chat, etc. Digital transformations are the driving force behind improved customer experiences.

Makes You More Competitive in Your Industry

Your competitors are looking into digital transformation regardless of whether or not you are. Choosing not to embrace digital transformation is essentially deciding that you don’t mind being left behind.

Eliminating Time-Consuming Manual Processes via Business Process Automation

By implementing digital technology, you can use software to perform the tasks that were previously being performed manually by staff. Business Process Automation is often seen as the stepping stone to a more holistic digital transformation, but it can also be one outcome.

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What is a Digital Transformation Strategy?

by with No Comment Business AutomationDigital Transformation

The question is how to put the critical elements of the Digital Transformation puzzle together. With puzzle elements such as changing the culture of IT, increasing awareness among stakeholders across the business, and bridging transformation to the company�s vision.

The digital transformation strategy consists of 6 different steps:

1. Ideate and Create a Compelling Digital Strategy

The first step is ideating, getting everyone involved, and finding out what Digital Transformation means for your company and what it can do for you.

At the heart of the Digital Transformation journey is to create value. When employees understand the meaning that Digital Transformation can bring in, they can quickly buy in and drive the change you need.

2. Aligning Digital Transformation with Business Goals

Once you have your digital strategy story in place, it is crucial to align it for a successful transformation. The approach is usually a top-down one.

As CEOs, you need to communicate the move and also outline the right outcomes. Digital Transformation cannot be driven out of IT only�you must completely align it with an organization�s vision, mission, goals, and values.

3. Document the Risks

There could be risks involved with Digital Transformation, and many companies are aware of this. Whenever you roll out a new internal application, there could be risks involved.

It is prudent that you discuss, analyze, and document the risks to track threats over a set period.

4. Run Pilot Tests

Once you�ve ideated your story, analyzed challenges and the technology, documented the risks, it�s time to run a pilot test with the technology.

Running proof-of-concept and pilot tests helps you identify impacts on your business and culture as you move forward with a solid plan. The tests will ensure that your stakeholders are ready for the Digital Transformation journey and your organization and employees know how to implement the project effectively.

5. Keep Analyzing the Impact

It is prudent that as a part of your digital transformation strategy, you keep analyzing the rollout. An excellent example is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

If an organization devised to use AI as a part of a sales process, they might see some gains, but with further analysis, they may realize the need to automate even more of the sales process.

Similarly, any Digital Transformation strategy will be most useful when you analyze further. The initiative will help you run your business smoothly.

6. Prepare for Culture Change

The most critical element is the cultural aspects of transformation. The biggest mistake will be to overlook the cultural change in a digital transformation journey. Give careful consideration to cultural facets of transformation, because at heart, it is a people challenge.

Preparing for culture change is a vital element in the Digital Transformation strategy. 

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What are the benefits of digital transformation

by with No Comment Business AutomationDigital Transformation

digital transformation is all about becoming a digital enterprise�an organization that uses technology to continuously evolve all aspects of its business models (what it offers, how it interacts with customers, and how it operates

Digital transformation can refer to anything from IT modernization (for example, cloud computing), to digital optimization, to the invention of new digital business models.� In general, it refers to the use of digital technology to materially evolve or create new business processes

What are Benefits of Digital Transformation

Increases productivity while reducing labor costs

Using technology to work more efficiently is one of the most impactful ways to transform your business.

More Data-based Insights

When you go digital, you can track metrics and analyze the data you capture during your digital process.

Using data-driven insights can help understand customers better and rethink business strategies, assisting with better decision-making.

Improves the customer experience

customers want a great experience through multiple touchpoints � mobile apps, social media, email, live chat, etc. Digital transformations are the driving force behind improved customer experiences.

Makes You More Competitive in Your Industry

Your competitors are looking into digital transformation regardless of whether or not you are. Choosing not to embrace digital transformation is essentially deciding that you don�t mind being left behind.

Eliminating Time-Consuming Manual Processes via Business Process Automation

By implementing digital technology, you can use software to perform the tasks that were previously being performed manually by staff. Business Process Automation is often seen as the stepping stone to a more holistic digital transformation, but it can also be one outcome.

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What is digital transformation?

by with No Comment Business AutomationDigital Transformation

A digital transformation will look different for every company and for each industry. However, broadly speaking, it describes the integration of digital technology into each area of the business. It results in core changes to how a business operates and delivers its products or services to customers by taking advantage of technological advancements. 

Within a company itself, it requires a cultural shift in how processes are completed. Employees have to become accustomed to experimenting regularly with their processes and even sometimes fail in their efforts to innovate. Businesses might find that they must sometimes step away from the old processes that they knew worked well, in favor of experimenting with innovative solutions that have not had the same extensive testing.

