How To Make Automation Work For Business

There’s an app for everything to manage your inbox, marketing, HR and business operations. We've got all the tips for the right automation to significantly impact on our business success and mental wellbeing.

There’s an app for everything to manage your inbox, marketing, HR and business operations. We’ve got all the tips on How To Make Automation Work For Business.

Whether small, medium or corporate, all businesses need to complete the same tasks – the only difference being the number of people to complete them. The right automation can significantly impact on our business success and mental wellbeing.

Automation uses technology to control and monitor the production and delivery of goods and services with the aim to repeatedly achieve the same results. Automation works in our favour by simplifying our day while making our lifestyle and job more efficient. The results save on labour, energy and materials with an increase in quality, accuracy and precision. From making coffee to paying bills, steering ships or operating machinery, automation has been present in our life since the 1700s to infiltrate almost every hour of modern life. For small to medium businesses, challenges specifically revolve around processes, time management, scalability and skill sets; all challenges automation can solve.

In our previous article, we noted while we’re a small business, this doesn’t mean we have to think small. It comes to a matter of

• thinking strategically
• being efficient
• using our unique selling points
• offering great service
• creating community
• innovating, and
• using technology to our advantage

There have been dramatic advances in technology across the last few decades to disrupt the economy. As the costs of a bricks and mortar business reaches astronomical heights, businesses can still reach customers around the world with an electronic device, the internet, a website, cloud based systems and social media. Technology drives business at a cost-effective price.

From remembering passwords to handling our accounts, workforce and payments, organising business, managing time, scheduling social media, sending out newsletters and special offers or storing files, every task now has an app to automate business and streamline processes. Automation allows for an accessible and affordable pool of skills while freeing up time to focus on what matters most to every business owner: their product and customer relationships.

The sooner we embrace automation and incorporate into our business culture, the sooner business will become more efficient, reducing operating costs and improving scalability. Here's why.

Reduce Operating Costs

Automation is an investment. When you understand your business and the processes to run it, you’ll also be able to evaluate gauge which systems are the best for the ultimate rewards. Automation reduces operating costs for scalability, errors, time, training and turnaround times.

Processes Are Scalable

As the latest buzzword, "Scalable" allows business to be balanced, changed and proportioned.

By implementing automated processes, replicated tasks allows for success to translate to saving time, frustration and money.

Sending 100 marketing emails from your private email account might be offer a personal touch, but it is incredibly time consuming. eMarketing systems like MailChimp, Hubspot and Active Campaign sets up a template and uploads a database for those 100 emails to be easily and efficiently sent.

Be Efficient & Effective

Software as a Service SaaS allows users to connect to and use cloud-based apps online. Online software is available at the click of a mouse to accomplish tasks faster and more effectively, from

• managing accounts on Xero and MYOB
• managing clients on Salesforce
• managing your calendar, documents and files with Google
• streamlining team communications for projects with Slack or
• scheduling and tracking social media with Hootsuite or Buffer

automation is making us bigger, better, faster and stronger in business.

Save Time

Every business owner wants to focus on the fun side of business: building customer relationships and creating new ideas to improve your product and service, and expand. But the heavy tasks of managing customers and handling paperwork and admin ends up chewing into valuable time. Through automation, the clunky repetitive processes and tasks can redirect our attention to what matters most.

• Asana helps with managing large scale projects by assigning and tracking tasks
• Toggl gauges your time so you learn where your time is most spent
• Evernote stores notes, lists and images
• Lastpass stores and manages all your passwords
• Dropbox & Google Drive stores, manages and allows for your files and documents to be shared