Five Benefits of Automating Business Processes

In today's rapidly evolving tech landscape, businesses often find themselves grappling with uncertainty as they navigate the best path forward. Changing economic conditions and increasing pressure on efficiency and efficacy have made every business decision critical to long-term success. 

Amidst these variables, incorporating new technology into daily workflows can feel daunting. However, it is precisely in this challenging landscape that the benefits of business process automation become even more relevant and compelling. By embracing automation, businesses can not only streamline their operations but also gain a competitive edge. 

In this blog, we’ll explore five key benefits of business process automation, showcasing how automation can empower organizations to adapt to the ever-changing landscape, drive efficiency, and unlock new opportunities for growth. 

#1 Efficiency

We’ve all felt the pressure lately to do more with less. Operational costs are up, employees are spread thin, and retention is more challenging than ever. So many aspects of our world have undergone a digital transformation, yet more and more workers are finding themselves saddled with repetitive and tedious tasks.

For example, one of our clients had a team of two employees spend over 40 hours every month compiling, downloading, and validating reports. When they automated the production steps of this process, they saved 12 weeks’ worth of time! This had an immediate positive effect on morale and the reduced time to complete those tasks allowed the team to devote resources to higher-impact work.

One of the easiest ways to ensure your team is continually productive, especially during transitional periods, is to implement a cost-effective robotic process automation solution. RPA can provide the support and stability your business needs while also improving employee morale, increasing operational efficiency, and promoting cost savings.

Even if the process is bound to change, it’s crucial not to sacrifice efficiency in the present. In fact, embracing automation becomes even more essential in the face of evolving processes. So, rather than hesitating due to anticipated changes, businesses should proactively invest in automation to lay the foundation for sustainable growth and success.

#2 Adaptability

As your organization grows and evolves it can feel like the goalposts move with every new system update or procedural change. Luckily, this gray area is where RPA shines. 
After a careful analysis of the manual process is performed with automation tools in mind, a time-consuming workflow can be optimized into standard, modular pieces. These pieces can then be adjusted or enhanced to meet changing needs in the future.

Another creative implementation involves standardizing and automating human resources tasks, especially employee onboarding. By allowing HR to start the process with minimal human intervention, new hires can have their questions answered and get up and running much quicker.

As policies change, small enhancements can be made, often without touching the software code. This keeps the process moving and eliminates or reduces the need for a full regression testing sequence. Uptime is the name of the game in small business and enterprise alike, so a solution that can progress quickly is absolutely necessary.

Workflow automation can also serve as an insurance policy against changes in the labor market and greater economy. In good times, automation allows teams to focus on high-value tasks and ensures continuity and minimal disruption on a rainy day. The uncertainty of the last three years has made this need painfully clear across nearly every industry.

Integrating robust automation allows managers to have confidence in the adaptability of their business processes amid fluctuations in their human workforce.

#3 Consistency

With more industries shifting online, the amount of data an organization hosts is staggering. Unfortunately, the weakest link in any data management policy has not changed: the human.

By eliminating the potential for human error, RPA takes the risk out of handling sensitive PII, PHI, financial information, and more. By providing flexible logging and granular audit trails, workflow automation keeps your data safe while handling daily tasks with care.

Like it or not, data entry and other types of data digitization are as relevant to business operations as ever. In one instance, 65 pension and annuity administration programs needed to be monitored and maintained as claims came in on a daily basis. While many of the contracts dated back to 1989, compliance standards and other legal requirements were subject to change without notice. 

Deploying a fleet of bots to handle document management removed the risk of non-compliance, fines, and serious legal trouble stemming from human error essentially overnight. This allowed the client relations team to shift their focus to more analytical tasks and ensured the business could be the best steward of clients’ hard-earned money as possible.

Over the past few years, the demand for timely customer support has also increased exponentially. The reliance on e-Commerce has pushed many companies to the limit and there is no decreased need in sight.

Enter the chatbot. By taking just a few seconds to help funnel customers in need or help to the proper agent, your business can cut down on the frustration of endless phone trees and keep its various teams focused on providing the best assistance possible. Providing a good customer experience is the number one priority, as customer satisfaction can make or break market capture and future conversion rates.

Although your processes may be subject to change as your business evolves, implementing RPA can ensure consistency between your processes now and in the future. Thus, your risk compliance stays level and your customer experience transitions seamlessly.

#4 Scalability

The capabilities of automation software are advancing every day, creating more and more opportunities to help your organization progress. Rather than waiting for a certain milestone to start an automation project, today’s solution can easily help you achieve tomorrow’s goals.

One of the most popular ways to introduce a business process automation campaign is to start small so that the program grows alongside the organization. By utilizing modular low-code or no-code solutions, your codebase can be easily adjusted and maintained by IT personnel and end users alike.

The ideal automation program implementation stitches disparate systems together and allows the scopes of siloed teams to become more cohesive. Clients have shared numerous times that as their programs expanded, relationships among team members and departments also improved.

Creating new standards and protocols that encourage more effective collaboration and communication is often a welcome side effect of carrying out a healthy automation solution that will benefit the business for years to come.

There’s often some anxiety about how an automation campaign will integrate into operations long-term (especially when the existing IT team is on the smaller side) and where current automation efforts may be limited to basic shell scripting. The overarching goal of successful automations is to deploy solutions that meet the needs of the entire business and can bring teams together as departments and programs scale up and need changes.

#5 Data-Driven Insights

Collecting and importing accurate data is key to understanding your business and its health.  Additionally, there are many opportunities for process improvement that can be implemented along with a thoughtful automation plan. 

As the processes run, the data can be immediately returned to the dashboards for easy visualization. Through customizable logs and audit trails, automation can help identify weak points and bottlenecks that can be targeted and triaged.

The data visualization tools incorporated into your custom-built business process automation suite provide many different reporting methods and views for monitoring all the granular metrics that are important to you.

We’ve also found that enabling stakeholders up and down the organization to view and analyze the metrics firsthand has a number of benefits, including increased buy-in that helps to guarantee effective deployment. Coming together to plot a course to success fosters an environment of collaboration and can help you to become more resilient.

Find an Automation Partner

At EnterBridge, we understand the value of business process automation in streamlining workflows and improving efficiency. Our team of on-shore skilled developers specializes in tackling complex challenges as we foster lasting relationships with our clients. 

We aim to help businesses promote efficiency, encourage growth, and eliminate the guesswork involved in scaling their operations by leveraging automation in their organizations. With our expertise and innovative solutions, we empower organizations to navigate the ever-changing business landscape with confidence. 

Whether it's automating repetitive tasks, implementing data-driven insights, or scaling operations seamlessly, EnterBridge is dedicated to driving your business's success through the transformative power of automation. Schedule a call today to learn more about automating business processes.