It is only by adopting these best practices and fully integrating the employees into the mindset of digital innovation that brands can remain at the forefront of their industries and continue to serve customers with the care that they have come to expect.

What are the 4 main types of digital transformation?

Business process

The business process part of the transformation refers to how your company functions internally. It looks at how your people respond to the available technology and put it to use in their own work. It includes processes such as incorporating a greater amount of analytics collection and analysis into business decisions to help the company maximize its marketing investments or plan its research and development. It can also mean incorporating automation into internal processes.

Digital transformation in this area looks at ways to help the organization improve its functions. It might do this by decreasing the costs associated with certain processes, decreasing the time-to-market, or it might increase the quality of the product offered, for example. All of these ways would help to increase the value of the brand’s processes through digital technology.

Business model

Digital transformation of the business model requires a careful examination of how businesses within the sector are set up at their core. Transformation here has the potential to cause serious disruption in the industry and power success when done well. An excellent real-life example would be Netflix, which transitioned its movie-watching services away from mail-in DVDs to a streaming service that has had reverberations felt by all the major movie and television producers. 

These types of transformations often work hand-in-hand with the strategic parts of the business, using their eye for innovation and forward-thinking to look at the business potential beyond the established means within the industry.

Domain

Domain transformation refers to the growing capacity of brands undergoing a transformation to think about markets and potential beyond their traditional boundaries. Consider how Amazon, the online retailer, managed to launch Amazon Web Services, which now functions as one of the largest cloud computing and infrastructure services. In other words, they were able to step far beyond the former sector of retail and embrace an entirely new technological potential. Technology offers brands significantly more capabilities to step into new sectors. Many of these opportunities come from emerging technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

Cultural

The cultural component of the digital transformation requires buy-in from the people on the ground, doing the daily work involved in completing the digital transformation and then engaging with the technology. It can be a challenge for many organizations to make this transformation, as they have to educate their employees and help everyone see the potential for this technology to build the business and better engage the world around them.

Succeeding in building a technologically-focused organization, however, will empower the company to continue to grow. Technology, including its regular updates and innovation, requires a workforce that can easily adapt to changes and people who embrace a culture of continuous education. These traits within the organization will help the brand create positive customer experiences, as the company will be able to adapt its practices and incorporate technology to deliver a personalized experience the customer wants.

Business Process Automation Methodology

by with No Comment Business AutomationDigital Transformation

The process to accommodate expansion in your business.

The generic method helps you with continuity. When you already have some semblance of automation in place, there might be no need to recreate the entire process. What is required in this case is to pick out areas you can extend and automate.

The generic method is a process analysis tool that is not specific to BPA. It usually involves a step-by-step process that assesses and improves upon what you have as your business process.

Here�s what needs to be done to use this method:

  • How- To evaluate the current practice within your organization
  • Why- For assessing how you can make your existing process better by identifying the gaps
  • Fix it- To work on improvements in errors or gaps
  • Track it- A follow-up process for monitoring the new process adopted
  • More- An open platform that gives room for additional input to ensure continuity

Combining BPA and BPM

A process that cannot be measured is bound to fail, and this is why it is a great approach to apply Lean and Six Sigma in your BPA process.

Assessing your process involves the use of five key tools, which are very similar to what is obtainable in the generic method but with a slight variation.

The five tools involve Defining, Measuring, Analyzing, Improving, and Controlling (DMAIC) all the processes used for your BPA.

Applying Lean and Six Sigma in your BPA process gives you room to improve, expand, and grow. It also helps you streamline your processes and cut downtime which would otherwise be wasted on repetitive tasks.

This will allow you and your team to focus on other productive issues and also ensure that your established processes have a proper flow that can be perfected over time.

The method you can use for your BPA, therefore, depends on where you are in your business. Remember, however, to always document the process irrespective of the method you use. This will help you with continuity and make transitions to bigger roles easier.

How to Know If Your Business Needs Automation

by with No Comment Business AutomationDigital Transformation

It uses technology to not only �automate� business processes, but also optimize the workflows for improved efficiency.

How to Know If Your Business Needs Automation?

Few key elements that can help you find out if your business needs automation. You can think of developing a custom BPA software if your business has processes that are:

  • Repetitive
  • Involve a series of predictable steps
  • Consistent across the organization
  • Needs to be error-free 

Business Process Automation facilitates businesses to

  • Execute recurring tasks
  • Cut costs
  • Make processes error-proof and transparent,
  • Increase productivity and
  • Streamline operations

Is Business Process Automation Suitable for Small and Medium Businesses Too?

Well, it�s a common misconception that Business Process Automation is useful only in cases of complex business tasks. Every business can benefit from Business Process Automation. Business Process Automation is about making every work process better � even simple tasks like mass emailing or sending notifications, for that matter.

