What Is Business Process Automation – A Quick Guide

In today’s business landscape, efficiency is more important than ever. Business process automation helps you accomplish that.

Many people have heard of or come in contact with business process automation but find it difficult to fully understand and use.

In this guide, you’ll learn exactly what business process automation is, how it works, key benefits, and an overview of the steps you may need to take to implement it.

What Is Business Process Automation?

Business Process Automation (BPA) refers to using technology to execute recurring tasks or processes in a business where manual human effort can be replaced.

The goal is to streamline workflows, increase efficiency, and minimize errors by automating routine, time-consuming tasks. BPA comes in many shapes and sizes. It can be electronic/digital BPA like document automation, mechanical BPA like an assembly line, or a combination.

BPA is a core component of digital transformation, aiming to reduce operational costs, enhance productivity, and ensure consistency in process execution.

BPA can be applied across various business functions, including finance, human resources, operations, sales, marketing, and customer service.

It typically focuses on automating repetitive tasks like data entry, document management, invoice processing, and customer communication.

Beyond administrative functions, BPA also makes it simple to automate approval workflows, compliance checks, and integrate multiple business systems.

Types of Automation:

1. Basic Automation: Simple automation tasks that streamline rudimentary processes such as transferring data between software or organizing documents. It often uses rules-based software or tools like macros in Excel.
2. Process Automation: More advanced automation of business workflows, where end-to-end processes like order processing or onboarding are managed without human intervention. Examples include customer service chatbots or automated supply chain management systems.
3. Integration Automation: This type involves systems that operate independently based on pre-defined conditions or data without human prompts. For example, an e-commerce system that automatically sends orders to a warehouse management system.
4. Mechanical automation: This form of automation combines digital automation and physical systems into one. The result allows complex mechanical processes to be fully or partially automated. A good example of this is modern vehicle assembly lines.
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation: Incorporating AI and machine learning to perform more complex tasks such as predicting customer behavior, automating personalized marketing campaigns, or identifying patterns in data that can drive strategic decision-making.

How Does Business Process Automation Work?

Mapping and Standardizing Processes: The first step is to audit and standardize your processes so the same inputs will always produce the same outputs. That’s not possible if there are miscellaneous steps or if people perform processes slightly different.

Analyze/audit your current processes to find repetitive or time-consuming tasks that don’t require complex decision-making. Once these workflows are identified, you map them out in detail, documenting each step, decision point, and interaction between teams or systems.

Mapping creates a clear, standardized version of the process, which serves as a foundation for automation. Standardizing the workflow is key because it ensures the automated process follow a consistent path, eliminating variations that could introduce inefficiencies or errors.

Integrating Automation Across Departments: The core of BPA is connecting different systems, like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, so that data flows smoothly between departments.

For instance, when a sales order is processed through the CRM, BPA ensures that the information is automatically passed to the finance and operations teams through the ERP without manual intervention.

This integration eliminates the need for manual data entry, reduces errors, and ensures that departments are aligned, enhancing efficiency across the entire business.

Monitoring and Optimization: Once automation is in place, you’ll want to monitor the automated processes for performance – especially in the beginning.

Track key metrics like time saved, error rates, throughput, and other factors important to you to ensure the system is delivering the expected results. Over time, you may identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies that weren’t apparent during the initial implementation.

BPA allows for ongoing optimization, meaning you can refine the automated workflows as needed to adapt to changing business needs, improve performance, or incorporate new technologies. This continuous improvement helps you stay competitive and responsive.

Benefits of Business Process Automation

Increased Efficiency: Automating manual, repetitive processes, saves considerable time and reduces the chances of human error.

Tasks that once took hours, such as data entry or report generation, can be completed in minutes, allowing your team to focus on more strategic and high-value activities.

Automation speeds up operations. It also enhances your workflows, making them produce a more consistent output in a shorter timeframe.

The end result?

Your processes are more dependable and efficient.

Cost Savings: When you automate routine tasks, you reduce the need for manual labor and reduce the prevalence of errors which in turn lowers operational costs.

