Automation is a frequently utilized part of the business world. Notably, it doesn’t necessarily mean that companies must invest in high-tech robotics. Here are some fascinating ways that automated technologies reshape and expand what’s possible when doing business with or operating a company.
Enabling Faster Hiring and Better Management Processes
Many tools exist that let human resources managers reduce some of the effort of hiring new, talented team members. For example, they can set parameters for software to only flag resumes and cover letters featuring certain keywords or minimum experience levels. Those features cut down or eliminate the time spent manually looking for those characteristics.
Plus, once managers decide which people to hire, automation can play a significant role in employee retention and satisfaction.
Automated analytics tools could pinpoint the best-performing teams or individuals, encouraging managers to recognize and praise them accordingly. Conversely, they might show which employees feel displeased with the company or their roles, prompting managers to intervene and try to make things right before workers quit.
Streamlining Marketing Campaigns for Maximum Effectiveness
The availability of marketing technologies went through a substantial increase in a relatively short amount of time. A chart showing progress from 2011 through 2020 shows there were 150 marketing tech products in 2011, but over 8,000 today. Not all of these products feature wholly automated capabilities, but most have some automation-driven features.
For example, a marketer could automate the timing of publishing social media posts so that content appears across all of them at once based on a company’s preferences. Automation could also factor into email campaigns by providing customers with content that is most likely to make them respond positively based on past behaviors.
Minimizing Fraud Attempts to Protect Businesses and Customers
Many businesses recognize that advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), could improve fraud prevention strategies. Banks commonly utilize AI to learn what constitutes a typical transaction for a customer. The algorithms then only halt purchases that stray significantly from those norms. This approach results in fewer embarrassing false alarms for customers while keeping companies safe from genuine threats.
Additionally, companies that sell things use automation to catch instances of return fraud. If a system shows that a customer returned most of the purchases made over the past month, that could indicate a problem — especially if a business sells something like apparel. Automated systems can identify someone’s attempts to bend the rules to their advantage. This capability helps companies reduce preventable losses.
Improving Data Management and Promoting Business Resiliency
Regardless of the kind of business you have, running it successfully requires collecting, storing and managing data. Automation cuts down on the manual processes associated with those tasks. For example, a tool can find data patterns and forecast accurate predictions about data center infrastructure suitability. Automation could work across several aspects of how a company handles data, promoting more consistency.
An August 2020 survey found that 40% of respondents examine data and analytics capabilities when evaluating marketing automation tools. That finding suggests that marketers want to use data wisely. A primary advantage of automating data management is that it reduces mistakes and increases companies’ chances of accessing highly reliable information. An organization could automate data cleaning to remove incorrect or duplicated details, for example.
Enhancing the User Experience for Higher Satisfaction
Company decision-makers continually explore how to make their websites as appealing and functional as possible for the people who use them. Automation does not remove human input when implementing those solutions. It can make usability improvements happen more efficiently, however. Some automated tools assess a website and give alerts about aspects that could negatively affect usability. Designers and other experts then know which issues to tackle first.
Automation can also check a website to see if it meets accessibility standards for people with disabilities who use the site on desktop or mobile devices. If that happens, companies save time and start from a strong foundation when human testing begins. Most internet users quickly notice the differences between a well-designed, smoothly functioning website and one that falls short. Focusing on user experience should increase website visits and result in happy customers.
Giving People the Ads They Want to See
People get so inundated by advertising that many of them ignore the content they come across. That’s especially true if the ads appear irrelevant to the people who see them. A recent study indicated that 41% of people are more likely to click on internet ads for events that interest them. Additionally, 38% want ads to provide offers for products they have previously sought information on or wanted to buy.
Details about new products, local businesses or community events, and relevant topics or subjects also compelled people to click on ads rather than ignoring them. Automated tools can take numerous factors into account and show people advertisements that seem custom-made for them. They support increased brand awareness and improved sales while helping company leaders learn more about the target audiences.
Helping Employees Manage Their Time and Get More Done
Business automation helps people make the most of their time on the clock, too. Many email platforms have automated features that learn which emails are most important and ensure workers deal with those messages before others. Other automated tools recognize details in digital documents and automatically import them into other team platforms. That feature reduces the need for manual data entry.
An automated tool can also remove the need for people to send emails that follow specific events or triggers. For example, a customer could register for an online conference and automatically receive a link to the live stream. Alternatively, if a shopper leaves something in an e-commerce cart, an automated message could encourage them to complete the transaction. These automated solutions open up employees’ available time to achieve more tasks.
Speeding Up Supply Replenishment Processes
Most companies go through periods where procurement specialists notice lower quantities of products on hand than they anticipated. Whether that means a business is low on ink for administrative printers or lacks sufficient inventory for a new product that customers love, shortages can create obstacles that make companies lose money, waste time and upset customers.
Fortunately, automated tools exist that continually monitor supply levels and notify users when to reorder. In other cases, people can set parameters for how often they want to receive products. Automation facilitates those goods arriving on time and in the desired quantities without requiring workers to place ongoing orders.
Easing the Workloads of Customer Service Teams
Automation can also become crucial for reducing many of the burdens faced by hard-working customer service teams. Chatbots can handle some of the most repetitive and straightforward queries, such as those about opening hours and return policies. Some chatbot interfaces also automatically connect customers to human agents, depending on the complexity of their concerns.
There are other helpful automated features of many leading customer service tools, too. Some can populate the details of a call record based on information in a person’s profile. Others use automation for better analytics, like confirming the most common issues representatives address or indicating the most effective resolutions. That way, customer service teams can maximize their time with each person and avoid pitfalls.
Automation Sparked a Business Revolution
This overview shows how there’s almost no limit to how a business might successfully deploy automation to meet its goals. It’s particularly encouraging to consider how the opportunities will only grow as automated technologies become more advanced.
Companies can expect the best results when leaders take the time to identify the most prominent issues the organization faces. They’re then in better positions to assess the available solutions and pick the most appropriate offerings.
About the Author: Lexie Lu is a freelance designer and writer. She enjoys researching the latest design trends and always has a cup of coffee nearby. She manages Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.