IT automation has become a recurring topic of conversation in recent times. To give you an idea of its popularity, a quick Google search brings up more than 307 million results in less than half a second!
That’s because there are a number of very important reasons to consider IT automation for your business and they are the effect it can have on productivity, accuracy, competitive advantage and profitability.
If you’re looking to automate aspects of your business, we’ve got some recommendations on where you might like to get started:
Automating for productivity
Hiring staff: The recruitment industry has been using software to automate processes for years now and this is something that is easy for other businesses to replicate. Tasks such as resume screening, pre-qualifying candidates and onboarding can all be automated to free up human resources staff for face-to-face interviews, performance management and other skilled tasks.
Menial work: Reducing the number of hours employees spend on tedious duties frees up their time to work on projects that have a bigger impact on the business (and have the added benefit of making work more enjoyable, which increases staff engagement and retention).
PwC estimates that 45% of work activities can be automated, and that this automation would save $2 trillion in global workforce costs. Imagine how that could impact your business.
Automating for accuracy
Testing: Previously, testing software for IT purposes was a manual process that involved a person, or multiple people, sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time and completing a test plan. Human error will occur at the best of times, but especially during tasks such as this. Automation instead allows a tester to create scripts that run the appropriate tests and match back against predicted outcomes. The added benefit here is that tests can be run continuously, allowing for more accuracy and reduced downtime.
Security: Automation can also be used to harm businesses. Cyber-attacks are automated to cause the most damage possible in the shortest amount of time, so a carefully planned approach is needed when defending your organisation.
One of our partners Palo Alto puts this perfectly ‘To successfully protect against automated attacks, it is essential to fight fire with fire – or in this case, machine with machine – by incorporating automation into cybersecurity efforts.’
We’re experts in defining, implementing and monitoring security requirements for businesses of all sizes, and we’re always ready to have a conversation about how you can build the best cyber security solution for your individual needs.
Automating for competitive advantage
Customer service: Feedback is an area which can be easily automated with big results. A simple, yet highly effective way to create change within a business is to create surveys and feedback forms that allow customers to provide information about what they did and didn’t like about their experience. Automation flows can send these requests, manage the housing of the resulting data in a marketing platform or CRM, and alert the relevant people to any issues that need attention. This is truly a case of knowledge = power.
Product offering: Providing a product or service quickly, accurately and with outstanding customer service is the key to your competitive advantage.
Simplification of the supply chain in the past occurred largely due to advances in automation such as robotics and barcoding (just to name a couple). Cloud, machine learning, customer service and marketing automation tools have taken this to the next level and can be the difference between gaining and retaining a customer or losing them to the competition.
Automating for profitability
Like most aspects of running a business, there are costs involved in automation. The key is to define which areas will benefit most and how to effectively implement these tools to create efficiencies in resourcing, security and operations - all of which impact your bottom line.
The Missing Link can help you define the right solution for your business so that you can reduce costs and increase revenue and profits over time. Interested in starting a conversation?
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