It’s no secret that Automation has the power to transform your business’ processes, especially when it comes to IT.
Adam Bovan, Director of Managed IT Services Provider Singularitee Limited, explains how small and large organisations can utilise Automation to significantly enhance their productivity, reduce costly IT overheads and boost their growth.
Firstly, what is Automation?
Automation is often misunderstood and shied away from. However, it’s all about considering the repetitive tasks that you and your team do on a daily basis and seeing how you can automate them.
It could, for example, be moving files around, forwarding specific emails or sending documents; all those mundane jobs you do regularly that you could, quite frankly, do without.
By getting a computer to do this, you can focus on your main duties, which are probably a lot more interesting!
A computer doesn’t get bored, it doesn’t mind waiting for something to happen and it doesn’t mind checking something every half an hour. As long as you tell it to do something, it will do it, no questions asked.
However, a member of staff might get bored, they may become busy and only get round to checking once a day, or they may even take the day off. If this happens, the task or process won’t be completed.
What are the key benefits of Automation, for small and large businesses?
On a small scale, automation helps smaller organisations focus on what they do best, rather than wasting precious time on the repetitive stuff.
Meanwhile, a larger company can benefit enormously if they have complex approval routes and workflows. Instead of hiring multiple people, they will only need one person to oversee the job if they utilise Automation.
The core advantages of Automation include standardisation of processes, greater productivity and reduced human error. And, of course, it can reduce the capital outlay of your company. Why hire six employees to carry out tasks that can be achieved by one person and a machine?
Yet it goes beyond this by encouraging things like higher staff retention, because your team is getting the opportunity to develop skills and gain valuable experience, rather than worrying about IT processes or emails.
It’s all about regarding and using IT effectively as a tool, rather than seeing it as a burden.
How can businesses go about introducing Automation into their workday?
Start with identifying those dull tasks. With my clients, I simply sit next to them and observe what they do on an average day.
From here, we can work out what could potentially be automated.
The next step is to document exactly how you achieve this job by noting down every single step in the process. This bit can be quite time-consuming, but it’s certainly worth it in the end.
Then, it’s time to ask the question “Can we automate this?” or “Is there someone who can automate this for us?”.
There are a number of solutions depending on the task you are trying to automate. Often, it’s a case of buying a piece of software that could do the job for you. Otherwise, you could get a professional to write a script tailored to your specific requirements.
You can find out more about Automation by contacting Adam Bovan at adam.bovan@singularitee.co.uk. For more information about Singularitee Limited, please visit their website. https://singularitee.co.uk