Navigating Business Process Automation: A Strategic Approach
As our business world becomes increasingly digital, the need for Business Process Automation has become more important. By implementing business process automation, organisations can automate repetitive tasks, reduce manual labour, minimise errors and rework, and significantly boost productivity and efficiency. Because of this, more and more companies are starting to adopt automation.
A McKinsey & Co. survey found that 66% of businesses have started automating key functions.
With so much talk about automation, many companies are rushing to use it. However, automating anything and everything will not save you millions of dollars and hundreds of staff hours.
Automation is definitely important, but diving into it without a clear strategy can cause more harm than good. Businesses need to plan carefully and understand their current processes to take full advantage of automation. View Business Process Automation as a strategic initiative rather than just a trend.
This blog will highlight the importance of Business Process Automation and its potential for a strong return on investment (ROI). It will also cover effective strategies, key considerations, and best practices to maximise automation benefits and avoid common pitfalls.
What is Business Process Automation (BPA)?
Business Process Automation is a way for companies to use technology to make their daily tasks easier and faster. It helps them use software and digital tools to simplify their work, allowing things to run more smoothly and with less human involvement.
The aim is to replace tasks that are repetitive, rule-based, and take up a lot of time with automated solutions. This could include things like data entry, handling invoices, processing orders, or even answering customer questions. Automating these tasks helps businesses save time and money, reduce mistakes, and ensure consistent work quality.
What are the Benefits and Potential ROI of Business Process Automation?
Business Process Automation involves using technology to complete manual tasks. But why is it so valuable? Let’s explore the benefits and potential return on investment (ROI) that companies can expect from automating their processes.
Increased Efficiency and Speed
One of the main advantages is its ability to speed up workflows. You can now complete tasks that once took hours or even days in minutes. For example, automating data entry or customer inquiries reduces human error and saves valuable time. This allows employees to focus on more important tasks, which increases overall productivity.
Cost Savings
By automating repetitive tasks, companies can save money on labour costs. Instead of paying for manual work, BPM tools handle these tasks at a much lower cost. Additionally, automation reduces errors, which means fewer costly mistakes that require fixing. Over time, this can lead to significant financial savings.
Better Accuracy
Humans are prone to mistakes, especially with repetitive tasks. Implementing automation minimises human error by ensuring accurate and consistent tasks. This is especially helpful in industries like healthcare or finance, where even small errors can have serious consequences.
Given the advantages, Business Process Automation promises a substantial ROI. While initial implementation may require an investment in technology and process redesign, the long-term benefits in terms of cost savings, increased revenue, and improved customer satisfaction often far outweigh the initial costs.
Business Process Automation Pitfalls to Avoid
While automating business processes can make things faster and easier, there are some common mistakes that companies should watch out for. Let’s take a look at a few misconceptions and why avoiding them is important.
Automation Doesn’t Fix Everything
A common myth is that automation can solve all business problems. However, not every process is fit for automation, and it won’t always give the same benefits. For example, automating approvals on purchase orders can help reduce delays and errors. However, automating a customer help desk might make things quicker while lowering customer satisfaction.
It’s important to choose the right process for automation to get good results. The key is to focus on both customer experience and process efficiency.
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Another mistake is thinking that one automation solution works for all processes. The truth is that different processes need different technologies and approaches. Customising the automation to fit the needs of each process will lead to better outcomes.
ROI Takes Time
Some expect that the benefits of automation will be instant, but this isn’t true. While automation may require an upfront investment, its benefits are long-term. Over time, automation can bring significant cost savings and efficiency, but you need patience to see these results.
Don’t Automate a Bad Process
As Bill Gates once said, “Automation applied to an inefficient process will magnify the inefficiency.” Automating a broken process will only make things worse. Before automating, businesses should first map out and improve their current processes. Automation can bring the desired results, after optimising the process.
