As per the smartsheet’s survey, around 86% of employees believe that automation
will help them do their job efficiently, with utmost growth and productivity.
Automation is believed to be a broad concept that applies to all modern workplaces
for streamlining the old and traditional work operations.
The technological advancements for triggering automation in workplaces have an
endless scope that the business owners need to avail over time.
This article briefly explains how automation is taking control over workspaces and
making operations seamless for employees and managers.
Source
What is Automation?
Automation is the concept of a set of tools paired with business software. It is a
technology that allows the completion of a repetitive task through a system without
much manual intervention.
Small businesses often turn to automation for dealing with repetitive tasks. In history,
automation demanded the use of expensive servers and a management team to
take care of those servers. And that made it difficult for the small businesses to avail
the technological boom.
But with the development of cloud-based platforms, the automation tools became
accessible by even the smallest of all companies. And that contributes to the rise in
its demands!
How and Why Workplace Automation Is an Important Point of
Concern?
As per the statistical survey by workona.com, around 31% of all the surveyed
businesses have worked out their systems to automate at least one business
function. Not just that, but 41% of all the survey respondents state that they
extensively use automation with various functions.
Hence, this shows the popularity of intelligent automation in today’s work culture!
When the workspaces impose automation for some repetitive tasks, they free up the
employees to assign them other important jobs that cannot be automated. Here are
a few of the facts that state the importance of automation in the work environment:
- Time and Money Efficient
The prime motive of workplace automation is to save time, where one action can be
used to trigger many functions.
Automation can cut down paper use by generating documents digitally to take
signatures on them. This will help you save a lot of costs on buying physical papers
for printing and sending.
Apart from that, some of the jobs such as book-keeping, data entry, customer
service and others, will no longer need employees for core management, which will
also help you save the hiring costs. - Everything Becomes Measurable
Upon automation, every step of the business process is recorded. Hence, you will
have data on almost everything that is carried out by the automated work process.
You will be able to measure the shortcomings and the correct executions. Spot all
the bottlenecks and then fix them to enhance your work operations.
4 Examples of Workplace Automation
To help you get a practical understanding of workplace automation, here are a few
examples of its adaptation:
- Automation in Sales
Software is being used today to seek automation of repetitive sales tasks such as
contact management, prospect management, and lead generation. Eventually, it will
speed up things for the sales team to help businesses bag more sales. - Automation in HR
The HR department deals with most administrative activities. So, some of the tasks
that are mostly automated with HR automation software include:
● Expense claims
● Managing employee data and keeping it updated
● Staff training request updates
● Performance records
● Timesheet records
● Holiday records
● Recruitment process or automation staffing
● Payroll - Automation in Customer Service
Chatbots are an evident example of automation in customer service. Today, around
80% of all interactions with customers can be dealt with by chatbots. - Automation in Marketing
The marketing department could automate a chatbot set to start conversations with
potential customers or leads anytime they want. With this, you can guide the
customers towards the type of content they want, irrespective of the time.
Pros & Cons of Adapting Automation at Work Environment
With the proactive benefits, automation also brings in a few considerable drawbacks.
So, here are the pros and cons of workplace automation for you to relate to and
consider before integrating it:
Pros:
● Better employee engagement
● Few costly errors
● Better scalability and growth
● On-time and consistent work output
Cons:
● High cost of implementation
● Need for shifting employee roles
● Reskilling and training are important for employees
Parting Words
Even with the minor drawbacks at the initial stage of adapting workplace automation,
it is still a fruitful approach for the long-term business goals. So, make sure you talk
to an automation expert and learn about all the possibilities your business can avail
of before actually integrating it.