What is Business Process Automation? [10 Basic Questions Answered]

Ever Heard of Business Process Automation? If you are an aspiring Business Owner, you must have heard this but somewhere you might be intimidated by its complexity or technicality. So, Here we will be trying to cover almost all of the questions you might have around "Business Process Automation"

So, Let’s Start...!!

1.????What is Business Process Automation?

Business + Process + Automation simply means that the processes or the activities or simply the TASKS which you or your Employees have been performing in your Business i.e. Office or at Work can be automated i.e. it happens Automatically (which means NO/ Negligible Human Intervention is made)?

2.???What kind of Business Processes (i.e. tasks) can be Automated?

In short and simple word, we have a 3R-Litmus test to identify what tasks can be automated. Any Tasks which follows the below criteria can be Automated :

??????I.?????????Rule Based : The tasks should a logical steps driven tasks , with no subjectivity or Human Intelligence. So, such Logical , Yes/No tasks will be classified as a Rule Based Tasks.

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????II.?????????Repetitive: The tasks should not be a One Time task. It can be a tasks being done for every customer , each day, or may be a task being done once a Year but for 100 customers individually. Both cases, it would be a Repetitive task.

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??III.?????????Resource Draining: The tasks should be such that it requires lot of resources in terms of Manpower , Time or Money. (That’s why you would want to save these by Automating it)

If you wish to understand more , we have a complete blog Covering this topic on How to identify tasks for automation.

3. What are some example of Business Processes that can be automated ?

Though , we have a tons of blogpost , Videos and use cases for Business processes which we have automated, We would still stick to some of the Most generic Business Processes that can be easily Automated with Zero Cost.

(We have Hyper-linked with respective Blog post / video links wherever possible)

·??????Sales Invoice Generation in Bulk through Excel

·??????Applying Digital Signature in Multiple Pdf at once

·??????Sending Invoices as attachment to Customers in Bulk with Customized Emails (Email Automation)

·??????Combining / Splitting Pdf files in Bulk without third Party Websites

·??????Automating the Sales Excel MIS Reporting

·??????Reconciliation of GSTR2A/2B with Purchase Register

·??????Combining GSTR2A / 2B Excel

·??????Converting JSON files to Excel and vice Versa in Bulk.

·??????Consolidating and Summarize PDF File tables into Excel.

·??????Automating Entries in Tally or any of your Accounting Software

·??????Extracting date , pdf files from websites …and list goes on!!!

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Multiple Videos on such tasks automation hosted on our YouTube Channel “Efficient Corporates” . (Do consider Subscribe and Share :-)

4.??How does a Business Process Automation Look Like?

So, let me give you a few examples?

·??????Suppose, you have to manually send invoices to the Customers with their Name, Due date for payment and Amount Due. If we are in BPA Scenario, you would simply have to fill in the to, Cc, Body, Subject in an Excel File and Press a button (created in excel itself) which will automatically obtain details from excel and send individual mails to all concerned (You can view our Video on YouTube on this)

·??????In case you need to download multiple reports from multiple different sites and then Merge and apply VLOOKUP’s to prepare a final data for the PPT. So, you can instead have an automated script which will auto run in particular time during the day and generate all those report on daily basis. (With No Human Intervention)

So, Business Process Automation looks like having a Personal Assistant or Intern who will do all the repetitive Mundane and Monotonous tasks that you loathe to do.

5. What are the benefit of Business Process Automation?

One direct Benefit of BPA is Drastic Reduction of Human Manhours. A Business Process is labelled as “Automated” when we reduce the Human intervention to 10% of its original time.?(i.e., 10X Savings in time)

Other benefits of BPA are:

·??????Enhanced Accuracy

·??????Better Business Insights with Real Time Data Processing

·??????Improved Business Decisions

·??????Better Employee Productivity

·??????Employee Satisfaction and Work Life Balance

6. ?What is the Cost of Automation (Investment required?)

So, here is the deal Breaker, and We can bet Most of the people get it wrong. To most of the people Business Automation means Investing in CRM Software, Accounting Software, ERP Systems , Web Applications?, Dashboards and IT Support Team.