Strategic Approach to Business Process Automation
Before a company starts automating its processes, it’s important to fully understand how things are currently working. This means mapping, analysing, and improving processes before moving forward with automation. Here’s how you can do it:
Map the Current State
Before you can automate anything, you need to fully understand the process you’re working with. This starts with process mapping. A process map is like a visual guide that shows each step, decision point, and interaction in the process.
By looking at the process from start to finish, you can easily spot problems like delays or unnecessary steps. This clarity helps identify areas where things aren’t running smoothly and shows who is responsible for each task. It’s a great way to figure out where automation could make the biggest difference.
Apply Business Process Analysis Techniques
Once you have a clear process map, it’s time to analyse it. This means digging deeper into how the process works to find inefficiencies and areas for improvement. Techniques like cost analysis, efficiency analysis, and root cause analysis help you understand what’s not working well.
These tools help you figure out which tasks don’t add value and where you can make changes to improve the flow. You can also identify tasks that might be better suited for a different person or department, helping make the process run smoother.
Improve and Optimise the Process
After analysing the process, it’s time to make improvements. Use the insights from the analysis to streamline the workflow and create a better version of the process. Once you’ve improved the process and it’s running more efficiently, you can then move forward with automating it to achieve even better results.
Best Practices for Business Process Automation
When automating business processes, following some best practices can help ensure success. Let’s explore the key steps to keep in mind.
1. Think Big, Start Small
When starting with automation, it’s important to think of the big picture but start with smaller tasks. Begin with tasks that are repetitive, manual, and time-consuming, like those that cause delays due to multiple handoffs.
Automating these tasks will give quick and clear results, like reducing turnaround time, saving staff hours, and cutting down on errors. Once you see success in smaller projects, you can move on to more complex tasks. This step-by-step approach keeps the momentum going and helps you get support from others.
2. Choose the Right Processes to Automate
Not all tasks are suitable for automation, so it’s important to select the right ones. The best tasks for automation are:
- Repetitive and based on rules
- High-volume and take a lot of time
- Require a lot of manual work
- Prone to mistakes
- Involve a lot of data or are tied to compliance rules
These types of processes benefit the most from automation.
3. Pick the Best Automation Solution
Every automation project has different goals, so it’s important to choose the right type of automation. For example, if the goal is to save money, you need a different solution than if you want to boost productivity.
You should also decide if you need to fix just one part of a process (spot-fixing) or automate the entire process from start to finish. Different tools work better for different needs. For example, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) works well for spot-fixing, but not for complete end-to-end automation.
4. Build the Right Team
A successful automation project requires a strong team. You need experts in different areas, such as business processes, change management, automation technology, and security. It’s also important to involve your IT team to ensure everything works well with your current technology and meets security requirements.
5. Test Thoroughly
Before rolling out automation solutions, it’s critical to test them carefully. Make sure everything works as expected and doesn’t cause new issues or errors.
6. See Automation as a Long-Term Project
Automation isn’t just a one-time project. It is a long-term strategy for continuous improvement. Regularly check how well your automated processes are working by comparing them to key performance indicators (KPIs) like cost savings and customer satisfaction. As your business changes, keep refining your automation to ensure it meets new needs and uses the latest technology.
Power Your Automation Journey
One of the most important parts of getting the best return on investment (ROI) from Business Process Automation is choosing the right tool that matches your goals. If you’re looking for a tool that can help you map, analyse, improve, and automate processes all in one, PRIME BPM is a great option.
PRIME BPM has simple features like drag-and-drop and auto-connect, which make it easy for companies to create process maps that follow the latest global standard, BPMN 2.0. With its user-friendly interface, both process experts and regular business users can map processes without any hassle.
The tool also has a built-in analytics engine that provides useful insights, such as process cost, time, value, and efficiency, with just one click. Other important features include process prioritisation with a single click, a simulation engine to test changes, and collaborative tools to encourage ongoing improvements.
PRIME BPM helps companies take a smart and strategic approach to Business Process Automation.
Interested in discovering what PRIME BPM can do? Try it for free for 15 days and explore its powerful features!