Mid-Year Checkup: Automation for Efficiency Webinar Recap

‍Explore the transformative power of automation for businesses.

In our recent webinar, industry experts Chris Hadden and Danica Weappa took us on a journey into the transformative power of automation for businesses. The webinar explored how automation can revolutionize your business by enhancing productivity and efficiency. Let's dive into the key highlights:

Check out the full webinar here:

Introduction

Automation is not new. It currently plays a crucial role in our everyday lives, from GPS navigation and out-of-office replies to bill pay and smart home device tasks.

For businesses, automation has the potential to increase efficiency, reduce stress, and save time. Recently, with the introduction of ChatGPT - the transformative AI solution developed by OpenAI – there has been a revolution in the way businesses handle routine tasks and customer interactions.  

We polled our webinar attendees to see what concerns, if any, they have about the potential risks associated with automation. See a breakdown of their responses here.

No new technology is without risks, so it’s important for business leaders to weigh the pros and cons of any change to their processes. Automation has many significant advantages for businesses – so let’s dive into those now.

Why Automation Matters

Automation plays a vital role in today's fast-paced and highly competitive business landscape. It enables businesses to achieve various goals, including cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and enhanced customer experiences.

By streamlining processes, minimizing errors, and providing employees with more time to focus on high-value tasks, automation becomes a powerful ally for businesses. In fact, according to McKinsey, automation has the potential to boost global productivity growth by 0.8-1.4% annually.

What Automation Can Do for Your Customers

In today's customer-centric world, personalization is key. Automation helps businesses engage with customers through chatbots, self-service portals, and automated notifications, providing the personalized experiences customers expect. By delivering faster and more accurate service while maintaining personalized interactions, businesses can counter rising costs, increase efficiency, and make data-driven decisions to add value to customer interactions.  

What Automation Can Do for Your Employees

Automation empowers employees by freeing them from repetitive tasks and allowing them to focus on more creative and engaging responsibilities. By automating workflows, data entry, and other repetitive tasks, employees experience reduced stress, increased job satisfaction, and a more productive workplace. In fact, 90% of knowledge workers report that automation has improved their workplace life.

What Automation Can Do for Your Business Processes

Automation brings significant positive impacts to various aspects of business operations. By streamlining processes, reducing errors, and improving data accuracy, businesses can achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness. Accounting, payroll, HR tasks, and administrative processes can all benefit from automation, freeing up team members to focus on strategic initiatives. Additionally, process intelligence tools continuously optimize automated systems, delivering advanced results and driving success in critical areas such as accounting and payroll.

We polled our webinar attendees to see what automation technologies, if any, their business has explored already. See a breakdown of their responses here.

While AI dominates many conversations today, businesses have already embraced automation in numerous back-end processes. Fortunately, the advancements in process intelligence tools continuously enhance year after year, providing businesses with new opportunities to explore.

How to Move Forward with Automation

To ensure successful implementation, it is crucial to follow essential steps when embracing automation. Craft a clear automation strategy and identify processes suitable for automation. Assess current processes, select the right technology, and design workflows that maximize efficiency. Employee training and involvement play key roles in the successful adoption of automation, leading to increased collaboration, improved cybersecurity, enhanced compliance, and more.

We polled our webinar attendees to see which area of their business they believe could benefit the most from automation. See a breakdown of their responses here.

While automation holds tremendous potential, it's crucial to carefully consider what processes are best suited for automation. The reality is that certain processes are better handled manually. A prime example is customer service, where many of us have experienced frustration with automated chatbots. It's essential to thoughtfully evaluate which areas and processes would truly benefit from automation.

Harness the Power of Automation  

By embracing automation, businesses can unlock new levels of productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. To learn more about unlocking the potential of automation for your business, download our FREE eBook.