While automation often leads to positive outcomes for businesses that implement it, it's essential for a company to do everything it can to ensure that the process runs as smoothly as possible. Therefore, here are five (plus one extra!) tips on what you can do to succeed with your automation.
Before embarking on the automation process, it's crucial to determine what you want to achieve. Is your primary goal to save time, increase efficiency, or reduce error margins? Setting one or more goals will provide a clear direction, simplify task prioritization, and serve as motivation and inspiration.
It may be tempting to start automation work immediately once you've established project goals. You can clearly see the benefits and are eager to get started. However, starting the work too quickly can, in practice, lead to it taking longer to implement a good solution. Therefore, it's important to map out the processes you plan to automate thoroughly. Examine and analyze them inside and out. There might even be additional processes you can automate that are related to the one you initially considered.
Here you can read more about process mapping: what it is good for and a step-by-step guide.
Select the right technology and tools for your automation process. It's essential that what you choose is compatible with your existing operations, especially your current infrastructure. This ensures that the new processes can smoothly integrate with the systems and processes you already have in place. Additionally, consider factors like user-friendliness, scalability, security, and support.
To stay on track with your initial goals, you should also have a clear roadmap that includes timelines, milestones, and responsibilities. This will make it easier to keep you on the right track. However, despite having a clear project plan, it's essential to remain flexible throughout the journey. In software development, unexpected issues can arise, so you must be open to adapting the solution to new requirements or circumstances. It's beneficial to use feedback loops, a type of working method that enables re-prioritization, and continuously assesses progress and potential setbacks.
After implementation, it's crucial to measure the results of automation. Have you achieved time savings, and if so, how much? Has the error margin decreased? This point ties back to the first one: having a clear goal. Without a clear goal, it's challenging to know what to measure and, consequently, what results you have achieved with your automation. Celebrating the positive results is a great way to demonstrate to the entire organization that the project has succeeded. This can inspire other departments and employees in the organization to automate their processes as well. Your successful automation can pave the way for future automation projects.
A little extra tip we'd like to add is, of course, to choose the right partner for your automation journey. Most companies automating their processes seek assistance from a software partner who is an expert in the automation field. When doing so, remember to conduct a due diligence process where you assess factors like the company's experience, technical expertise, and references. Make sure they have previously completed projects similar to yours, and, of course, ensure you get a good feeling when talking to them.
At Meta Bytes, we have previously assisted companies with automation, including Hylte Jakt and Lantman who achieved significant time savings through process automation. Get in touch with us if you are considering automating some of your company’s processes!
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