Business process automation (BPA) can bring a lot of advantages, like boosting efficiency, increasing productivity, reducing errors, and making processes more consistent. However, not every process is suitable for automation, and sometimes BPA projects don’t go as planned. That’s why it’s essential to follow best practices when selecting, planning, and executing BPA projects. Here are 10 best practices to help you choose the right processes, improve your chances of success, and get the most benefits for your organization.
What Is Business Process Automation?
Business process automation (BPA) is all about using technology to make repetitive manual tasks easier and quicker in an organization. The main goals of BPA are to improve efficiency, cut down on errors, standardize processes, and free up employees so they can focus on more important work. BPA can be used in many areas of a business, from simple tasks like data entry and management to more complex processes like supply chain management and customer service.
Business Process Automation Explained
Business process automation (BPA) means using technology to do tasks that people used to do by hand. Companies often start using BPA to make repetitive tasks faster, more consistent, and to cut down on human error. However, as businesses grow and get more familiar with BPA, they often find even more benefits, including:
- Cost savings: It’s usually cheaper to automate tasks than to do them manually.
- Time savings: BPA allows employees to spend their time on more important work, like solving problems, coming up with new ideas, and building relationships with customers.
- Process standardization: For large companies, training thousands of employees to do tasks the same way can be tough. BPA helps standardize processes and results across different locations.
- Consistency over time: Automated processes tend to stay more uniform over days, weeks, or even years compared to manual ones.
- Fewer errors: Automating tasks reduces the chance of mistakes that can happen when people do things manually.
- Improved data tracking: Software does a great job of keeping track of what happens and when. This information is not just useful for audits but also for analysis and gaining business insights.
- Better transparency, accountability, and security: Improved data tracking can make businesses more transparent for leaders and stakeholders. This can lead to greater accountability and help prevent fraud since people are less likely to act inappropriately if they know their managers can easily see every financial transaction.
10 Best Practices to Automate Business Processes
1. Find Areas That Need Improvement
The first step in creating a business process automation (BPA) strategy is to identify areas that need fixing. Instead of just hoping to find spots that can be automated, it’s better to be methodical about it. You’ll want to take a close look at your current processes to see where things are slow, redundant, or just not working right.
There are two main ways to do this: analyze data and talk to people. Smart businesses use both approaches. Data analysis can reveal where things get stuck, where errors happen the most, and where you’re spending more money than you should. On the other hand, talking to your team can help you understand why those problems exist and uncover other areas that might need improvement but aren’t obvious from the data alone.
For example, your data might show that getting paid takes longer right after your busiest months, pointing to a need for automation in accounting to speed up billing. But when you chat with your billing team, they might suggest that automating customer relationship management (CRM) could help even more. With automated CRM, your team can communicate with clients faster and spend less time on paperwork. This gives them more time to build stronger relationships with clients, which can lead to better customer loyalty and more sales. By discussing with your team, you can spot opportunities for major improvements instead of just small fixes.
2. Spot Repetitive Tasks
Once you’ve identified areas for improvement, the next step is to find the repetitive tasks to target for automation. Technology shines when it comes to automating routine tasks. The most significant gains come from automating tasks that are done frequently. These tasks are often good candidates because automating them can save a lot of time compared to doing them manually over and over.
Take, for instance, a sales team that uses email to communicate with customers. Two common types of emails they send are purchase confirmations and replies to customer questions. Automating purchase confirmations is pretty straightforward because the messages are similar, with only a few details changing. However, responding to customer inquiries is trickier since the questions can vary widely, making it harder to prepare automated responses.
3. Prioritize What to Automate
After listing the tasks suitable for automation, it can be overwhelming to decide where to start. The key is to focus on what will make the biggest impact on your business.
If you’re new to BPA, it might be wise to begin with simpler tasks. Automation can be time-consuming and requires some expertise. Not every attempt at automation will go as planned, so starting small and gradually tackling more complex tasks can help you build skills and confidence.
Some companies choose to prioritize tasks based on specific business goals, focusing on projects that contribute the most to those goals. While cutting costs is a common aim, BPA can also help companies scale up for growth.
Companies might also focus on specific teams or departments, especially if they have different needs. This approach is particularly useful in regulated industries, like healthcare or finance, where various processes and interactions have different rules to follow.
Another strategy is to concentrate on automating similar processes across the company rather than jumping between very different tasks. This can lead to faster, more efficient rollouts of automation since you won’t have to switch gears constantly.
Ultimately, the best approach is the one that suits your business’s unique needs. If there’s a pressing issue that needs fixing, that should take priority over other considerations.