Additionally, automation reduces the likelihood of costly mistakes, such as errors in invoicing or order processing, which can lead to financial losses or strained customer relationships. For every step of the process that an error makes it through, the more expensive it is to rectify.

Over time, the investment in BPA yields a high return by decreasing operational expenses and enhancing overall profitability.

Scalability: BPA also plays a crucial role in helping you scale operations. As your business grows, the ability to handle increasing volumes of work without proportionally increasing resources becomes a competitive advantage.

With automation, you can process higher volumes of transactions, customer inquiries, or production tasks without the need to hire additional staff. This allows you to take on more work, generate more revenue, and expand the business with less disruption to your operations.

Enhanced Customer Experience: Faster, more reliable service is another benefit of BPA, leading to an enhanced customer experience. Automated systems can process orders, respond to customer inquiries, or resolve issues much more quickly than manual processes.

This speed and reliability create a more positive interaction for your customers, improving satisfaction and fostering loyalty. By delivering a seamless, efficient experience, you can differentiate your business in a competitive marketplace.

Common Examples of Business Process Automation

Human Resources: BPA provides the tools you need to automate processes like onboarding, payroll, leave management, and employee training.

Instead of manually tracking employee paperwork, BPA enables you to create workflows that automatically generate and manage onboarding documents, process payroll on time, or even trigger training reminders.

You save time and eliminate many opportunities for human error. Your important HR functions are able to run without issues

Finance: BPA is used to streamline invoicing, expense approvals, and financial reporting. Automated invoicing makes processes more efficient because invoices are sent out promptly and tracked accurately, reducing delays in payment.

Expense approvals can be routed through automated workflows, eliminating the need for manual checks and follow-ups. Instead, you’ll want to spot-check your approvals to make sure the rules are set up properly.  

Finally, financial reporting becomes far more efficient, as data from various departments can be pulled into comprehensive reports with minimal manual intervention. This speeds up the process and enhances the accuracy and reliability of financial data.

Customer Service: In customer service, automation plays a key role in improving response times and overall service quality.

You can implement chatbots that handle routine customer inquiries 24/7, ensuring faster resolutions. You should be careful here because chatbots cannot handle everything so the right routing and rules should be used.

Automated ticketing systems can route customer issues to the right departments, speeding up the process of resolving customer problems.

Additionally, self-service portals allow customers to access solutions on their own, reducing the need for direct intervention and enhancing customer satisfaction by providing immediate assistance.

Operations: Operations can benefit from BPA by automating tasks such as inventory management, supply chain coordination, and order processing.

For example, an automated inventory management system can track stock levels in real-time and trigger replenishment orders when necessary, preventing stockouts or overstocking. Keep in mind that there should still be some manual oversight or rules to account for theft, damage, and loss.

Similarly, BPA can streamline supply chain coordination by automating communication and data exchange between suppliers and vendors, reducing delays.

Order processing automation ensures that orders are accurately captured, processed, and fulfilled without manual involvement, increasing efficiency and minimizing errors in the fulfillment process.

Challenges in Implementing Business Process Automation

Resistance to Change: One of the biggest challenges in implementing Business Process Automation (BPA) is resistance from employees.

People may fear that automation will lead to job losses or significantly change the way they work, creating anxiety and pushback. You might encounter hesitation from employees who feel that their roles are being diminished or that they’ll have to learn new skills quickly.

The best solution for this is to adopt proper change management techniques. At the core of change management is education, training, and communication.

For example, communicate the benefits of automation clearly, such as how it can free up time for more meaningful tasks and improve overall efficiency. Providing proper training and showing employees how they will still play a vital role in the process can help reduce resistance.

Integration with Legacy Systems: Another challenge is integrating new automation tools with older, legacy systems that your business may already be using. Many companies, especially larger or more established ones, rely on legacy systems that aren’t easily compatible with modern BPA tools.

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This can create bottlenecks and make the automation process more complex than expected. You’ll need to assess whether your current systems can support automation and explore workarounds, such as middleware, to connect new technologies with older platforms.

Without proper integration, you may not fully realize the benefits of automation. If automation is important enough to you, it may be time to initiate a more comprehensive overhaul of legacy systems.

