Growing a small business is a challenge in managing limited resources, especially time. And with constant pressure to meet deadlines and reach goals, it’s easy to feel stretched thin. Routine tasks like data entry and scheduling appointments help keep the business moving, but they cost valuable time and effort you could be putting instead toward strategic growth.
Business process automation might offer the efficiency boost you’re looking for. Automating basic tasks can help you reduce costs, increase accuracy, and, perhaps most importantly, save valuable time that you can use to grow your business. Best of all, automation is now more accessible than ever for businesses of all sizes.
Here’s everything you need to know about using business process automation to boost your team’s performance and potentially free up hours each week.
What is business process automation?
Business process automation (BPA), also known as business automation, is a strategy that uses technology to complete routine tasks without manual input. Many companies use automation to unlock streamlined business processes across departments, cut administrative busywork from your team’s workload, and increase overall efficiency.
Automating business processes can be as straightforward as setting up an email autoresponder for a contact form, or as advanced as using an AI-powered chatbot for customer service. If you’ve never automated a process before, it might sound complicated—but anyone can do it, and any business can benefit from it.
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Do you need coding skills to automate business processes?
The good news for small business owners is you don’t need to be a coding expert to automate tasks. Many automation tools now are “low-code” or “no-code,” designed for users with little to no coding experience. Often these tools feature user-friendly, drag-and-drop interfaces that let you automate tasks in a couple of clicks.
While knowing how to code can help you customize more complex automations or create them from scratch—like custom API integrations or data processing scripts—it’s by no means necessary. With the right tools, any business owner can discover and act on valuable automation opportunities in their processes.
What role does artificial intelligence play in business automation?
Artificial intelligence (AI) can make automation even more powerful by analyzing data, predicting outcomes, and making decisions—allowing you to automate more complex tasks with confidence.
Not all business process automation relies on AI. Some of the most effective automations are simple, rule-based functions, like setting your out-of-office email response when you go on holiday. And not all businesses need AI-powered automation—for example, if you’ve recently launched your business and only have a very small pool of customer data to work with, you may not benefit from AI-powered predictive analytics.
But if you’re scaling your business and want to start automating more complex tasks—like setting dynamic pricing based on demand for your products, or finding patterns in larger data sets to predict user behavior—AI can be a powerful asset.
Why should you automate business processes?
Automation can take hours of busywork out of your team’s day and let them focus on what really matters: creating value. It’s especially useful for small businesses that need to make the most of limited resources and quickly adapt to changing demands. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of business process automation.
Better productivity
Automating tedious tasks can significantly speed up your operations. Take inventory management: You can use software to automatically track your stock levels and place orders when they’re low, all in a fraction of the time it would take a team member to sort through and log every item. This not only frees up your team to focus on higher value work—it keeps your business running smoothly with fewer disruptions.
Lower costs
You can keep your team lean and reduce operational costs with automated processes that streamline workflows. With optimized resource allocation, you can pinpoint exactly how many team members you need for each project, cut redundant tasks from your workload, and minimize downtime.
Less risk of error
When it comes to repetitive tasks that don’t require critical thinking, human error is inevitable—especially if your focus is on more strategic initiatives. And a single number out of place on a spreadsheet can have far-reaching consequences. By automating routine tasks like data entry and setting clear rules for the system to follow, you can maintain accuracy and avoid costly mistakes.
Deeper insights
Automated systems can gather and analyze data in real time, delivering insights to help you make more informed decisions. They can quickly uncover trends hidden in your data, highlighting areas for improvement and opportunities for growth.
More time for high-value work
Every business owner will agree that time is one of your team’s most valuable resources. With automation taking care of repetitive tasks that keep operations flowing, you and your team can focus on implementing ideas and doing more strategic work that drives growth, like building new products and breaking into new markets.
The most impactful automations for a small business owner
Business process automation isn’t a broad-brush strategy. It’s important you automate the right business processes to maximize the impact on your day-to-day operations. Here are some of the most common areas where intelligent automation can quickly drive noticeable value.
Area #1: Marketing campaigns
Great marketing means staying connected with customers and keeping them engaged, both of which can be time-consuming. Automation can help you maintain this connection without the manual input, keeping you top-of-mind with your customers and driving engagement with perfectly timed offers.
Email sequences
Email marketing is one of the first functions many businesses automate, and for good reason: Email is one of the most effective ways to reach customers. Use automated email flows to make a strong first impression with welcome sequences, encourage repeat business with retention campaigns, and re-engage inactive customers with minimal manual input.
