4 Tips for Successful Business Process Automation

When’s the last time you had a craving for some good ol’ busy work? While I can’t speak for everyone, I’d guess the answer for most is probably “never.” No one’s time and talents should be wasted on being a bored cog in a manual workflow. These tasks are more than just tiresome; they’re also expensive and inefficient, stealing time away from employees who could be focusing on more important projects.

Business process automation helps conserve the time and money spent on manual tasks by enabling streamlined workflows, data entry, and document routing. Productivity will increase with higher workflow efficiency as previously tapped out resources are freed up and put to better use. Since there’s so many different approaches organizations can take to business process automation, being aware of best practices is important to a successful implementation. Here are a few tips for getting it right the first time:

Tip 1:

Identify specific processes, or even parts of processes, that are the most ripe for improvement. What will result in the biggest ROI for the least amount of work? Before signing any contracts, ensure your potential vendor understands exactly where the problems lie and can offer a solution that fits your requirements without creating unnecessary complications.

Tip 2:

It’s ok to start small if your solution is easily scalable and can be reconfigured for any changing requirements you may have. However, if your solution cannot grow with your organization or requires copious amounts of coding and support for every adjustment, you may just create an information silo that will need to be readdressed in the future.

Tip 3:

Are there any regulations you need to be aware of before your implementations? Ensure both you and your solutions partner have a good understanding of any compliance requirements and how they may be affected by a business process automation implementation.

Tip 4:

The road to business process improvement is never without obstacles, and often one of the biggest is, of course, budget. If you’re able to temporarily reallocate resources for a bigger payoff later, business process automation can be largely beneficial to productivity, operational costs, and even customer service. If your budget is particularly tight, you may be able to spread the wealth of BPA and cut the cost with a shared services arrangement.

A project of this scale might sound daunting at first, but the right solutions partner will provide the information you need to successfully and effectively update your business processes. Not sure you’re ready for this? Check out our blog post, “Advanced Capture Technology: The Answer to Your Data Entry Prayers” for more information on how streamlining data entry can change lives.