The Automation Advantage 004

Welcome to The Automation Advantage Newsletter - your go-to resource for actionable insights on workflow automation, marketing strategies, productivity hacks, and more. Meticulously curated for solopreneurs, SMBs, and anyone wrestling with the challenges of the growth gap, this newsletter is your golden key to more streamlined operations and faster growth. If this sounds like something you are interested in, then be sure to subscribe to see a new issue every other Tuesday.

Here is this week's issue...

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?? Favorite Automation Tool This Week

HeyGen.com

Need a quick explainer video for your website or maybe you just want to create a unique video business card...HeyGen.com has you covered and is a fun, easy to use AI Video Creation Tool I have been experimenting with quite a bit these past few weeks.

This AI video creator makes it simple to create quick videos using one of many AI avatars offered inside the app coupled with and your own unique content. You can add a script or upload an audio file of your own voice!

I have been combining HeyGen with ChatGPT and other AI tools to create unique videos for social media, websites, and knowledge base explainer videos.

Get a feel for how the videos look. Here is one I created using my own script and the HeyGen AI video generator. A little cheesy (so am I ??) but remember, tools like HeyGen are in their infancy so for this stage of the game, I don't think it is too bad.

What do you think? Imagine where this technology will be in a year! I hope you'll give it a try and if you already have, let me know your experience in the comments.

?? Featured Article

Your Biggest Opportunity for Growth is in the Back Office

Business leaders often focus innovation efforts on customer-facing functions like sales, marketing, and product development. But automating back office tasks can have an even bigger impact on growth, efficiency, and the bottom line.

The Back Office is Ripe for Automation

Our back offices include administrative departments handling internal business operations like accounting, HR, IT, and procurement. This area tends to be rife with manual, repetitive work such as:

• Data entry
• Forms processing
• Reporting
• Invoice handling
• Inventory tracking

While essential, these repetitive tasks are prime candidates for automation.

Benefits include:

• Cost savings?- Automation reduces labor expenses associated with manual work. AP automation alone can cut costs by 80%.
• Accuracy?- Software eliminates human error from repetitive tasks. This improves compliance and data quality.
• Speed?- Digital workers process tasks faster than humans without getting tired or distracted.
• Productivity?- Automation frees up employees for higher value work aligned with business goals.
• Scalability?- Digital workers can take on added volume without decline in performance.

Start in Accounts Payable for Quick Wins

A good place for most businesses to start is automating the accounts payable process. AP automation provides rapid time and cost savings by streamlining repetitive invoice processing tasks like:

• Data entry from paper invoices
• Invoice routing for approvals
• Matching invoices to purchase orders
• Sending payments

This alleviates invoice bottlenecks so vendors get paid faster. Employees can then focus on value-added work like spend analysis rather than monotonous data entry.

Top Areas to Automate in the Back Office

Beyond AP, below are five back office areas where automation can have an huge impact on efficiency and growth:

Accounting and Finance

• Accounts payable/receivable
• Expense report processing
• Journal entries
• General ledger reconciliations
• Month-end close

Human Resources

• Recruiting and onboarding
• Employee record updating
• Benefits administration
• Timesheet processing
• Training assignments

Procurement and Supply Chain

• Purchase order creation
• Inventory tracking
• Logistics coordination
• Billing and invoicing
• Budget vs. actual reporting

IT and Customer Service

• Password resets
• Email response
• FAQ bots
• Service ticket classification
• Hardware/software inventory

Legal and Compliance

• Contract review and abstraction
• Regulatory report generation
• Policy monitoring
• Records management
• Audit preparation

Reallocating Human Capital to the Front Office

As back office tasks are automated, resources can be shifted to boost innovation and growth in customer-facing roles:

• Sales?- Automation gives salespeople more time to interact with prospects and close deals.
• Marketing?- Repetitive tasks like lead nurturing and social media posts can be automated to allow focus on strategy.
• Customer Service?- Bots can handle common customer inquiries freeing agents for complex issues.
• Product Development?- Reduced administration gives product teams more bandwidth for innovation.

Automating back office processes is a high-return way to drive business growth by reducing costs, improving efficiency and refocusing talent. To learn more about how workflow automation can transform your back office, please comment below or message me directly. I'm happy to discuss options tailored to your business needs and show how automation can save your business time and money. By working together, we can map out an automation strategy enabling you to scale, adapt and thrive in today's fast-changing business landscape.

?? Automation Spotlight?

In this week's Automation Spotlight, I'm focusing on Marketing Automation with #KeapCRM.

This Marketing Automation 101 video walks you through a standard webinar campaign flow inside Keap Max Classic and how to set this up for your own business. This concept can easily be adapted to your own CRM, but if you have any questions about it, let me know in the comments.

Want to try Keap? Get a free 14 day trial (no CC required) by using my partner link here.

That's all for this issue. If there is a specific flow, tool or automation that you'd like to see in an upcoming issue of The Automation Advantage, let me know in the comments.

Automate, Accelerate, Grow!

#workflowautomation #marketingautomationtools #processautomation

*This article may contain affiliate links. I may receive a small commission if you purchase through these links at no additional cost to you.