SMS messages
Thanks to their ability to reach users anywhere, anytime, SMS messages are a great way to stay in touch with your audience. Automated SMS messages are especially useful if your business is in the service industry and relies on scheduling—you can send timed reminders to make sure customers show up to appointments and reduce no-shows. You can also send automatic requests for reviews after a service to help gather social proof and build your online presence.
Social media
Being active on the same social media platforms as your customers can be rewarding, but it takes consistent effort. Automation tools can enable you to schedule posts in advance, so you can keep your profile active and raise brand awareness without having to manually post every day. You can even set up workflows to respond to comments or messages automatically.
Area #2: Sales processes
Sales teams have a lot on their plate, having to stay on top of leads, appointments, and deals. With sales automation, you can take the busywork out of your Sales team’s hands so they can focus on building deeper, more rewarding relationships with customers.
Lead management
When your team has a high volume of leads to manage, sales opportunities can slip through the cracks. You can help your team stay on top of opportunities with sales automation across your lead funnels, including lead attribution, customer data gathering, and personalized outreach that meets customers where they are.
Scheduling
You can help your Sales team manage their busy calendars by automating your scheduling process, letting them avoid drawn-out, back-and-forth email chains to arrange meetings and letting customers engage with your business at their convenience.
Document creation
Drafting documents like contracts, proposals, and invoices takes up valuable time and can slow down the sales process. By using sales automation to create and fill templates for key documents, you can ensure they’re written with consistency while freeing up even more of your team’s time.
Area #3: Operations
A lot of work goes into the day-to-day operations that keep a business running. But small businesses may not have the resources to dedicate to specific functions like customer service or accounting. The streamlined processes that result from automation can help you plug those gaps and keep everything running, so you can focus on business growth.
Team workflows
As you scale your business with more products, more employees, and more customers, it becomes more challenging to keep your whole team aligned at all times. With automated workflows you can improve collaboration and accountability by assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and tracking progress on every project.
Customer service
Automated customer service tools like chatbots can quickly respond to frequently asked questions with 24/7 availability, improving response times and customer satisfaction. They also free up your team to focus on more complex requests, like urgent troubleshooting or technical issues.
Accounting
By automating your financial data entry, you can streamline time-consuming business processes like invoicing, expense tracking, and payroll. Not only does this help you keep more up-to-date financial records, it can help simplify tax preparation—a very time-consuming process for most businesses.
Recruiting
Hiring can be time-intensive, but automated recruitment tools can help simplify your search for the perfect candidate. By automating sourcing and screening, you can make sure you’re having conversations with the best talent and reduce time to hire. You can even automate interview scheduling to help you balance recruitment with the rest of your daily tasks.
What to look for when choosing your automation tools
With so many automation tools to choose from, it’s crucial to pick one that best suits your needs and challenges. Factors like price, learning curve, and scalability all play a role. The right tool should be easy for your team to use, integrate smoothly with your current systems, and have a clear, tangible impact on your operations. Here’s what to consider when choosing a business process automation tool.
Strategic fit
Choose automation tools that will drive you toward your business goals and help you address specific challenges. A tool that’s a natural fit for your strategy will be significantly easier to build into your operations. Identify what you want from the tool up front, so you can effectively measure results after implementation.
Ease of use
One of automation’s biggest benefits is time savings, so choose a tool that’s quick and easy to implement. Check that it has a user-friendly interface and see if the provider offers onboarding and customer support.
Compatibility with your tech stack
Make sure your automation tool integrates well with your existing software, like your customer relationship management (CRM) system, accounting software, or project management platform. The more effectively your apps can integrate with each other and share data, the sooner you’ll see increased efficiency.
Cost-effectiveness
Consider how long it will take for the tool to hit automation targets, pay for itself, and deliver returns, especially if you’re working with limited resources. Check the projected savings from business process automation against your costs—with such a variety of tools available, you should choose one that aligns with your budget.
In-depth reporting
Data is key for measuring the impact of any automated process. Ensure the tool you choose lets you access the data it gathers, or generates its own actionable reports, so you can monitor its effectiveness and make data-driven decisions that help grow your business. This way, you can continue to refine your automation strategy for the best results going forward.
Accelerate the success of your small business with an automation strategy
It’s easy to get caught up in daily tasks, but they can detract from high-impact work. With its potential to optimize your operations, enhance your decision-making, and free up invaluable time, automation might just be one of the smartest moves you make for your business. Use these tips to start planning your automation strategy now and drive your business forward.