Business Automation: Why Northern Territory Businesses Need to Automate in 2020
In 2020 and beyond, Northern Territory businesses need to embrace automation. “Automation” is a word with some scary connotations for workers, but it does not mean scrapping positions, freezing hires, or taking away jobs—if you automate reoccurring tasks and implement a few simple processes, your staff can focus on the parts of their work that they find most interesting and engaging. Employees and owners will find themselves completing fewer menial tasks and experiencing higher job satisfaction.
According to a 2018 report by Forrester, 43% of businesses surveyed are not currently adapting their business processes for the modern era. 22% of businesses had not introduced automation at all, putting them well behind the curve. Northern Territory businesses that have not embraced automation are missing out.
Keeping Contact With Clients
Business automation can mean a few different things, but the first, and arguably the most important, is implementing a degree of automation into your contact with clients. Automating how you contact clients and customers can dramatically increase your visibility, and while it’s very important for most clients to have contact with a human being during proceedings, automation does not need to feel impersonal.
A simple example of automation is embedding a contact form on your company website with an automatic form reply that gives potential clients an immediate response, so that they feel acknowledged right away. Another is automated follow-up emails that can be sent out to new clients. This will show that you care and can alert them to the full range of services you offer, accolades you’ve built up, and how customers can contact you in the future.
Running a Better Business with Automation
Email automation is easy to set up; other processes may require more time and effort, but in the long run they will greatly improve your business’ efficiency. Automation software, like Ontrapoint and HubSpot, can be used to automate sales practices, send out automated SMS marketing, and offer clients easier support solutions. Implementing these tools will lead to long-term benefits for your company, as well as your clients.
Make Staff Onboarding Consistent
Automation can help with onboarding for new employees, too. An automated form can cut down on the paperwork involved in welcoming a new face to your company, and automated induction and training sessions can be useful too. Consider providing introductions from CEO’s via videos, get staff to undertake a simple online training module, include links for core policies and procedures and auto-record when they have completed the exercise.
Tidy-up your Finance Workflow
Purchase order requests could also be automated, if they're not already--it's possible to set up an online form that will immediately send out a completed form to the purchasing team and allow them to easily accept or reject it. An effective automated digital system, like TradeGecko, will make it much easier for your purchasing team to identify and rectify potential faults or budget issues.
Now’s The Time To Automate
These are just a few examples. Australian businesses need to automate data aggregation and migration, data back-up and restoration, leave requests, time and attendance tracking, invoicing, and more in 2020 to improve their business practices.
Consider what elements in your business are currently ineffective, and come along to the Innovation Symposium in April 2020 to here from suppliers who can help implement automated practices today, leading to your business becoming more efficient and effective.
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