Business Automation: It is More Than Software and Robots Doing Human Jobs

With large language modelling AI in the headlines for the last few weeks, we may be overlooking business automation tools that are far less controversial and more immediately effective. Which brings us to the question, what is meant by business automation?

Business automation is designed to maximize efficiency and optimize operations. It can reduce the chance of human error in mundane and repetitive tasks, and help improve customer relations. In business, it refers to technologies and computer-based systems to automate processes, tasks, and workflows. Automation helps reduce errors, improves efficiency, and decreases labour costs, enabling businesses to operate more smoothly and effectively.

Automation can be applied to data entry, customer service, accounting, and other administrative functions. It lets businesses respond faster to changes in customer demands and market conditions, and allows them to stay competitive through increased productivity and quality in deliverables while reducing costs.

Applying Business Automation to Customer Service

Improving customer service is the best way to apply business automation. It can be applied to the front end of the business facing customers by engaging customer queries, providing faster responses, and reducing wait times.

In the back end of business operations, it can revolutionize data entry and payroll and allow employees to make more informed decisions and get more done in less time.

A good example is automated document management. Klippa provides intelligent document processing software tools including OCR. If you are not familiar with OCR, this is software that scans and reads non-digitized documents and converts the content to be readable by computers. It takes all your non-digitized paper records and brings them into the digital realm. Using it cuts down on manual data entry and eliminates errors and the potential for fraud.

An open-source OCR solution is Tesseract OCR. Available today from Google, it is available for free to any business and includes an application programming interface (API) so that your IT team can fully integrate it into your computer business toolset.

Business Automation Streamlines Marketing

Business automation frees up time for marketers to focus on strategy, develop creative content, and engage target audiences. You can automate emails to help reach customers quickly and efficiently. You can create customized messages that match the profiles of specific customers better addressing their interests and needs. You can automate product recommendations to these customers, and create more effective targeted advertising campaigns. and reach out to new audiences while lowering the cost of doing business.

Adding Automation Can Be Transformative and Disruptive

Automated processes have become increasingly common in many industries, from manufacturing to customer service. Organizations are recognizing the benefits of technology-led solutions. At the same time, business automation brings challenges.

It can be disruptive to your existing workforce causing potential job losses. It means employees need to be retrained to work with automated systems. And it calls for companies to develop the capacity to adapt rapidly to change. Once you adopt business automation tools, the need to keep up-to-date on what is coming around the corner becomes paramount, for example, the arrival of Open AI’s ChatGPT.

ChatGPT and the Changing Face of Business Automation

ChatGPT is an example of a large language-modelling artificial intelligence tool. It generates conversational engagement and answers questions posed to it. It can create ads. It can write blogs and articles. It can even write code. It can mine all of the data in an organization and draw upon it to produce all of the above.

The impact on business automation has yet to be fully realized since its public release in the late fall of last year. But one certainty coming out of its emergence is that the knowledge workers within business organizations from accounting to operations management to marketing will all need to understand how best to use its capabilities.