Business process automation glossary

Business process automation

Any set of activities that focus on completing a particular task and allow a business to reach specific goals is a business process. And business process automation involves using software solutions and digital tools to automate any business process that is multi-step and repeatable. This can include issuing purchase orders, expense claim and invoice processing, budget approvals or even employee onboarding. Ad hoc management of these business processes involves multiple contact points, documents and handoffs, introducing the possibility of errors, bottlenecks, communication breakdowns or inefficiency. Business process automation can overcome these challenges with the help of multiple enterprise IT systems that cater to specific business needs.

Four phases of business process automation

A systematic approach to business process automation comprises four phases, namely,

Analysis

The first step is to analyse and understand process workflows to identify automation objectives and choose the best automation solutions to address those objectives effectively.

Implementation

The next step is to incrementally implement the business process automation solutions you have identified in phase 1. This involves training end-users, setting-up access credentials and testing the functionality to ensure the performance efficiency of the automation systems.

UIntegration

The third step is to integrate the new automation solutions with any enterprise systems or third-party products you are using. It also includes compiling and integrating data from different sources into a single centralised system. You can use an intelligent business process management suite (iBPMS) to simplify and speed up the integration process.

Maintenance and Support

Collecting data is just the first step. It's essential to act on the insights you gain from web analytics to improve your website and achieve your goals.

Strategies to automate business processes

Some of the effective strategies to automate your critical business processes include

Identify functional areas

Look at functional areas that have operational efficiencies and can benefit from business process automation. Some functional areas you can automate first include accounts payable, inventory management or customer service.

Create SOPs

A clear step-by-step process guide in SOPs is the foundation of process automation. So, prioritise SOPs as a business goal and get the team involved to pen down how they do their jobs.

Identify repetitive tasks

Within the identified functional areas, identify the repetitive tasks that take up too much of your team’s time and can contribute towards bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

Prioritise functional areas and operational tasks to automate

Focusing on a long list of functional areas and processes to automate can potentially backfire. So, prioritise the areas to automate – with your team and keeping business goals in mind – to ensure you get the full benefits from business process automation.

Embrace digital transformation

You do not need in-house expertise and millions in investment to automate business processes. Research the workflow software and business process automation solutions available in the market to see which is the best suited for your business needs and objectives.