How To Overcome These 3 Automation Workflow Challenges
Profit margins are razor-thin for many industries these days. The businesses in those industries are constantly trying to find ways to increase their margins and grow. Workflow automation has risen to the challenge of increasing profits by saving money and increasing employee productivity.
This isn’t to say that it is easy to simply implement automation to update your company workflows. There are many challenges to doing so, in fact. Some companies see the challenges and are put off of the idea to undertake to automate their workflows. This is a big mistake because these challenges can be overcome.
In this article, we will go over how to deal with some of the most common issues with workflow automation.
1 – Picking the right system
There are a lot of different automation systems to choose from and they each have their specialties. It is really important to pick the right one to get the most out of it.
The type of business you are running is going to be very relevant when it comes to the right automation system. For instance, a company with a very big IT department using a complex CMDB (configuration management database) that needs updating will want a system that helps do this to avoid having to do manual updates.
A marketing department may want to use an AI chatbot that helps them qualify leads so their sales team knows how to deal with the different types of leads and avoid irrelevant ones.
For every problem, a company faces there is the correct system to use. To make sure you are going to be using the right software, look for the specific problems it solves and see if it fits your needs. You should also ask for a demo to see how it fits in with your company’s workflow needs.
2 – Understanding the workflows already in place
There is sometimes a disconnect when dealing with trying to fix inefficient workflows. There are managers that don’t really understand what the workflow is like and how it works. They know enough that things are inefficient but not so much that they understand how it actually works.
This will be a big barrier with regard to finding the right automation system. The right system will work to solve a specific problem so it is important to understand what the actual problem is that is causing the inefficiencies.
3 – Distrust of technology
Some companies have tried to implement workflow automation in the past and had unpleasant results. They likely paid too much for a system that didn’t solve their problem. Although it may have been the fault of the software, it is more likely that they didn’t pick the right system for this need. Now they are distrustful that their problems can be solved with automation.
If this sounds like the experience your company had then it is a good idea to do an audit of your workflows, identify what the issues are, and then try to find a specific software that addresses those problems.
