Where does business automation begin? With the intention of doing it. Indeed, there are cases when “we have to automate something, on TV they say digitalization, maybe we need something like that too”. In fact, this path does not start with a desire to be like everyone else, but when you get bored. Tired of saying the same thing – here are the instructions, do it by it. Tired of pushing the same buttons, tired of making the same paper, of sending the same letters to the same people with the same request. When you’re tired of doing repetitive actions with the same algorithm.
You don’t have to develop and implement an ERP to do that. When you want to learn how to steer a sail – you don’t go straight to the round-the-world, or want to start running – you don’t run a 40 km marathon. As a rule, problems begin to be solved locally, and then yes – so the intention is there. For example, we are tired of every day to throw clients the remainder of the budget in Yandex.Direct or Google Ads. Every day to look in the office balances and notify about the amount on the balance. It happens so that even the most responsible manager takes a day off or go on vacation, and then there are the weekends. As a result, after the “bored” has passed the level of “very bored”, we wrote a bot that connects to the offices, takes the balances of the clients and sends the data to the created dialogs with the client. And it not only does this every day at 9 a.m., but also responds to the “balance” request and gives out information promptly.
It is “bored” that is the main reason. Entrepreneurs are fidgety, entrepreneurial and don’t like routine. Always looking for ways to avoid it. Laziness is known to be the engine of progress, it all comes from the same place. Local things are subjected to automation fairly quickly. We’ve even coined a term for such small systems: local automation. These systems are simple, fast, and inexpensive. But the complexity comes when you realize that it would be better to automate everything systematically rather than just simplify a couple of routine tasks. And don`t forget that you can always turn to custom erp development company.
Automation begins with digitalization. Not in the sense that they like to talk smartly on TV, but by digitizing processes. Before you speed something up, you need to understand what to speed up, from which point and to which point. How much time = money it will free up, how much cost = loss = time, and how much it will cost.
The first steps towards automation begin with a digitization of the company’s work. You find out how much each employee’s work costs, what it consists of, what contribution this employee makes to the final product. Very often this process is rejected. This happens when the understanding comes that part of the work is simply useless and unnecessary. Especially in old, stale companies. It’s hard to look in the mirror. We are so smart and say: “This process is bureaucratic, it is useless and must be abolished”. The answer is: “We’ve always done it, and we’ll continue to do it because it’s useless, but we have to do it for some reason.
To understand what links in this chain unnecessary – you need to analyze what processes are executed most often. For example, invoicing, entering data into a program, submitting CP, drafting an agreement, setting and controlling tasks between employees. Determine how much time is spent on average on each action. You can do this: write out and count, multiply the number by the time, and then sort in descending order from more to less.
For example, 200 invoices are issued, and it takes time to request an invoice, time for the accountant to work after receiving the request and sending the invoice, and parasitic waiting time (receiving the letter). Or making a daily production plan for 2 hours based on: inputs of free equipment, material, order priority and the number of employees who came out. Multiplied by the number of people involved in the process. Or compiling and drawing up a KP, which includes calculating by formulas in Excel and drawing up a document with the company logo.
Imagine that this time can be reduced by several times.
And then there is the will to do it. Already after that the search for technical capabilities is done, and in our digital age, you will always find them. As well as companies that are ready to help solve these problems. And then we simply compare the costs with the benefits and draw a conclusion.