More than 50% of organizations said they planned to incorporate AI and automation technology in 2023, and that number continues to grow in 2024. Unsurprisingly, 94% of surveyed business leaders say AI and automation are critical to success over the next five years.
The Benefits of Business Process Automation
Countless high-profile companies have already used the technology to reduce costs, increase revenue, and improve efficiency. But the benefits of automation go far beyond dollars and numbers: the vast majority of survey respondents (82%) say it increases job satisfaction and enhances performance, too.
So how can your organization stay ahead and truly leverage automation to the fullest?
We recommend starting with business process automation (BPA) software — technology that automates repetitive, time-consuming tasks and frees your employees to work on more important, value-adding activities instead.
When you adopt BPA technology, your organization will enjoy immediate benefits like:
- Increased efficiency: Reduce the need for manual intervention and increase the time spent on strategic work.
- Enhanced productivity: Teams can devote more time to data analysis, process optimization, and implementing improvements.
- Scalability: Handle larger volumes of work without adding to your headcount.
- Enhanced customer experience: Improve customer satisfaction with faster response times, better order processing, reduced errors, and more.
5 Business Processes for Seamless Automation
According to McKinsey, automation and digital transformation projects fail 70% of the time. To beat these odds, it’s important to start small, follow through, and make necessary adjustments as you go.
Get your feet wet (and boost your chances of success) by starting with these five processes that are easy to automate.
1. Onboarding
Employee onboarding is often an expensive, time-consuming process, with the average company spending $4,425 per hire. Onboarding paperwork alone can take up 10 hours of HR time, and inadequate technology can stall the process and create frustration for staff and employees alike.
Fortunately, you can drastically reduce time and costs with BPA, which can automate the following processes:
- Workflow management
- Electronic document management
- Employee training
- Performance monitoring
- Task and reminders
BPA can even integrate with HR systems and provide employees with self-service portals, helping to streamline processes and improve new employee performance at a faster rate.
2. Emails
The average employee writes 112 emails every week. Since each email takes about 5.5 minutes to write, that time adds up quickly, amounting to an average of 11 hours per week—a lot more than many of us would think. Yet email remains an important part of the modern workplace, and it’s not going away anytime soon. In fact, email remains one of the most powerful tools for marketing and communication, with an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent.
To mitigate much of the inefficiency that comes with drafting and sending work emails, turn to BPA. This technology can greatly enhance communication, consistency, and efficiency, offering benefits such as:
- Personalized email content: Send unique emails based on specific criteria, such as location, age, or purchase history.
- Data-driven email marketing: Analyze key metrics to improve open rates, click-through rates, and other KPIs over time.
- Integration with email service: Connect your BPA software to Gmail, Outlook, or marketing automation software to streamline processes.
- Scheduled email delivery: Schedule automated emails, then identify email triggers to auto-send emails when a user completes a form or makes a purchase.
Email automation can be applied to everything from email marketing campaigns to customer communication and internal communication workflows. It can even integrate with CRM systems for more targeted and effective messaging.
3. Recruitment
As with employee onboarding, recruitment is often riddled with inefficiencies and challenges. Since the global talent shortage is expected to reach 85.2 million unfilled jobs by 2030, companies should expect these challenges to keep growing.
Yet BPA can do a lot to help with the traditionally tedious recruitment process, making it more streamlined and effective. Here are just a few of the ways BPA can improve recruitment:
- Résumé screening
- Application tracking system integration
- Automated job postings
- Automated communication with candidates
- Interview scheduling
- Automated skill assessments
- Referencing checking
Ultimately, BPA can help reduce the administrative burden on HR professionals, enhance the overall candidate experience, and ensure you land the right person for the job—even when talent is difficult to find.
4. Invoicing
Many businesses process hundreds of invoices every month and spend up to $1,000 per employee on invoicing tasks every year. When these invoices are processed manually, accountants can only process a handful per hour at most.
But with automation, accounting departments can exponentially increase their efficiency, reduce errors, and avoid overdue invoices. Let’s take a look at the ways BPA can help with invoicing:
- Automated data entry
- Invoice generation
- Integration with accounting software
- Invoice approval workflows
- Automatic payment reminders
- Payment processing automation
- Late fee calculation and application
- Automation of client communication
- Data validation and error handling
- Reporting and analytics
With BPA, companies can improve accuracy, increase processing times, and improve communication, which leads to happier clients and employees.
5. Contracts and Agreements
Almost a third of workers are involved in contract management, yet 89% of organizations say their contracting process isn’t very effective. Unfortunately, poorly managed contracts can lead to extremely costly mistakes, so we’re willing to bet that automating and optimizing your contracts and agreements is well worth the investment.
Contract automation can help your organization by improving accuracy, compliance, and visibility of your contractual obligations. It can help with tasks such as:
- Automated contract creation
- Approval workflows
- Electronic signature integration
- Version control
- Automated renewals and expirations
- Contract performance tracking
- Notification alerts
- Data extraction and analysis
- Compliance monitoring
With all of these tasks taken off your plate, your team can focus on more strategic aspects of the job—all while saving time and money.
Get Started with Business Process Automation
Tackling AI and automation projects can feel overwhelming, especially when your competitors are already embracing the newest technologies. But these five processes are easy to implement within any organization, no matter your level of expertise.
Don’t wait to enjoy the benefits of BPA. Now is the time to increase efficiency and productivity so you can spend more time on value-adding work. Get in touch with Vasion to learn more about how you can enable powerful automation workflows across your organization today.