How exactly should you start
your business journey with automation?
Your business process automation journey will require research, preparation, and plenty of communication. Done well, business process automation will reward you with higher productivity, improved process, reduced human error and increased staff satisfaction.
How do you start navigating the world of business process automation?
Tech By Design is here to help you, every step of the way from preparation to adoption, we’ll take you through the steps of the business process automation journey.
Step 1: Assess & Identify
You might already know which process you want to automate. Chances are you found your way here for Accounts Payable automation. If not, think if these problem statements line up with some processes in your business – if you find yourself thinking of one above all else: that’s it.
Some things take too long.
- It wasn’t right the first time.
- We throw people or money at the problem and it doesn’t get better.
- There’s a high frustration factor.
- Customers are unhappy.
- Excessive information exchange, data redundancy, and re-keying.
- High ratio of checking and review.
- We circumvent established procedures to expedite work.
- No-one manages the total process; the process is managed in pieces.
- Process spans departments and this is finger pointing and blaming.
- Managers spend a great deal of time “fire fighting.”
Look at time-consuming or multistep processes, look at areas where there is low productivity or high repetition in back office tasks. Most of our customers choose to focus on a particular department first, and then take automation to the business from there.
Automation can handle almost any process, but that doesn’t mean you should rush out and automate everything. You’ll get the most bang for buck from a highly repetitive, rules based process. In general, automation is most useful for repetitive processes that take up your teams time (think data entry, chasing approvals or matching documents). Automation is less suited to that process you do once in a while, or that you might do differently each time.
Of course, in each process that you automate, you have to look at the business case.
Step 2: Map & Redesign
Once you have picked the process, the next step in the automation journey is to identify any problems with your current workflows – this is where we can help, if you’d like to take part in a free consultation with Tech By Design, stop now and click here.
To find those problems, first you start by understanding exactly the steps that are occurring. It’s important to look at this without bias, step away from the people in the process and look at only the steps that are being performed. Automation can’t fix broken processes or workflows for you, and it will only do what you ask it to do. Take the time now to look for inefficiencies or breakpoints and ask yourself: if you had the perfect process, what would it be? (if you don’t know, reflect and ask yourself: what would it be if you did know?)
Also take time to work with your team, as there might be some anxiety around automation. Reassure your team about your purpose, be honest and clear.
Lastly, consider the data you will be working with. Is it sensitive information? Are there any security risks that should be mitigated? Once you’ve considered all of this, you’re ready for the next step.
Step 3: Make your Choice
OK, now that you’ve got your process redesigned and mitigated your risks (or spoken with one of our team to help) you can continue on the automation journey. Your next step is to make a choice of solution. All the previous steps of the business process automation journey have led to this.
You might decide to build your own automation solution. This is a rare choice, with most organisations opting not to stray from delivering on their core business, but if you have the team or your automation need is very small, it is a valid choice. Most organisations look for a third-party to implement an automation service for them. This is often the best route as it allows for a team with process automation expertise to deliver you an outcome, saving you time and stress.
When making your choice, be sure to analyse options – using a partner like Tech By Design means that we have looked to a number of solutions for you and made a recommendation based on your business needs. We’ve made sure to consider things like security, vendor track record, privacy and available support options.
Step 4: Implementation
Finally! You’re ready to start with a solution. This is where your vendor of choice will really shine. Your processes will be picked up and moved to the automated solution by a team of experts, who work with your staff to provide training and onboarding assistance.
We’ll be sure to take care of everything along the way, letting you know how to best be involved and how to contribute to a successful implementation.
One important thing to note: start small – don’t try to boil the ocean. When you chose just one process at step 1, you did the right thing.
As soon as your solution is ready, start using it! You might find that you want to make changes, that’s really common – the Tech By Design team and your chosen vendor will be here to support you and ensure that your solution changes with your business.
Once you’re satisfied with the stability of your automation solution, you can start to add more processes.
You’re on your way
The rest of your business process automation journey sees you adding more processes as your needs and your business continue to grow.
So, are you ready to choose your automation solution? If so, talk to a Tech By Design consultant and find out how we can support you on your automation journey.
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