- March 3, 2021
-
Matthew F. Fox
- 4 min
Digital transformation is one of what seems to be an endless supply of tech terms that have become seen as nothing more than a buzzword. What does “digital transformation” really mean, and what can it and offer to small businesses? Plenty.
Properly leveraging technology opens opportunities to update existing and adopt new processes that bring competitive advantages. Business Process Automation (BPA) is the use of technology to execute recurring tasks where manual effort isn’t needed. It’s a practice that can bring 3 major benefits to nearly any business:
- Cost reduction
- Increased efficiencies
- Streamlining of existing processes
If you’re using Microsoft365, you already have access to Power Automate – a tool designed to make BPA much easier to implement along with an entire ecosystem of applications where automation is just a few clicks away.
Where business process automation applies
Benefits that businesses can realize as a result of automation can apply to a wide range of scenarios. Of course, that can lead to analysis paralysis – and that’s often the first hurdle to jump over when introducing any form of automation to established processes.
Here are 5 scenarios to help identify where automation can help you.
High task volume
Manual tasks that can quickly be accomplished are commonplace and have a serious drawback: you’re likely to run into a greater risk of error as the volume of tasks increase. Simple tasks that occur at a high volume should be the first to be evaluated for automation.
Need to provide your team with an alert when a new file has been made available, create a calendar item when an email arrives from someone in particular, or want to be kept up to date when files you’re working on are modified? No problem at all; that’s just some of what BPA brings to the table.
Let Power Automate accomplish what Socrates, Steve Jobs, and many others have said for a very long time: do one thing and do it well.
Multiple team members per task
Tasks that require multiple team members, like links in a chain, can fail if one is unavailable. Even worse, it presents the risk of other tasks not being completed if others have to fill in to complete the chain.
Automating tasks that require multiple team members have a much lower risk than their manually executed counterparts. You’re also freeing up multiple team members in the process, allowing them to dedicate their time to more productive and goal-reaching work.
Time-sensitive tasks
Any task that is time-sensitive or must be completed within a certain time window can be made much more dependable if it can be automated.
For example, reporting processes that must take place regularly or be delivered at a specific time can benefit greatly from automation. An added benefit is an increase in trust through transparency as automation enables reports to be run the same way every single time they’re created.
Tasks with a significant impact on other systems
Much like the human body, businesses are a collection of systems that depend on each other to function properly.
Many daily tasks are performed to provide information to systems for processing, reporting, and other actions. These tasks, ones that other systems require for proper function, can be automated so they’re executed on their own.
Power Automate enables digital transformation
Power Automate, formerly known as Flow, makes creating automated actions that involve multiple Microsoft365 and 3rd party services a simple process. The tool’s ease of use doesn’t just make for a low barrier for entry into the world of automation, it allows you to concentrate on what can be automated rather than whether or not it can be.
When combined with metrics around automation performance and iterative improvement, BPA powered by Power Automate acts as a stepping stone (and more) into modernizing your business culture, embracing digital transformation, and embracing continuous improvement that results in growth.
Want to see Power Automate in action? Join our team for an upcoming live stream on March 11th, 2021 as we demonstrate automation between Microsoft Forms and Microsoft Teams.
