There is no denying the average business is becoming more automated and technology-driven, as enterprise decision-makers have started to accelerate deployments that leverage the most advanced tools around to cover everyday needs. Automation has been around since the Industrial Revolution, and was an especially common discussion point among analysts from a range of industries in the past half of a century.
Initial approaches were generally targeted in the same fashion as today, looking to find operational procedures that would be better-served by automation than continuing the use of a human touch. However, as the world has become more complex and business operations expand in diversity and volume, the potential applications of automation software likewise grew exponentially, especially in the past two decades since the dawn of the personal computer and Internet.
It goes without saying that the processes best-suited to automation support are those that take a wealth of mundane and consistent activities to complete, such as invoicing, procure to pay, expense reporting and order processing, among others. In many ways, the era of automation has led to a distinct shift in the responsibilities and performances of core players within each business, notably those that are tasked with balancing the books, overseeing operations and driving improvements across the board from the ground up.
The most important trend to remember here is the shift toward technology-centric operational procedures in virtually every industry and region of the world, leading to more opportunities for advanced and specialized automation solutions to proliferate and enter the market. When using the right types of automation and managing these investments properly, the sky is the limit for operational, financial and organizational performance improvements.
The following is five ways in which automation can specifically improve operational management for a variety of firms.
1. Employee engagement
First and foremost, the very same tasks that are the strongest candidates for automation tend to be the ones that staff members enjoy doing the least. Staff member productivity and retention is reliant upon the employer's efforts to optimize each employee's experience in the workplace, and automation can quickly reduce the amount of time a certain individual is tasked with completing repetitive and time-draining responsibilities.
Lifehack affirmed that automation can reduce the negative impacts long-term monotonous tasks have on an individual, ensuring that more engaging responsibilities remain at the top of the priority list, where they should be.
2. Smoother procedures
The applications are vast and positive impacts consistent across a variety of industries and sectors. In fact, Jim Thomas, a thought leader in the retail arena, stated that scheduling and workforce management tasks are often major time-drainers for supervisors and other important positions, even if an intelligent system is in place. With automation, he argued these types of procedures will take far less time, working to free up staff members for other, more strategic processes.
3. Enhanced HR management
Evan Carmichael, a thought leader in the human resources arena, argued that advanced automated tools can help HR professionals better manage the workforce from prospect targeting and onboarding to long-term, employment-related oversight tasks. Again, the ability to free HR employees from mundane and repetitive tasks will lead to the most advanced and progressive strategic management performances over time.
4. Accuracy is king
Human error is one of the more common causes of data breach, poor financial management, hindered brand performance and a variety of other corporate tasks. This is not to say technology never messes up, but rather the use of automation tools will almost always improve the accuracy of reporting and other functions that go into everyday management. In the end, this will have collateral advantages as well, such as more intelligent decision-making resulting from accurate and actionable insights.
5. Modernization
As technology continues to become more important in the competitive aspects of corporate management, the more time IT professionals, executives, managers and ground-level employees have to focus on strategy the better. Automation offers businesses the opportunity to streamline their IT and operational modernization efforts, and this can pay off dividends in the near future.
Closing considerations
It is important to remember that automation does not necessarily come easy, nor does it completely exonerate employees from the oversight of the tasks that the tools are being aligned with. As such, business leaders should seriously consider using a progressive, reliable and robust provider of automation solutions to ease implementation procedures, guide long-term management and optimize the utilization of these investments.
When working with a top invoice, workflow, enterprise resource planning or other business process management automation provider, organizations will quickly begin to see the power that comes with these tools while simultaneously enjoying higher returns on investment than would be the case with lackluster technologies.
