16 Essential Steps To Take When Automating Your Business Processes

Although the automation of business processes can provide many benefits, it is critical to take a diligent and careful approach to avoid potential pitfalls. Essential steps involve a review of the process steps, the quality of the current process, the impact on people (inside and outside the organization), as well as key performance indicators that will measure the success. 

In a recent Forbes article, 16 tech experts from Forbes Technology Council discuss the steps leaders can’t afford to skip when leveraging automation. 

Read about all 16 steps here in the Forbes Article.

Here are a couple to get you started.

Don’t automate existing inefficiencies.

The biggest and most frequent mistake here is to automate waste. This happens when you automate too soon—before streamlining the process—therefore “freezing” the inefficient workflow and making it harder to improve it in the future. Ask your team members who interact with that job, starting with the customers of that deliverable. They usually have solutions for improving it when given a chance. – Errette Dunn, Rever

Define performance indicators.

I would recommend companies automating workflow to focus on defining performance indicators. Setting rational parameters at the start will set the tone for a more mindful implementation aligned to expected improvements. These indicators will continue to evolve once the processes are live and the business users provide feedback. This boosts productivity, as your business users are involved more closely. – Praveen Talapan Manikoth, Opus Consulting Solutions

Ask yourself how your customers might be affected.

Automation is a powerful tool for streamlining the customer experience, but companies must also ask themselves where they need the human touch to make customers successful. Will your customer need to change the way they operate, use different metrics to track success or interact with their own customers in a different way? If so, automation alone won’t make your product successful. – Anneka Gupta, LiveRamp

Read about all 16 steps here in the Forbes Article.