Utilize Process Automation For A Competitive Advantage

∗ This guest blog was written by Elizabeth Jenner, AFJ Solutions

In 2020 businesses went into survival mode, topics that were coming to the forefront of business strategies such as process automation became a necessity for many businesses in order to adapt their working models to the new norms.

Thus far, 2021 has proven that not only is business process automation still at the top of many agendas, it is also being adopted at speed, and the rate at which adoption is taking place is only set to increase further throughout the remainder of 2021 and beyond.

As businesses have realized that digitizing processes is something they need to do at scale, the question posed now is a matter of how?

Gaining An Advantage

How can I ensure that our business processes are seamless, and not ‘broken’? As coined by FlowForma's Shay O’Connor in our recent webinar together, and, how can I ensure that business process automation will indeed provide a competitive advantage to our business operating model?

The most successful individuals and businesses have a ‘growth mindset’. A growth mindset is a method for continuously developing your skills and re-training your brains to achieve anything you want. However, when we have targets to hit, an increasing number of customers to serve and smaller budgets to do our jobs with, it can be hard to think about improvement. In addition to our challenging (albeit increasingly more hopeful) environment, we are facing demands for our operations to be more ‘green’, customer-focussed, and easy-to-access.

I have broken down the answer into three parts as to how and why the FlowForma Process Automation Tool can provide a competitive advantage to your business in 2021 and beyond.

1. Businesses Became Stuck In 2020 Due To The Pandemic

In one of the most challenging business years I can remember, the disparity between those whom had already begun their process automation journey to those that were lagging, increased. Those who digitized prior coped much better than those who had not. Now that we are through survival mode it’s all about either decreasing this gap and onboarding tools such as FlowForma Process Automation, or pushing that software’s capabilities into all departments of your business. Enabling you to stay competitive or gain the productivity edge on similar organizations within your sector.

2. Increased Customer And Employee Experience

Now that we know a form of working from home is here to stay, ensuring that there are no broken processes will increase not only your customers experience but also your employees. By implementing a tool such as the FlowForma Process Automation tool not only will their experience increase but time/hours saved will also increase. Ultimately there will be a significant reduction in the number of emails sent and teams meetings put in place, as tasks such as sign off steps can be an automated process.

"Never underestimate the power of marginal gains, many small improvements add up to significantly higher service levels." – Richard Josey, Lead ITSM Solutions Architect, AFJ Solutions.

3. Start Easily And Simply

Often one of the biggest blockers an organization has in implementing business process automation is, they simply don’t know where to start. The answer is start with your small processes to begin with, and as the enhanced experience takes place I have found that the digitization across departments becomes rapid, the want of a department increases as opposed to its previous need due to this enhanced usability of systems. It’s the same as painting a room in your house, they all end up being done in the end.

By starting with small processes your company is already at an advantage to those that are yet to start.

Top Of The Pile

In order to reap the benefits of process automation as a driver for competitive advantage over your industry peers, it's important not to stand still. Jump in and start digitizing your obvious, small processes, to begin with and stay ahead of the pack. The cost of doing nothing might be far greater than you think!

Why not take the first step today by taking a free 14 day trial of the FlowForma Process Automation tool, or a free demonstration! Our process experts can offer you a glimpse of what your processes would look like in a digital format, the time and cost savings available by moving your business processes online.