4. Create a Comprehensive Plan
When you’re making significant changes to a business process, it’s important to have a thorough plan. This plan should cover not just the task you’re automating but also how it impacts other processes and the company as a whole. Here are some key things to think about:
- Look at the entire process, not just the easy-to-automate parts. Ensure that the improvements you make are substantial enough to justify the investment in automation. It often makes sense to avoid making several quick changes to the same process if you can do a complete overhaul all at once. For example, if you’re automating email communication, consider doing it alongside a CRM upgrade to streamline everything without causing too much disruption.
- Think about related business processes. If you’re automating calculations, will the software handle the information that was previously processed by humans? And what about the results of the automated process—does someone need to explain or interpret them?
- Keep the bigger picture in mind. If you only focus on automating individual tasks, you might miss out on broader benefits for your organization. One big advantage of automation is that it can free up staff time. When deciding what to automate, it’s easy to overlook how much more value your team can create with those extra hours. For instance, if automating a process allows a team to spend more time designing innovative products, that process should be a top priority.
5. Define Roles Clearly
It’s vital to set clear roles for everyone involved in implementing and managing the automated processes. Just because one task is automated doesn’t mean all the other steps will stay the same. Humans will still need to ensure everything runs smoothly, making sure no steps are missed.
For instance, if a company is automating its invoicing process, here’s how roles might be divided:
- The sales team is responsible for recording orders and keeping customer data updated in the CRM system.
- An invoicing specialist oversees when the automated system generates invoices, checks their accuracy, and approves them before they’re sent to customers.
- The sales manager sets the rules for the automated invoicing process.
- The IT department provides tech support for the new system and ensures it runs smoothly during business hours.
Adding technology often means more responsibilities for IT, so it’s a good idea to involve them early in the planning process and ensure they have enough resources to help everyone succeed. It’s easy to get excited about automation but leaving tech teams understaffed can lead to frustration.
6. Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) outline the steps involved in specific tasks or processes. They help employees fill in for each other and make using automation tools easier by clearly defining what needs to be automated.
Big companies rely on SOPs to ensure consistency across teams and locations, especially with regular employee turnover. But smaller businesses might not realize their value until it’s too late. While startups might want to avoid too many rules, documenting processes becomes essential as the team grows. Without clear procedures, consistency and efficiency can suffer, making automation harder to implement effectively.
7. Don’t Overlook Business Process Management (BPM)
Business Process Management (BPM) is a structured approach to improving frequently executed processes in an organization. While BPM doesn’t always require automation, it often involves it. In fact, business process automation is a vital and growing part of BPM. The techniques and tools used in BPM can also be applied to automated processes.
8. Train Users
Training users is crucial for successful automation, but some companies forget to consider this until it’s too late. Employees need training not just on the new technology but also on the new processes. It’s easy to recognize the need for tech training since new tools usually require specific skills. However, automation often changes procedures and responsibilities, even for those not directly using the new technology.
Timing can be tricky when it comes to training. You don’t want to start too early, before the new processes are clearly defined, but you also don’t want to wait until the old processes are gone. Sometimes, you might need to push back the rollout timeline to ensure everyone gets adequate training. This is better than dealing with a slew of emergencies because employees are trying to learn the new system on the job.
9. Have a Backup Plan
What if the automation doesn’t work as expected? What happens if your software supplier suddenly changes their program or goes out of business? Or if changes to another workflow affect the inputs for your automated process in unexpected ways?
To tackle these potential problems, you should have a backup plan. This might be as simple as ensuring you can revert to the old manual way of doing things. Having a solid plan is essential. While business process automation can be incredibly beneficial, it’s not guaranteed to be a 100% success every time.
Also Read: 10 Steps to Build a Remote Workforce
10. Utilize ERP Software
For many companies, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is a crucial part of BPA, helping them get even more value from automation. NetSuite ERP, for example, includes built-in automation features that save time and money, cut down on errors, and improve consistency across various business areas.
ERP software also enhances the value of BPA because it connects a company’s data across different processes and departments. This integration makes it easier to use data from one process to improve another. For example, automated reporting can provide valuable insights for business analytics and help reduce errors and fraud. It also makes it simpler to spot issues, such as performance differences among teams, which could indicate a need for support or highlight a best practice worth sharing company-wide.
Business process automation—using technology to handle repetitive tasks—can bring many benefits, including lower costs, faster processes, and fewer mistakes. By automating processes, employees can spend less time on mundane tasks and focus on higher-level work that adds more value to the organization. However, not every process is suitable for automation, and poorly planned BPA efforts can fail to achieve the desired outcomes. By following best practices for choosing which processes to automate and how to implement those changes, companies can enhance the success and impact of their BPA initiatives.
