When to Invest in Intelligent Automation: Key Indicators for Digital Business Owners
If you’re a digital business owner, then you’re always looking for ways to stay ahead and for many entrepreneurs, the way of doing that is by implementing intelligent automation (IA).
IA can do a lot for your business because it combines advanced technologies to take over repetitive tasks, improve accuracy, and help you focus on what really matters – growth and innovation.
But how do you know if it’s the right time to invest in IA? You might be ready for a change and that’s great, but that’s not how you know. You need to look for indicators that show you taking a leap into IA is the right answer for you and your business – and we’ll show you how to do that.
What Is Intelligent Automation and Why Does It Matter for Digital Businesses?
IA combines artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), process mining, and intelligent document processing (IDP) to streamline business operations.
For you, this would mean fewer manual tasks, sped-up processes, and more accuracy because manual repetitive tasks usually come with a fair amount of errors.
For digital businesses, IA is particularly important because they often find themselves with the need to scale quickly, and high customer demand is usually behind this need.
IA gives you an edge because it frees up resources and optimizes workflows. Process mining is a key aspect of IA; it helps you visualize your workflows and spot obstructions that slow you down.
This is especially relevant within the process mining industry, where companies keep looking for ways to make their processes more efficient. Coupled with IDP, these tools can make your business run smoother and scale better.
3 Ways You Know It’s Time to Invest in Intelligent Automation
As your business grows, you’ll notice it’s getting more challenging to handle everyday operations.
There comes a point where you need to change the way you work in order to stay productive and for your business to remain competitive.
Here are some clear and helpful signs that it might be time to consider IA for your business.
- Increasing Manual Workload
If you rely too much on manually entering data, handling documents, or tracking processes, it will slow you down significantly. Manual work also makes human errors likely to happen, and those can be pricey.
For example, a growing e-commerce business might have a hard time processing orders because there are delays due to manual intervention. This can result in missed deadlines and unhappy customers.
If manual tasks are causing delays in your day-to-day operations, it’s an obvious sign that you should use IA to help automate some manual processes and free up time.
Based on a study by Zapier, inefficient manual processes can be a major drain on company resources. Because of this, businesses are losing 20-30% of their revenue annually. By leveraging IA, digital businesses can optimize workflows and minimize costly mistakes.
- Process Complexity and Lack of Transparency
As businesses expand, their processes usually become more complex, so it can be hard to gain insight into how everything works.
In fact, according to a CRMside study, 74% of respondents have said that the most significant benefit of IA is time saved, which has, in turn, allowed them to focus on strategic growth.
This lack of transparency will make it challenging to pinpoint everything that’s inefficient or to optimize workflows. Process mining can be a very welcome solution that will help visualize workflows and give you a clear understanding of how each process works and where you can make improvements.
If you’re noticing that your business processes are becoming more complex and you can’t track them, investing in IA tools could be a big help.
- Difficulty Managing Large Volumes of Documents and Data
The more your business grows, the more challenging managing and processing documents and data will become.
Whether it’s handling contracts, invoices, or client records, manually managing documents is time-consuming at best, and rife with errors at worst. IDP can automate all of this, speed it up, and significantly reduce the number of mistakes.
According to Workato & CRMside, the demand for process automation in businesses is booming. Also, the market is expected to grow from 9.8 billion (USD) in 2020 to 19.6 billion by 2026 (a 100% increase). This will likely happen due to businesses looking for ways to handle the ever-growing and large volumes of data, as well as handling complex workflows.
If staying on top of document management is something that’s difficult or time-consuming, IA will make it simpler and faster, so you might want to think about investing in it.
What to Expect When Implementing IA
When you start implementing IA, the first step is to evaluate your current processes and see which areas need to be automated. You’ll want to work with professionals who can help design a strategy that fits your business needs.
Next, you need to integrate IA tools into your existing systems, like ERP, CRM, or project management software. These tools are made to fit easily, but there might be some issues, especially if your systems are older. Again – work with professionals to make the integration go smoother.
Your team will also need to adapt, so take the time to train them and show them that automation is here to support their work, not replace them.
In the long run, you can expect better efficiency and reduced costs, which will lead to a strong return on investment (ROI).
Conclusion
IA can be a game-changer you were looking for to stay competitive, it’s just a matter of knowing when you need it, and of course, where you need it.
With the right strategy and tools, intelligent automation will optimize workflows, reduce costs, and make your work more efficient.
So, when should you invest in IA? Well, if you want to stay ahead of the future, then the answer is “Yesterday”.