Business automation is becoming an increasingly important topic for startups and entrepreneurs looking to streamline processes, improve efficiency and scale their companies.
Small businesses can really punch above their weight and gain a competitive advantage against their larger competitors with the right automation tools and strategy. What’s more, with such a wide variety of off-the-shelf and scalable solutions available, implementing business automation strategies can be much easier and less burdensome.
This short guide explores what business automation means. We will look at key benefits and actionable tips on how to get started with it, together with how to implement it effectively for maximum long-term effectiveness.
What is Business Automation?
Business automation refers to the use of various software and technologies to automate manual, repetitive administrative and operational tasks.
Successful implementation of software and tools and, more recently, the use of generative AI removes the need for employees to perform as many tasks manually, saving vast amounts of time and resources. At present, it’s estimated that UK SMEs spend an average of 120 days a year on admin alone.
In practice, business automation encompasses a wide range of tools and applications, including, but not limited to:
- Project management software - This software is designed to streamline task and workflow management. Popular tools like Asana, Trello and Basecamp make it easy to manage jobs, delegate responsibilities and track the progress of projects.
- Email automation - For auto-responding to frequently asked customer queries and scheduling mailings like newsletters.
- Document automation - Automatically generating repetitive documents like invoices, contracts and sales proposals using templates.
- Accounting automation - This software is used for automating bookkeeping processes like managing invoices and expenses. It’s designed to inform strategic decision-making. Some specialist legal software even aligns accounting with large-scale case and practice management.
- Website chatbots - Bots can be programmed to instantly respond to and assist website visitors in real-time, wherever they are located and whatever the time may be. These chatbots can solve queries quickly and escalate problem areas promptly.
- CRM software - This is responsible for managing leads, customers and sales in one centralised platform. Notifications, tasks and emails can all be integrated alleviating the need to chase paper trails.
Key Benefits of Business Automation
Implementing business automation delivers some major benefits for startups and small businesses looking to make an impactful first step. It can also make those crucial first few months more seamless and productive, as it’s understandable for those who ‘go it alone’ to occasionally feel like they’re up against it constantly.
Here are just a few advantages of effective business automation:
Improved efficiency
Automating manual, repetitive tasks frees up you and your team to focus on more high-value strategic work that drives growth. Liberating yourself from repetitive, time-consuming admin tasks maximises your productivity and efficiency.
Cost savings
Entrusting traditionally manual tasks to computers and affordable software leads to significant cost reductions in the long run. Business automation also eliminates human error that can lead to costly mistakes. However, human oversight and supervision on widespread automation is highly recommended.
Better customer experience
Chatbots, email automation and other tools enhance customer experience through instant query resolution and personalised interactions. This boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty, and, if positioned correctly, can lead to more of the right kind of brand recognition.
Scalability
With automated processes in place, startups can scale up operations more efficiently and grow the business without continually hiring more staff. Of course, a healthy balancing act between automation and human supervision is vital.
Increased competitiveness
Automation enables small businesses to compete with much larger companies through leveraging technology. It allows them to deliver big business service quality on a small business budget.
Valuable insights
Automation tools provide startups with data-driven insights into customer preferences, audience segments, pain points and sales opportunities. This allows them to constantly refine their products and services through tasks like social media ads and copywriting.
Getting Started with Business Automation
If you’re interested in automating areas of your company but aren’t sure where to start, it’s understandable. You want to ensure the upfront costs associated with enterprise tools and software need to be worth the investment and to be sure whether they will meet your short- and long-term goals.
Here are some tips on how startups can get started:
- Identify repetitive processes
First, audit your existing workflows and highlight any that involve repetitive, high-volume tasks. These manual processes tend to be the easiest to automate and yield the biggest productivity gains. Prioritise automating these processes first.
- Pick the right tools
Research automation tools that suit your needs and integrate well with the existing platforms, systems and software you use. Many solutions have free trials so you can test them out first to see whether they are a good fit for your business. Focus on automating your biggest pain points instead of trying to change everything at once.
- Develop automation workflows
After selecting the right tools, map out exactly how the automated workflows will function from start to finish. Be sure to include triggers, rules and actions, and ensure that you’re kept in the loop of any discrepancies. Proper planning makes the rollout smoother.
- Pilot and test
Run a pilot first with a small segment of users before deploying automation software company-wide. Thoroughly test processes and iron out any glitches for maximum effectiveness. You may benefit by implementing user training to onboard employees to new automated workflows.
- Analyse and optimise
Closely assess the aggregated data and feedback from automation tools to identify any improvement areas. This allows you to optimise automated processes for maximum productivity. Refining these processes continually will allow your automation to scale with your business.
- Automate more processes
Once initial automation workflows are productive and efficient, identify additional manual processes that can be automated to drive even bigger productivity gains. Prioritise by importance, budget, productivity, and capacity.
- Integrate with other tools
Look for opportunities to connect your automation software with other platforms you use such as accounting, CRM, marketing, and messaging for a unified workflow. Integration helps maximise efficiency gains and helps reduce unnecessary expenses.
- Consider outsourcing
If needed, don’t hesitate to outsource jobs and tasks to third-party consultants such as IT support, developers, telemarketers, and marketing agencies. The investment often yields a major return through productivity gains and technical expertise.
Key Automation Focus Areas For Startups
While almost any manual process is ripe for automation, below are some key areas startups could consider automating in the early stages of their business journey:
Customer Communications
Automating responses to common customer queries, through AI-powered chatbots or email responses, allows instant resolution of simple requests ranging from shipping updates and pricing clarifications to expected turnaround times and opening hours. This provides a major customer satisfaction boost, meanwhile, queries can be escalated for human intervention if needed.
Accounting
Automated accounting software seamlessly handles tasks like invoicing, expense reporting, bank reconciliation and more to save vast amounts of time. Transactions can sync directly with bank accounts and even integrate with other areas of your business like audits, compliance reports, and so on.
Reporting
Task management and reporting tools make it easy to automatically compile and format regular management reports by pulling data from multiple applications into easy-to-digest documents. No more wasted hours compiling reports manually.
Content Marketing
Marketing automation tools streamline content promotion through email, social media and other channels, and identify efficient opportunities to repurpose content. With the help of generative AI tools, content creation can be sped up, provided that careful attention is paid to accuracy, validity and ethics.
Implementing business automation is a key strategy for startups and entrepreneurs to maximise productivity and compete with larger companies. The business gains from automating manual processes are undeniable. However, achieving success requires carefully picking the right automation tools for your needs and methodically adjusting, rather than going gung-ho and trying to automate many areas at once.
