Thalia Hernandez
Aug 17, 2023

How to transform business efficiency with process automation?

Automation
Design
CRM
Software Development
Marketing
Sales
RevOps
Illustration showcasing gears turning seamlessly as they automate various business processes, symbolizing increased efficiency
Thalia Hernandez
Aug 17, 2023

How to transform business efficiency with process automation?

Automation
Design
CRM
Software Development
Marketing
Sales
RevOps

Business efficiency with process automation

In recent years automation has been the buzzword. However, the idea of ​​automation goes back decades, and perhaps even to the dawn of the industrial age. The realization that revenues and profits are closely linked to consistency ...
Let's get started!
CasandraSoft Tech Solutions

Business efficiency with process automation

In recent years automation has been the buzzword. However, the idea of ​​automation goes back decades, and perhaps even to the dawn of the industrial age. The realization that revenues and profits are closely linked to consistency ...
Let's get started!

Business Process Automation (BPA) and other forms of automation processing are not new in today's business world. We have changed filing cabinets, which used to fill an entire office, for databases. Jobs are now data entry jobs done from home. And human resources do much of their work through HR software. H H. that are now powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

The automation of business processes allows us to transfer the responsibility of these tasks that reduce productivity to technology. Automating processes in the various business lines helps reduce bottlenecks, detect errors in procedures, improve communication between departments and, ultimately, achieve objectives more quickly.

Automation is important to improve the competitiveness of a company, since it allows to optimize its processes, reduce costs, increase productivity, reduce errors and achieve greater control of information, among many other benefits.

What is business process automation?

Business process automation is a technology, or rather a set of technologies, used to automate business processes so that they develop autonomously.

It refers to the transformation of business procedures that previously could not be automated due to the processing of unstructured data, which forced them to be carried out manually.

As organizations grow, the number of people, teams, departments, and tasks that need to be coordinated increases. Relying on manual execution and tracking creates bottlenecks and leaves room for small mistakes to become disastrous roadblocks.

Compared to a simple task management platform, BPA helps you create, control and manage complex workflows at scale. The strategy centralizes all the processes that are shaken in your organization in a single portal.

Here are some of the common automated tasks within a workflow:

  • Content Marketing Approvals.
  • Incorporation of new employees or departure of personnel.
  • Review of time off requests.
  • Preparation of sales contracts.
  • Autofill agreements and other documents with information from your CRM.
  • Fill out spreadsheets.
  • Report preparation.
  • Submit a query to an online database.
  • Data validation.
  • Task assignment.

As? In general, business process automation helps organizations:

  • Speed ​​up everyday operations.
  • Make informed decisions faster.
  • Eliminate process bottlenecks.
  • Reduce regulatory risks.
  • Eliminate manual paper processes.

Let's get acquainted with some terms commonly used to describe business process automation

  • Business process management (BPM): the BPM approach involves the evaluation of the company as a whole. The process helps review all business processes, analyze the growth, optimize where necessary, and set a new path to improve efficiency, business agility, and revenue generation. At its core, BPM is a strategy for using both automated and manual processes. It focuses primarily on modeling everyday activities.
  • Business Process Automation (BPA): BPA is essentially a digital transformation of business processes into simpler, more controlled systems through workflow automation solutions. This automation aims to establish error-free, economically viable, open, and streamlined functions across the organization with clearly defined, adaptable, efficient, and accessible roles. The process focuses on replacing manual tasks with a seamless and error-free automation approach.
  • Robotic Process Automation (RPA): RPA uses unique and sophisticated robotic programs to automate routine tasks. The difference, in this case, is that the BPA focuses more on the achievement of instructional codes, but the RPA deals with taking those illustrative steps in the completion of the tasks. These bots mimic human actions like replying to emails, copying and pasting, general administrative tasks, etc. through the use of user interfaces.

How does process automation arise and what is it for?

From a technical point of view, the development of the term process automation is absolutely justified. The leaps in information technology performance in recent decades are, in this regard, truly staggering.

Applying these technological advances to automated process management should be the dream of any company, and this dream is perfectly realistic. When business processes are managed fully automatically, the possibilities for growth are greatly increased.

Process automation

Types of process automation

Process automation: Macros

A macro is a short code sequence and contains the grouping of several instructions or command strings. Like a small program, a macro can automate certain processes within an application environment.

Windows interface automation is a classic example of a macro. Especially with Microsoft Office programs, macros can be implemented using Visual Basic and then executed in a simple way to, for example, print a file, or check an identification number.

Process automation: IT (Information Technology)

Due to their diversity, the use of IT-assisted automation and cloud technologies is becoming increasingly important in almost all industries and companies, even those where they have rarely been used to date.

IT teams at small and medium-sized businesses often struggle with budget constraints and talent shortages. As a result, with the growing demand for IT services, IT services are heavily overloaded and need new ways to increase efficiency.

The automation of IT information technology processes is a top priority for companies today. The teams continually seek improvement in the management of processes related to this area.

Process automation: RPA (robotics)

The automation of simple processes has been promoted in recent years with RPA technology. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to the automation of administrative tasks and the integration of threads, using software robots known as bots.

In this robotically controlled process automation, bots assume the roles and tasks of users and interact with other software systems.

The introduction of RPA in process automation does not imply expensive investments in new platforms, and it does not affect existing business processes in any way. RPA processes structured data based on rules, through the user interface of the bot software.

A practical example of this type of automation includes ERP data entry, download, or upload functions.

