Why, How, and What Small Businesses Should Automate

Automation is transforming the ways small businesses operate. 

Once considered dangerous to small business survival, business automation is becoming the key to small business growth and scaling. Automation was once only available to large companies with cash to spend. Today, more and more small businesses and entrepreneurs are able to automate business processes as a way to manage costs, introduce new capabilities, and free up valuable hours better spent generating revenue.

No longer just animatronic robotic arms replacing humans on advanced assembly line floors, business automation uses technology applications to perform repetitive tasks. Today's business automation includes software platforms, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and artificial intelligence (AI) to power processes. 

Cloud technology has freed companies from the expense of buying complex hardware server towers and hiring teams of IT specialists to maintain them. The entrance fee to modern applications is now low enough for many cash-conscious small business owners to consider how business automation might help their operations… and they are finding terrific success! 

In a 2017 survey that interviewed 500 small businesses, Salesforce discovered that companies that automate some of their processes are 1.6-times more likely to grow than those that don't.

Intuitive automation platforms are not only helping small businesses grow and scale, but they can also help a small business owner get back to focusing on the special sauce of what their unique small business offers the marketplace – custom, personalized interactions, and specialized service offerings.

WHAT TO AUTOMATE

Freed up from the hours spent doing something a software program can complete in minutes, business owners can focus more on sales, networking, strategic growth planning, and innovation. Likewise, small businesses that adopt automation don't have to pour resources into hiring additional staff members or paying to revamp out-of-date operations. Automation can keep businesses streamlined and agile. Additionally, incorporating automation into small business processes can help a small business owner operate their company more smoothly and without human error, which saves additional company dollars.

If you are a small business owner, consider looking into these areas first as you begin your automation journey:

• Marketing and Sales Processes

Making deals and closing sales will likely always require human involvement. But innovations in marketing technologies allow small businesses to reach wider audiences and increase sales potential. Marketing automation software targets customers on multiple channels with a consistent and cohesive strategy. Email, social media, and websites are united in their outreach to potential clients through automation integrations. This allows a business owner to generate more new leads and act more quickly on inquiries and website visits. Inexpensive and effective automation software programs like ActiveCampaign, Keep, Hubspot, and Ontraport can operate the baseline for your marketing endeavors and expand as you grow to accommodate your business's future needs.

• Customer Relations Management and Customer Service

Automating some of your customer relations management (CRM) can help a small business build better, longer-lasting customer relationships. CRMs can maintain your client database, create drip campaigns and track contact points with potential customers and active clients. The client's journey becomes seamless with current cloud-based CRM tools, ensuring no balls are dropped, and no future customers are missed. Most CRM systems can help manage leads, alert to new opportunities, forecast sales, and even help to identify cyclical trends. CRM tools like Salesforce Sales Cloud, Pipedrive, and Zoho can help you deliver the type of customer experience that will help you convert more leads into sales.

• Finance and Accounting

A large percentage of small businesses still rely entirely on human accountants to handle their companies' finances, even though automation exist that cut down on hours and helps prevent errors. Accounting automation helps to reconfigure workflows from manual, formulaic tasks. Software bots mimic human activity using robotic processing automation (RPA). The bots can repeat tasks faster and more accurately than even the most experienced human. Copying and pasting data, interpreting applications, and processing transactions can happen smoothly behind the scenes. And you can start small! Even relatively simple changes to your accounting process can make a difference. For example, optical character recognition (OCR) software can scan and digitize receipts, saving hours and inevitable data-entry mistakes. These developments in automated payment processing can speed up the time between invoices submitted and bills paid, keeping clients and employees happy and content. Some accounting automation technologies to look into are Xero, Intuit QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Wave.

START SMALL

If starting your automation journey still seems daunting, try starting with something smaller.

Automating your appointment scheduling is an excellent entry to more complex business process automation. Software like Calendly or Calendarwiz helps de-conflict schedules when booking appointments and allows potential clients to find time with you when it works best for both parties. Gone is the back-and-forth trying to settle on a day or time. The flexibility and ease (automatic reminders!) of an appointment scheduling platform will save you time and energy – the ultimate goal of all business automation.

Automation in a tiny area - like calendar management - can help you see the potential for where it will work for your business in other areas.

Finally, if automation interests you but technology is not your thing, reach out to Freedom Makers Virtual Services! Our military spouse virtual assistants are trained on a wide variety of automated technologies and platforms. They are well versed in new cloud-based technologies and can help you identify and figure out the right platforms for your business.