But, the Good News is, to start Automation the Cost required is Nil. Yes, you read that right. Cost of starting Automation is Absolutely Nil.

(We have a blog on 8 tasks you can automate with absolute Zero Cost)?

7. ???What are the Tools that we will be using for Automation?

Well, We know that we are not so tech friendly and don’t understand this tech tools so well, but believe me , the below tools are much more user friendly that you think . We have listed the tools to use in increasing order of capabilities.

(We have an individual blog Post on how these tools can be Super Useful for Business Process Automation)

·??????MS- Excel (Intermediate Level):

·??????MS- Excel- Power Query, Data Modelling -Power Pivot & power BI

·??????MS-Excel – VBA Macro Coding

·???????Third Party Apps

·??????RPA Tools like Power Automate, Zapier, UiPath, Automation Anywhere

·???????Python Programming

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Wandering which One is Our Favourite?

MS-Excel and Python are clear winners for Automation, as these are Free Tools with unlimited Capabilities. These are the Tools we Mostly use to provide Customized Solutions for our Clients.

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8.??What are the possible ways to Implement Business Automation in my Business?

As we said, Automation can be started with ZERO Cost. So, to start automation, below are the steps that one might follow: (We also have a Blog Post on “Complete Guide to Implementing Business Process Automation”)

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Step 1: Task Identification: As we had mentioned above, you need to first select at least 5 tasks which you believe fulfils the 3R criterial (Rule Based, Repetitive & resource Draining)

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Step 2: Analyse the Steps in the Tasks:?You need to then identify the major steps which is being done to complete the entire Business Process.

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Step 3A: Find for a Ready Made Application :Now, in case the steps are being done inside a MS-Excel File, then you can explore Power Query for steps automation and finalizing the data.

If the apps used are working insider the Microsoft Apps, you may consider using Power Automate for automating the same. (in Case of Google Sheets and Docs, you may consider using App Scripting in Google)

Step 3B: Make a Custom Built Application :Finally, if no tool is available online, you can take help of Python Programming to create the steps in Python and run the same to instruct computer to follow the steps. (Yes, you heard it right. We are living in the era of AI and making Applications is no more restricted to only the Computer Science Students)

(if you are intimated by hearing Coding, Worry not.. We can guarantee you that Python Coding is no harder than Learning Excel Formulas)- You can refer to our Beginner’s Guide to Python to get some knowledge on the same.

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9.???Can I Train My Employees to Implement Automation?

To your Surprise, A BIG YES...! You don’t need your Employees to come from an IT background. Anyone with Basic knowledge of Operating a Computer and A DEEP Learning desired can themselves learn automation and implement Automation for your Company.

We at “Efficient Corporates” believe that the best way for a Company to implement automation is through its employees. They are the most Talented Consultants for a Company.

(Know More about our Customized Training module specifically designed to suit the needs of your Companies)

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10.???What are the possible Ways in which “Efficient Corporates” can help me implement automation in my Business Processes?

Ohh… we are glad you asked that. Well, we have a couple of ways on how we can assist:

·??????You have lifetime free access to our Videos in our YouTube Channel “Efficient Corporates” on Business Process Automation where we share the end to end method of implementation of automation for your business. (You just have to Subscribe and share the love with your network)

·??????You can send us a mail request at [email protected] to add you to our Automation Telegram / Discord group , where you can discuss and brainstorm ideas and share your issues / queries/ use cases.

·??????You may book a one to one 20 mins consultation call (FOR FREE ) to discuss your business issues .

·??????If you wish to upskill and train your employees with a curated Content designed specifically for your Company, we can provide live training sessions based on the exact needs of the employees (Recordings of such sessions will be your exclusive property with life time access.)

·??????In case you wish us to assist you completely with some Business Process you want to automate, we at “Efficient Corporates” also provide customised solution for your specific use cases at the most affordable costs which are just ready to implement.

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So, Hope the blog Above Clarifies some of your doubts over the Term Business Process Automation. You might want to checkout Other blogs on our site .

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Do let us know, in case you have any other questions related to BPA in the Comments Section below.

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