How does business process automation work?

BPA occurs whenever an organization automates a process, but workflow solutions are not created equally.

BPA allows multiple applications to "talk" to each other. For example, a member of the marketing team can tie multiple applications together to streamline parts of a workflow, such as adding a new email address to the CRM and a separate email marketing platform.

An effective BPA strategy includes more than a handful of automation that perform tasks scattered throughout your organization. It's a company-wide initiative that extends the benefits of automation to every function and team. When 45% of workers say they are too busy with administrative work to perform the tasks they were hired to do, you can see how important it is to empower every employee with the power of automation.

To manage a large-scale BPA program, organizations turn to business process management.

Automation through software: ERP, BPM, and RPA

What automation system to implement? Actually, this software complements each other. By automating business processes through ERP software, the most common and standard processes of the value chain are being automated, while from the BPM, more specific management processes are designed that usually respond to particular control criteria of the company.

On the other hand, automation using RPA robot software is compatible with an ERP system. These software robots can interact, just as a human being does, with an ERP system or a specific BPM system.

Of course, all this is not done from one day to the next, the automation and digital transformation of a company is a long and evolutionary process. But it is a process that must be started as soon as possible, a process essential to streamlining business processes and achieving greater productivity in today's competitive business world.

BPA vs. BPM: What's the difference?

To better understand BPA, let's take a look at its not-so-distant cousin: business process management (BPM). While BPA is about digitizing and automating a sequence of tasks, BPM is about managing and monitoring those workflows from start to finish.

From a software point of view, BPA does the automation. A BPA platform offers the comprehensive architecture necessary for an organization to consistently manage all the processes it automates. It helps channel tasks across multiple people, departments, and software tools. BPA platforms also give you the ability to cohesively monitor your progress from one central hub.

A process automation platform should be low code which means it can be used by workers at all levels. Using drag-and-drop applications that are more like a whiteboard than a coding environment, sales managers and customer service representatives can collaborate on workflow design. These "citizen developers" can easily use advanced technologies such as robotic process automation or artificial intelligence to extend automation beyond basic data collection. Also known as digital process automation, these AI-powered platforms.

Connect legacy systems with third-party software to improve process automation.

Leverage third-party AI integrations, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA) to perform more complex jobs like reading and extracting information from documents:

  • Making sense of unstructured data.
  • Learn and improve from experience.
  • Improve customer and employee experience.
  • Reduce operating costs and boost revenue.
Marketing automation

Benefits of business process automation

  • Minimize costs and avoid errors at the same time. One of the main reasons companies automate business processes is clearly to reduce costs. By automating business processes, some of the available labor can be freed up for other tasks.
  • Increase the quality and ensure consistency in manufacturing, sales, or service provision processes. Two factors that ensure that the customer experience is perfect. Everyone wants to continually offer the best products to build trust and loyalty. The automation of sales processes guarantees that all products or services will always meet the same quality standards and the same management and payment facilities.
  • One of the positive side effects of process automation is the new analysis options. When processing tasks, all processes and their results are logged, so that we get an overview of how many tasks were actually completed and, above all, at what time and with what result.
  • This data provides a behind-the-scenes look at your business and enables continuous optimization and improvement.

The rise of AI and machine learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are going to play an important role in the future of business process automation. AI-enabled BPM platforms can analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, extract insights, make decisions, and act without human intervention. This allows them to make decisions faster than humans and with greater precision.

How will AI and ML power automated processes?

  • Greater efficiency: por example, your organization can use artificial intelligence to automatically route customer inquiries based on their needs, instead of having an employee deal with each one individually. AI-based processes can process endless amounts of data and make decisions faster than is humanly possible. According to McKinsey, AI, and ML can increase the value of traditional analytics techniques by between 30 and 128%. This allows companies to streamline their operations while saving money – everyone wins.
  • Cost reduction: while some see AI as cutting-edge, for many organizations the benefit lies in strategic planning and analytics investments. A study of the manufacturing industry revealed that 64% of companies adopted AI throughout the supply chain.
  • Improved customer experience: among the top 10 AI use cases in the enterprise, McKinsey lists four main customer-facing activities: customer service analytics, customer segmentation, product feature optimization, and customer acquisition and lead generation. With AI, you can deliver personalized experiences that meet individual needs. The best way to do this for companies like yours is to use machine learning algorithms to tailor communications based on tastes or preferences.
  • Increase productivity: according to PwC, 44% of AI leaders point to "productivity" as the area where they have derived the most value from AI automation. Companies often need help speeding up project delivery times, especially when projects involve large teams working together on different parts of a project simultaneously across multiple locations or time zones. By automating processes through artificial intelligence, you can track progress against goals over time—and in real-time. Be aware of bottlenecks at any stage of the process and let the AI ​​correct the course. Institutional knowledge retention is a point of concern for many organizations: AI bridges the gap by remembering process histories and helping people make decisions about how best to proceed in similar contexts.

When it comes to automating processes, AI-related technologies are transforming every step of the way.

How to know if process automation is for my company?

Process automation is considered a key element in a successful digitization strategy.

In the first step, companies must analyze existing processes, it is important to integrate technologies such as robotic process automation into the existing business process landscape and develop an automation strategy based on the real needs of each company.

Conclusions

In short, business process automation can significantly improve a company's efficiency and productivity, while reducing the costs associated with manual labor. Additionally, it can help free up employee time and resources to focus on more important tasks.

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