Among the many draws businesses have towards custom software development, workflow automation is among the most recurring reasons. So much so that research is finding around 50% of businesses have plans to implement this kind of automation. Workflow automation? What is that? 

To put it in perspective, nearly 85% of small businesses alone depend on some form of manual task every day. Of that 85%, most likely have ambitions to expand the business, which in order to do so requires being able to focus their energy on more complex tasks. 

Using Automation

Here is an example of process automation:

Think of an e-commerce startup that has to manually input and track inventory or transactions. The owner would spend hours each day trying to keep up and it would become impossible to do manually, especially if the business began to scale up. 

So instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on yearly salaries for people to manage data, the owner hires a team to implement a custom software system that handles these tasks automatically.

This is a very simple example of process automation. The concept is broad and can be anything from automating repetitive tasks to generating and distributing reports, transferring files, or even integrating business applications. 

Process automation is an investment that saves businesses time and money by reallocating their time toward more important tasks. More than that, it gives businesses their most important asset: the ability to scale. We’re going to need more detail to support that claim so with that said, let’s go over the top 6 benefits businesses can expect to see with process automation. 

1. Processing Speed:

   Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the most common user-friendly technology used to automate repetitive manual processes. RPA uses software robots that can produce several times more output in a shorter period than a person could. This not only opens up the capacity of data that can be handled but also condenses the time it takes to do so.

2. Analytics:

   When using RPA, the system is constantly keeping track of what it’s doing and when it’s doing it which is then composed into analysis reports. What’s great about this is that if an error does occur, you’ll be able to go back and see where. When a company first implements this kind of software, it will be really helpful for identifying the speed bumps in any of the organization's current processes. 

3. 24/7 Work:

   Employees only work an average of 8 hours a day, whereas software can always be on the clock. Stack that up next to a 40-hour work week and that’s 80 extra hours of work businesses are getting Monday to Friday without having to give up any benefits.

4. Compliance:

   Certain industries (Insurance, Banking, Healthcare, etc.) have regulation standards that must be met. Automation software like that of RPAs can assist companies in meeting these standards. It adds that extra layer of control and oversight in business processes.

   The software will be built to perform these tasks to the exact specifications outlined and will continuously do so as the company needs it to. As a result, because the process is very consistent, there is not a lot of risk for error and all records are kept in the event an irregularity does occur. 

5. Reducing Errors:

   In organizations, mistakes made by employees add up and can cost millions of dollars (an average of over $60 million annually). Touching again on the compliance piece, automation software is able to reduce this risk of error dramatically by strictly adhering to the process standards.

6. Employee and Customer Satisfaction:

   By switching from a labour-intensive landscape to a process automation system (for repetitive tasks), employees can direct their time and energy toward the other tasks we’ve consistently referred to as “complex”. This just means that the company's resources are being used to address needs that provide value.

   Also, notice the order of “employee” before “customer”— this is because to deliver value to your audience, the ones delivering the value need to be motivated to do so. 

Reflecting

Every industry is different, especially in terms of its long-term goals and short-term needs. This means that when it comes to technology, the resources being utilized need to have a solid strategy behind them. Custom software development is only effective when this strategy is in place and the stakeholders in the organization are aligned with its purpose. 

Businesses who are looking to go the extra mile need to recognize the importance of what they will do with the time and resources they’re freeing up when using an IT service like process automation. Without that strategy, there’s not a lot of value in implementing this technology and that will be an expensive mistake down the road. 

In order to strategize efficiently, talk to professionals to help your business get on the right track.

Written By Ben Brown

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ISU Corp is an award-winning software development company, with over 17 years of experience in multiple industries, providing cost-effective custom software development, technology management, and IT outsourcing.

Our unique owners’ mindset reduces development costs and fast-tracks timelines. We help craft the specifications of your project based on your company's needs, to produce the best ROI. Find out why startups, all the way to fortune 500 companies like General Electric, Heinz, and many others have trusted us with their projects. Contact us here.