Initial Costs: The upfront costs of implementing BPA can also be a barrier, particularly for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While automation ultimately leads to cost savings, the initial investment in software, hardware, and training can be high.

This challenge can make it difficult for smaller businesses to justify the initial expense, even though the long-term benefits are significant.

You can approach this by focusing on automating high-impact processes first and gradually expanding as your business realizes cost savings and efficiency improvements.

Additionally, exploring scalable solutions or cloud-based automation tools might help minimize upfront costs.

Note that irrespective of your approach, there is an initial investment for automation tools. Sometimes, it’s just a few hundred dollars a month and at other times, it’s a few thousand dollars a month.

Security and Compliance: Ensuring security and compliance can become a challenge when automating business processes. Automated workflows often handle sensitive data, such as financial information, customer details, or employee records.

It’s a must to safeguard these processes from potential breaches. You also need to ensure that your automation complies with industry regulations, such as data protection laws (e.g., GDPR or HIPAA).

Failing to secure automated processes or maintain compliance can lead to legal issues and damage your company’s reputation. Addressing this challenge involves working with BPA tools that have strong security protocols and regularly reviewing your processes to ensure compliance.

Steps to Implement Business Process Automation

Step 1: Identify Automation Opportunities: The first step in implementing Business Process Automation (BPA) is to conduct a thorough process audit or analysis to pinpoint repetitive, manual tasks that can be automated.

Analyze each department’s workflows and identify areas where automation can save time, reduce errors, and improve efficiency.

Focus on tasks that follow predictable patterns and don’t require significant human intervention, such as data entry, report generation, or routine customer interactions.

This step ensures that you target the most valuable automation opportunities that will deliver the highest return on investment.

Step 2: Select the Right Tools: The tools you select need to align with your business and your automation goals. They should be able to integrate with the tools you’re already using. This can be done through direct integration or third-party connector tools like Zapier or Make.

Whether you opt for Robotic Process Automation (RPA), workflow management software, or AI-driven tools, make sure they fit the specific requirements of your workflows.

Don’t forget to consider scalability and ease of use. You don’t want to have to switch out the tool as soon as your business starts to grow.

Step 3: Design and Test Automated Workflows: Designing the automated workflows involves mapping out each step of the process in detail, determining decision points, and setting triggers for automation.

Once designed, you’ll want to put the automations through rigorous testing before you roll them out to your organization. Even after testing, you should roll it out to a portion of your organization or expected users.

This will help you catch errors. Even if some errors slip through the cracks, it will only impact a subsegment of your end users thereby mitigating the risks.

Use this time to fine-tune the automations so you can deliver a polished final product that helps you hit your goals.

Step 4: Train Employees: Introducing automation doesn’t mean eliminating human involvement, so it’s important to provide training for your employees.

The major focus of training should be to make sure they understand how the automation works, their role in making sure things run smoothly, how to troubleshoot any problems, and regular monitoring.

A hidden benefit of comprehensive training is reducing biases and resistance to change which is often associated with introducing BPA. Help employees see the benefits, such as reduced manual labor and more time for strategic tasks and they’ll be more accepting of the systems you introduce.

Step 5: Monitor and Optimize: Once the automated processes are up and running, your job isn’t done. Continuous monitoring is needed to track the performance of your workflows and optimize them over time.

You’ll want to measure key metrics, such as time saved, error reduction, and overall process efficiency, to evaluate the impact of BPA.

Over time, you may find areas for improvement or optimization, such as adjusting workflows to better handle exceptions or integrating new automation tools. By regularly optimizing the processes, you ensure that BPA continues to deliver value and adapts to your business’s changing needs.

Conclusion

Business process automation is powerful. It’s also challenging when not done right.

There are multiple moving pieces that need to be aligned in the right way for you to reap the rewards of BPA. This guide has walked you through what BPA is (and isn’t), the benefits, and the steps you should take to start using it.

Now, it’s up to you to get started. Identify the processes that can be automated, their impact, and the tools you need to start doing it. From there, execute in a systematized manner. Over time, you’ll reap the benefits.

If you’re looking to automate document processes, be sure to take a look at DoxFlowy – our document automation platform.

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