It has been long-held in business that waste is a thief. Waste of any kind affects the bottom line of any business, whether it is a waste of a resource, like paper or photocopier toner, or employees wasting time by not working at all. When we make a business more efficient, we increase the capacity we have for work, and nature abhors a vacuum. More work will fill that capacity, making the business more profitable.
Technology is allowing businesses of all kinds to use automation to make them more efficient, by taking simple computer-based tasks off the desks of managers and workers and giving them more time to produce output. This is especially true in the IT departments of large corporations or for the resident computer guru of a smaller enterprise, as a number of their repetitive and time-consuming tasks can be automated to give them more time to concentrate on other work.
Automate Digital Marketing
You can use automation to handle a lot of digital marketing tasks, such as sending marketing emails and newsletters. They can also track user interaction with the email, so you can see if the email is opened and read or sent to a junk folder. With so many social media accounts to handle, automation allows you to post across multiple platforms and coordinate your social media campaigns.
Network Administration
Many businesses are using large networks to help their employees, and sometimes customers, communicate more effectively. Automated Network and Application Monitoring is often used to ensure constant and secure network connections, while monitoring network traffic, letting an IT professional or amateur spend more time fixing problems.
Automate Accounting
Many simple accounting tasks can be automated, such as invoicing or chasing customers up for late payment. Many accounting details are standardized and have details that can be filled in from a database. A program can use calendar data to monitor a client’s account and ensure it is balanced in an appropriate amount of time. Automated accounting programs can give a manager live updates and regular summaries of accounts, and take care of basic paperwork for them.
Triage Problems, and Solve Them
Some businesses are using online ‘chatbots’ for customer service. Available any time of the day, a chatbot can help a customer find the information they need to solve a problem or take them further to the right department. Customers are getting increasingly used to this, and often cannot tell that they are communicating with a simple online computer program.
Using automation to help your business can increase profits, and worker and customer satisfaction at the same time. With fewer repetitive and administrative tasks, workers spend more time doing more varied and important work. Customers receive more information and can possibly get some online help and direction, at any time of the day. Automation can do a lot to help any business build up the bottom line, by increasing their efficiency. Time is money for any company, save some time and money with some automation.
