Automation is the not-so-secret weapon of modern business. From IT automation to marketing automation, this flexible technology ranges in use cases, scale, and results.
While it might seem as though only large enterprise-level companies use automation, companies of all sizes leverage automated tools to drive positive business outcomes. Read on to discover how you can rely on automation to save on costs and boost productivity.
How Automation Can be Used in Business
Automation plays a diverse role in business and can be purposed for a variety of business types, departments, and tasks. In fact, 33% of the functions in two-thirds of current jobs could be automated, demonstrating a large window of opportunity for automation-assisted workplaces. Here are some examples of different types of automation software and how they can be used to help businesses:
- Marketing and Sales Automation: Marketing teams can automate campaigns, input leads into the system, trigger sales workflows, automate communication with sales leads, etc
- Software Testing: Developers use automated software to help execute the process of reviewing and testing a software product or application.
- eCommerce: If a business runs a consumer-facing eCommerce site, automation helps manage tasks like fulfillment, inventory tracking, sale schedules, and product releases.
- Finance: Finance teams can use automated tools to help with critical functions like bookkeeping, financial close, payroll, financial planning & analysis, etc.
- IT Automation: ITSM software supports IT teams with IT automation. It includes helpful features like automated workflows, approvals, and ticket triage to solve requests quickly and keep internal teams and customers happy.
How Automation Boosts Productivity and Delivers Better Overall Business Results for SMBs
At its core, automation is designed to carry out repeatable and predictable tasks. These types of tasks cover a wide swath of the workload for many businesses, which is why automation makes such a positive impact on company productivity.
Company management reaffirms the positive benefits of automation:
- 78% of business leaders believe automating tasks in the organization increases productivity for everyone involved.
- 57% of IT leaders say automation technology saves departments between 10 to 50% on costs previously associated with manual processing.
- 85% of business leaders believe automating some of the workload will give them and their employees more time to focus on the goals that matter most to the company.
Even with all of these great benefits, some might view automation as a luxury in which only larger companies can invest. However, for SMBs, automation is essential. Small businesses must operate leanly, with highly productive teams, while saving on costs as they grow. Since it’s possible to delegate so much work to automation software, small businesses can save on labor hours and hiring costs when they adopt automated technology.
Automation can help SMB teams execute recurring tasks to help reduce workload and reorient workforce energy on the most complex and vital tasks. SMBs can even invest in a single solution to cover automated functions for multiple departments. For example, solutions like ITSM software can be repurposed for multiple teams beyond IT, like HR, customer support, and operations departments. The IT automation functionality can support various needs so the business can focus on expansion.
If you’d like to see how automation can help you meet your business objectives, try DeskDirector for free to see the difference.
