Business Automation Process: How to Automate Processes?

Automation can save employees up to 6 weeks of time per year. For business leaders, automation provides up to 9 weeks of time saved annually. If you could have an extra 9 weeks of time, what could you accomplish?

Given these impressive metrics, organizations are quickly turning to business automation process solutions. We’re going to look at how robotic process automation can make workflows simpler and review what types of business process automation you can implement.

Coming Up

What is Business Process Automation?

What is a Business Process?

How is BPA and Robotic Process Automation Connected?

What are the Benefits of Business Process Automation?

Which Business Processes Should You Automate?

What are Examples of a Business Automation Process?

How to Automate Business Processes?

Closing Thoughts

What is Business Process Automation?

Business process automation is the use of technology to streamline and execute otherwise manual and repetitive tasks. As a result of business process automation software, employees and business leaders alike have more time to focus on high-level and strategic tasks as opposed to data-heavy, tedious, and stressful tasks.

Business process automation is not intended to replace the need for humans, but rather it augments and enhances their capabilities so that they can allocate their intellect and capacity towards projects that require human thought.

What is a Business Process?

Business processes are sets of activities and tasks that help businesses to accomplish their goals. For business processes that are fit for automation, think of any process that is repetitive in nature, relies on data, and is necessary to fulfill other responsibilities.

Business processes typically involve various systems and software, as well as people. That’s why it’s useful to leverage an automation software like SolveXia that can connect all of your existing and legacy data systems so that nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

With SolveXia, you can streamline account reconciliations, regulatory reporting, expense management, and more. You reap the benefits of analysis and insights while removing the need for manual processes, so your team can focus on high value tasks and reduce costly errors.

How is BPA and Robotic Process Automation Connected?

When discussing the business automation process, we’d be remiss if we didn’t distinguish the difference between business process automation and robotic process automation.

Although they sound very similar, they have their own nuances. In a sense, robotic process automation can be viewed as a subset of business process automation.

Think of it like this:

1. Robotic Process Automation (RPA):

RPA uses trained bots to execute actions that a human would otherwise conduct. RPA can be used for repetitive tasks that are highly structured and do not deviate.

For example, RPA is highly effective to manage tasks that don’t require decision making, such as logging into a system each day to collect data.

2. Business Process Automation (BPA):

While you may utilize RPA as a part of BPA, business process automation is more broad in that it looks at end-to-end processes and involves automation of both the individual tasks, as well as the workflows.

What are the Benefits of Business Process Automation?

When you introduce any business automation process into your organization, you’ll quickly notice the results are astounding. There are several benefits to be seen and felt at all levels, including:

1. Transparency

With a software solution that automates simple and complex workflows, every person who has a stake in the process will always be aware of its status. This helps to reduce delays, increase visibility, and even allows for the opportunity for anyone to share ideas on how to improve processes along the way.

2. Efficiency

Of course, the most notable benefit of adding automation into your workflows will be the immense efficiency you can achieve. This is because process automation manages tasks for your team, reduces errors, and streamlines activities so that there are no bottlenecks or key person dependencies to slow you down.

3. Consistency

When you have many moving parts within your organization, along with office locations and remote workers, it can become difficult to replicate processes and standardize them from A to Z.

With automation software, this is inherently the case. Every process will run the same way, every time, and can be executed seamlessly and more quickly, so the frequency can be increased, should you wish to do so.

4. Scalability

A huge strain on many organizations when they are growing tends to be manpower. There are only so many hands involved and hours in a day to get things done. When you have process automation software like SolveXia by your side, you can replicate and repeat processes at any degree so that no business growth will ever be thwarted due to a lack of capacity.

Which Business Processes Should You Automate?

It all sounds great, doesn’t it? Now it’s time to think about where to begin!

1. Defining Your Processes

Begin identifying processes for automation by first defining your processes. This way, you can visualize and see what processes are running to consider.

2. Asking Questions

The next step is to ask a few important questions, like:

• Is the process repetitive?
• Does it run on a set schedule or have deadlines?
• Is there a lot of data involved?
• Does the process take a lot of your time?

If you’re saying yes to these questions, it’s a great candidate for automation. Alternatively, if the process calls for human thought, creativity, and strategy, it’s best to avoid automating it.

3. Testing the Process

When you’re ready to automate any process, it’s best to start on a small scale so you can check the results before implementing it broadly.

When you use a tool like SolveXia, you can start automating in less than 30 minutes because the solution is low-code/no-code. As you automate the process, you can analyze the results of doing so before you start rolling out the change to all.

What are Examples of a Business Automation Process?

To better understand where you can bring in any business automation process, here’s a look at business process automation examples.

HR Processes

Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding follow the same flow each time, but they can become overly time-consuming and strenuous.

Rather than having your team focus on the menial tasks associated with onboarding, this process can be automated so that HR can spend time focused on people instead. Ultimately, that’s the goal!

Finance

Finance functions are of utmost importance in any business. That being said, there are a ton of regimented processes that have to take place in a timely manner in order to keep finances in order.

Finance automation software, such as SolveXia, can help automate expense management, account reconciliation, rebate management, regulatory reporting, and APRA reporting, to name a few.

Check out more business automation process examples here.

How to Automate Business Processes?

Once you’re ready to start automating business processes, take with you the following suggestions to make the most out of your journey:

1. Define Business Goals

This helps to ensure that all processes are working towards goals. It also helps to prioritize which processes to automate first.

2. Identify the Target

Outline and visualize the process as you wish it to be with the help of automation.

3. Assess Tools and Resources

Ensure that you have the right tools and all your human resources are on board to move in the new direction.

4. Implement Automation

With a tool like SolveXia, you can be up and running with automation in no time. This is because the system is already set up with preconfigured workflows. Should you wish to customize them further, anyone can do so using drag-and-drop functionality. Then, you can let the process run on its own.

5. Monitor

Business process automation can be a game changer for all industries. Once you implement automation, be sure to leverage analytics and monitor the results to ensure you’re getting what you had hoped to.

Closing Thoughts

With your business automation process set up and running smoothly, you’ll notice how much more time you’ll have on your hands to focus on the big picture items and responsibilities.

The most crucial and sensitive processes can be automated so that you no longer spend time repeating tedious tasks or running into manual errors, which can ultimately affect compliance and the bottom line.

To check out how a business automation solution like SolveXia can work in your favor, we invite you to book a demo!