Depending on the work process to be optimized, Business Process Automation can either be wholly stand-alone or be part of a larger initiative. 

Let�s take a look at different approaches for Business Process Automation that you can apply:

  • Business Process Improvement (BPI) � It�s about automating to improve the lackluster processes.  
  • Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) � BPR works just like BPI, with the critical difference being that it focuses on tearing down and rebuilding business processes from scratch. At times re-designing happens because of new technologies.
  • Business Process Management (BPM) � BPM is about continuous improvement � unlike BPI or BPR, which are more of one-time initiatives. BPM is something a company does systematically. Accordingly, BPA will streamline and automate outdated processes.

Based on the approach you choose to apply, you can use any of the following types of automation:

  • Basic automation � You can create a central server to store all the essential business info. With all the critical data in one place, you�ll be able to improve the speed of work and its system.
  • Process automation � it can help your business achieve consistency and build effective task management. This type of BPA is achieved by using custom software or purchasing off-the-shelf business tools.
  • Artificial intelligence automation � You can use a bot (a piece of software designed for a specific function), in this case, that is trained using machine learning to perform high-volume, repeatable tasks. They are used for data entry, form checking, or rekeying the interface between a system and the user into something streamlined and easy to use.

Let us now understand why you must invest in a custom Business Process Automation platform. 

What is business process automation?

by with No Comment Business AutomationDigital Transformation

What Is Business Process Automation (BPA)?
Business Process Automation is a tech-based process of automating activities run within your organization, with the aim of simplifying, reducing running costs, increasing efficiency, and improving service delivery, just to name a few benefits.

It involves a thorough or comprehensive study of how businesses operate, identifies areas that can be improved, and creates viable solutions that will transform the business in question.

The Elements of BPA

  1. Knowing The User � The kind of BPA you choose to adopt must capture the needs of the end-users. All the stakeholders must be comfortable and satisfied with the automated process. There is no point in adopting a method that will totally change the way things are done just because you want to automate. Rather, it should enhance and improve on the set methods in use.
  2. Planning � Creating a visual map or blueprint before automating is key. Document and write down the flow of the process in question so that at a glance, you will be able to pinpoint areas where automation would be more beneficial.
  3. Keep It Simple � The specific techniques, methods, and tools used to enhance the processes involved in automation should be kept to a minimum. Yes, it can be exciting when you start but don�t get carried away. Automate only processes that really take well to it.
  4. Documentation � In the beginning, you will have everything running smoothly and have no issues. But sooner or later, when you run into problems, you will need to troubleshoot, and if you have been documenting with notes and logs, then it becomes easier to address problems in detail as needed.
  5. Testing � Before you actually start using or running your automation, you should have it tested in real-time. This will give you the opportunity to detect any bugs or missed steps and put them in order before you begin fully.
  6. Training � Getting the users trained is a must. One good way to do this is to use the �Train the trainer� approach. What is required here is to train the team leader and allow them to pass on what they learn to other team members. This leaves everyone involved well-grounded in its usage and they can also refer to team leaders for guidance when challenges arise.
    These six elements are key to the performance of your BPA, but there�s more. There are certain principles that should also be adopted which we�ll look at in the next section.

7 Notable Principles of BPA

Developing a good Business Process automation is based on certain principles, which will ensure that you have a well-laid out blueprint suitable for your business.

1: Training Of Developers

If you plan to outsource the development of your automation software to developers, you need to ensure that the developers understand the different tasks that need to be automated within your organization. This will help them develop the right codes and scripts to capture the processes.

2: Develop A List Of Tasks

Ensure that you make a list of all the tasks that need to be automated. This will help you capture sensitive steps required to develop proper automated processes. Doing this will not only cut down on errors associated with humans but also enhance your progress.

3: Keep It Simple

If something sounds difficult, then it probably is. Do not over-complicate your processes in a bid to automate them. Break down the tasks into manageable bits to make it easier to automate. Analyze your existing process and redesign complex parts to accommodate automation.

4: Be Consistent

It is important to maintain consistency. You cannot start automation and then stop halfway. You need to use the automation process setup regularly and maintain the same procedure.

5: Proper Integration

BPA needs to blend in nicely with the entire system within your organization, especially when it comes to integration via APIs. You can integrate your automation at different levels of the process, as long as you maintain the desired output.

6: Training

As you automate you should carry your staff or team members along by providing the necessary training required to help them transition into the new process. This can be arranged prior to the automation process to streamline moving to a new way of getting things done.

7: Keep Evolving

Setting up your BPA process is not a one-time thing. As your business grows and evolves, you�ll need to revisit existing processes to improve efficiency and maintain a healthy competitive edge. This means that your BPA process should be able to accommodate these new changes in your business.
Following through with these principles will ensure that you stay on track.