If you are using paper and pencil or otherwise still using manual process to run parts of your business, now is the time to consider business process automation (BPA). If you wait, you’re going to get left behind.
You may be thinking that creating software to automate your business will be an expensive endeavor; but that is far from the truth. The truth is, software development is not a cost, but rather an investment in the future. It will allow your company more opportunities by enabling you to do things that cannot easily be done manually. The return on investment is rapid, and substantial. Additionally, the amount of the initial investment may not be as great as you think. In fact, when you start with a minimal viable product (MVP) when creating an your automated process, you can begin realizing savings immediately which can then be reinvested into further automation.
Cost savings is an obvious benefit of BPA, but it is not the only benefit. Below are 16 reasons to develop software to automate business process and how they will ultimately benefit:
- Build A Single Cohesive System: Using and maintaining multiple systems can complicate your business. If you are entering the same pieces of data (for example into an accounting program and a separate CRM) Developing a single system, or integrating systems will simplify daily workflow and contribute to many additional benefits you’ll read below.
- Increase Efficiency: Without the need to enter the same data multiple times, workers can be much more efficient.
- Increase Productivity: With increased efficiency, staff can become much more productive, getting more done in less time.
- Save Time: What you do with the time savings automation can provide is up to you. It may mean more time to do other things, or more time for simply relaxing.
- Save Money/Make More Money: The old adage “time is money” is true! By saving time, you are also able to spend less money on or alternatively, use that time for other money-making endeavors.
- Reduce Errors: Software (when done right) does not make errors. By allowing the software to perform calculations rather than a human, you eliminate a large source of errors that can be costly. Additionally, the need to input the same data into disparate systems increases the number of places an error can occur.
- Ensure Timeliness: An automated system will allow you to put some functions on auto-pilot. Whereas an employee can and will put off a task, a machine can’t. This will ensure timely delivery of your product or service.
- Improve Consistency: You’ll always have a consistent product or service if you do the same thing, the same way every time. Automation will help you do that.
- Make Customers Happy: The improvements in timeliness and reduction of errors will ensure your customers’ happiness.
- Improve Employee Morale: Lightening the workload, ensuring a mistake-free environment, and dealing with happy customers will improve employee morale.
- Reduce Employee Turnover: With high employee morale, your workers will stay with you longer. This provides a number of additional benefits such as higher productivity and reduced training costs.
- Reduced Training Costs: Lower turnover means a reduction in training costs, but also, when computers do some of the work, there is less training required.
- Reduce Stress: With happy customers, upbeat employees and a company that is reducing costs and making more money the stress of owners, managers and employees is reduced.
- Save Trees: It is not just trees you will be saving, it is a reduction in your overall carbon footprint that will be realized by creating less waste.
- Better Business Evaluation Tools/Decision Making: One of the benefits of using software for your business tools is the ability to easily collect and evaluate data.
- Create a Profit Center: If your business is still doing important functions manually and there is no out-of-the-box solution, other similar businesses may be experiencing the same thing. In that case, you can develop a SaaS product and license it to others as a profit center.
