The world of business is constantly changing, and a big part of that is due to rapid advancements in technology. Most recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken center stage for its ability to process data at unprecedented speeds and perform a variety of human-like tasks. Then, there are the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic changed things, vastly advancing telecommunications and making remote work a far more viable option. 

In this article, though, you’ll learn about how software automation redefines the established norm. Automation is no longer just factory-based, and you’ll likely be surprised at the myriad of ways your business can be improved by embracing modern methods. 

How Automation Can Improve the Efficiency of Any Business

First, it’s key to understand how automation software can help in a broader sense and why you should be interested in it:

1. Cost Reduction

One of the biggest ways software automation can help you run your business is by lessening costs. Time is money, and daily operations that can be automated drastically reduce the need for manual work. The less work that needs to be done, the cheaper running your business becomes, enabling you to prioritize resources where they matter most.  

2. Increasing Productivity

Automation isn’t simply about replacing human work but supporting it. When an employee has to focus on a number of small but laborious tasks surrounding the project at hand, it can be easy to lose sight of the overall goal and get bogged down in the minutia. If automation software can tackle this stuff so that your staff doesn’t have to, they have more time to spend and can achieve greater focus on the core elements. 

This is a win-win, allowing you to get more out of your team and ensuring they’re not bored with their role and are engaged in work that actually challenges them. 

3. Powerful Data Analysis

In order to succeed, nearly all businesses have to do data analysis in one form or another, and if you’ve had to do this by hand, you know how time-consuming it can be. 

Data analysis is a big part of software automation. The latest programs can process huge amounts of data at once – far more than you’d feasibly be able to handle on your own. Not only this, but the results are more accurate; when you’re crunching big numbers and several people are involved, there’s bound to be human error introduced somewhere, but software usually always gets things right the first time and can constantly cross-reference in case any errors are introduced. 

The Application of Software Automation in Various Areas of Your Business 

Now that you understand how automation can help in the broad sense, here are some key areas of your business where the technology is most useful:

Finance and Accounting

The above section touched on the usefulness of software automation when it comes to data analysis, and one of the main areas in which those tools are useful for this is finance and accounting. 

For example, AP automation software can be extremely useful for managing all that’s involved with supplier invoices and payments, vastly reducing time spent entering pages of numbers and greatly improving the accuracy of the job as a whole. 

Marketing and Sales Automation

Every business understands the importance of great marketing; what use is a fantastic product if you can never reach your target audience? 

While marketing is a very human-driven process, that doesn’t mean there aren’t certain aspects that are better handled with software. Platforms like Marketo and HubSpot can help businesses seamlessly track customer interactions automatically across all channels (web pages, social media, email, and more), and many customer relationship management (CRM) platforms have started to integrate automated marketing tools for a more cohesive, centralized package. 

Customer Service

One of the more recent automation innovations is associated with the customer service space. Rudimentary automation has been in place for years over phone lines, but this has arguably caused more frustration for customers rather than strengthening relationships.

These days, though, AI-driven chatbots are all the rage. By utilizing the technology of large language models (LLMs), AI chatbots can handle a large proportion of customer inquiries and provide thoughtful, human-like answers. This can significantly lessen the burden on administrative staff, and the tech is also expected to be rolled out for customer phone helplines across the board soon. 

Inventory Management

Managing inventory can take a huge collaborative effort between you and your team, and there likely never seem enough hours in the day to get everything done. 

Thankfully, there have been major advancements in how automation software can help take the load off. Tools like Oracle NetSuite can perform complex operations to make supply chain management and tracking stock levels a breeze, and once again, with greater accuracy. 

How to Implement Automation Software Into Your Business

So, the question is, how can you make this stuff work for you? What sort of automation software you’ll benefit from most will of course depend on your personal needs, so here’s some guidance for making the decision:

1. Determining Your Needs

The first step is taking a top-down look at your business and determining which areas could do with greater efficiency. In most businesses – even ones that are running well – one or two areas are causing a bottleneck. Conduct an internal audit to identify these areas, and from there, you can start to investigate which software automation packages would be most appropriate. 

2. Choosing the Software

Deciding upon the right software isn’t just about picking something that aligns with the job you want to automate: the size of the business, how many staff you have, and the sort of industry you work in are each relevant factors. Once you’ve identified the tools you need, shop around to find a package that aligns as closely as possible with how your business operates – most companies offer different plans to suit a wide variety of needs, so give each developer a call to see what they can provide. 

Try Before You Buy

If a free trial is available, use it! Many packages offer their software for a month or more to allow time for businesses to decide whether it’s right for them, and this can save you from wasting your money on the wrong product.

Even if a product seems perfect on the surface, it can be very difficult to know until you’ve integrated it into your workflow and spent some time in the trenches. If no trial is available, developers these days typically work on a subscription basis anyway, so you can pay a small fee to try it for a month, and if you don’t like it, you haven’t wasted large amounts of cash on an extortionate up-front cost. 

Training Your Employees

Remember: even sophisticated automation software is only as efficient as the people operating it. You don’t want to create another bottleneck by having you or your staff unable to get to grips with the tools, so make sure you invest time learning the platform properly and teaching others (many packages have their own tutorials built in, so make use of them). 

Wrapping Up

You should now have a better idea of the numerous ways in which automation software can help you run your business more efficiently. It may be that you’d benefit from two or more pieces at once, and while this might be a big investment, it’ll be more than worth it for the savings you make and the better customer relationships you’re able to develop.