6 Ways How Automation Makes Your Business Work 24/7
Keeping pace with customer requests, data, and marketing can be troublesome for small-scale businesses. Especially when tasks start to outweigh hours in a day, it’s right-minded to lean on technology to shed some of your to-dos.
All thanks to an upcoming generation of automation technologies that is there for everyone to use. After all,
Automation has been the secret ingredient of growth across sectors globally.
According to a 2020 McKinsey global survey, 66% of businesses across different industries automate at least one business process. Also, in a survey by Gleanster, nearly 80% of top-performing companies have used automation for marketing for more than two years.
However, automation is not only a big business thing. Small businesses, too, can employ automation at every layer of their business processes, from addressing client needs to crossing repetitive administrative tasks to capturing prospects to closing deals.
Besides, when repetitive tasks and workflows are automated, small businesses can utilize their resources for other productive tasks — like business development.
Here, I have pocketed 6 proven ways to use automation technology to revolutionize your business.
Quick Email Responses
Nowadays, email is everything. Especially if the email addressed on your website is the primary point of contact, it won’t be long until you are overwhelmed with a storm of service emails or customer requests and comments. Of course, it can be daunting to match up with the influx.
So, a great place to begin automating your business is within your email responses.
With many marketers tracking success with email response rates, integrating an automated tool can drive a 14.5% surge in sales productivity. Indeed, replying after 30 minutes minimizes the chances of converting a lead by 21 times as opposed to replying within the first five minutes, according to the Lead Response Management Study.
So, from a quick “thank you” to directing customers to relevant FAQs, automated email responses quickly address customers’ queries — without even dedicating yourself to them.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
Are there any repetitive tasks that need to be done regularly or need a similar skill set to complete?
If yes, these tasks are the ideal candidates for automation. Consider using Robotic Process Automation to take some work out of mundane, repetitive tasks and uphold productivity.
For example, you can set up an automation in your tool of choice that will publish a tweet with a link to your blog post every time your company’s blog publishes new content. Also, similar processes can be established to sync data across applications in your tech stack to minimize repetitive work.
Automate Customer Service with Chatbots
According to a Gartner survey, nearly 89% of companies try to add a feather to their hat by offering excellent customer service. Automating the process of providing solutions to the generic query of customers is an effective and straightforward way to provide instant customer support while clearing the generic requests from the plate of the support team to keep them available for queries that need their intervention.
According to a survey by Relay, 58% of B2B organizations utilize AI solutions and chatbots on their website to manage such queries. Furthermore, a survey by Drift noted that:
- #1 predicted use case for chatbots is getting an instant response in an emergency.
- #2 use cases are solving a complaint or question.
Therefore, it’s right to say-
Chatbots is the new powerful automation tool for small and large businesses.
Also, pre-programmed questions and responses can cut time and up to 30% of operational costs, allowing you to pay attention to other aspects of the business.
The driving force behind the increasing number of organizations switching to AI solutions like Chatbots is that they can help them automate the most crucial tasks, serving generic customer requests.
But, before you choose a technology partner to build a bot for your business, make sure it offers all the imperatives your business needs to help potential visitors find the solution they are looking for.
Leverage AI and ML Tools
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will unlock $2.6 trillion in value for businesses in the coming years. From a business owner’s perspective, there are numerous ways to leverage AI to streamline and automate operations.
For instance, AI tools can help optimize data management and reporting, saving your team time and effort and helping you gain access to valuable data.
Optimize Documentation Processes
Physical records are a constant fixture for numerous organizations, and primarily every organization addresses them in a specific way. However, the lifecycle of documentation processes is one place where expensive blind spots because of mismanagement are likely to occur.
Relevant information is usually lost due to mismanagement, and there is a lot of unnecessary printing. This automatically pushes operational costs upwards, reduces security, and paves the way for a disorganized office atmosphere.
So, here automation comes into the picture. Automating documentation allows businesses to convert, transfer, and achieve files seamlessly with tools like OCR API, document management, or data backup software.
They prove to be a convenient choice when a company is transitioning into a digital enterprise by selecting to be a digital-transformation-led company. With the help of document process automation, it’s easy to store automatic data backups, which ensures the data is not permanently destroyed in any unavoidable scenario.
Fasten Transaction Processes
Payment processes take place through numerous departments. From payrolls to online sales of goods and services, automated business processes led by digital transformation make things easier for everyone involved, especially clients.
Transaction processes lend themselves well to automation as they are routine administrative tasks that can heighten the possibility of human errors. So, whenever the right information is in position, a payment automation tool for business will ensure that it’s processed, published, and then sent to the right person. Also, transaction automation helps minimize the manual paperwork involved and improves the probability of a seamless customer experience.
In a Nutshell…
The decision on how and where to invest in leveraging the benefits of automation needs thinking and evaluation. Also, understand the numbers and hours invested in each layer of operations within your organization first to define the areas that need automation.
Although it’s like both oars in the water, don’t automate everything at one go because it’s all about the practice that takes time to imbibe. And every phase of the automation process shows you further efficiencies, and watching how each change improves your overall processes until you automate further.
So to take a handful of automation tools off your hands — get help from a good RPA consulting company like Signity Solutions!
