By: Siddharth Wadehra, QuickReach Head of Research &
Katherine Ina Fuentes, QuickReach Digital Transformation Consulting Associate
All business undertakings entail thorough decision making that dissects not only benefits but brings up some apprehensions as well. In the case of business process automation, costs, among others, will always come up as a concern. Automation can be expensive BUT using a system to automate your core processes is a very cheap way to experiment, especially when the software can be integrated seamlessly with your existing systems. There are also some open-source platforms out there that you can download for free. You may also use Google Apps Script or SharePoint to create workflow connections with your existing applications. However, all these options would require a lot of technical knowledge.
Assuming that you already know how automated workflows can possibly improve efficiencies and reduced costs (through our previous blogs), we are pretty sure that you are feeling excited and perhaps even a bit skeptical. From the looks of it, business process automation seems like a great way to kick-start digital transformation; but what could possibly be your apprehensions?
"Won’t automation be expensive?"
Some forms of automated and someone on your IT team to constantly maintain them, or you would need to hire expensive consultants to set them up.
"I am not really a technical person."
Programming skills are not necessary to automate your office. In fact, the only thing that is required is a clear understanding of how you want the process to work.
This was one of our key considerations while designing QuickReach. QuickReach has been designed incorporating the various principles of design thinking- which means it is a very human-centric process automation platform. QuickReach’s Experience Studio and its intuitive drag-and-drop interface would help you design your form and workflow in a way such that it makes the most sense to you, without needing to worry about any coding or programming. Additionally, the QuickReach customer success team is just a chat away in case you might need some support on.
"Do I need another software platform?"
Aside from your general productivity suite, you likely have a few other core apps that you depend on for your daily work. The question which you are probably asking is- Why load your team down with yet another application? '
The amazing thing about an automation suite like QuickReach is that it can connect all of your systems together around the way you use them. All of your existing IT infrastructure (yes, even your legacy systems!) could be integrated with the QuickReach automation suite. You love the insights you get from your sales platform, but you want a quick way to approve and document discounts for your sales team, and also have that information documented on your accounting software; to enable your sales team to perform at their best.
Through integrations, you can automatically connect all of your current systems. You already use a workflow to connect these systems, it is just a very manual one that requires a lot of data transfer by humans. With an automated system like QuickReach, you can get more value from the software you already use.
"Do I have to maintain it?"
QuickReach is a SaaS cloud-based product. With on-premise solutions, the buyer is responsible for maintenance, updates, versioning, and many other headaches. When you buy a SaaS solution, you not only get the convenience of being able to log in from any device around the globe, you also get the top-rated security that comes from Microsoft or Amazon, where QuickReach might be hosted.
This means that we take care of all necessary maintenance, provide regular updates and improvements, and keep the bad guys out of your account.
"Am I killing jobs?"
As we move further into an automated world, a common concern in the business community is about the potential loss of jobs.
However, as our computers become more capable, the senior management needs to seriously think about how they plan to merge software and people. Smart businesses will often create a team of very efficient software combined with very capable humans who can coexist in the ecosystem together- each doing what they are probably best at. Businesses probably won’t ever lay off any employees as a result of business processes automation. However, one may need to think about those employees whose role is exclusive to manually transferring data who could potentially be re-skilled. They could eventually be assigned better and more meaningful work to them that is perhaps more suited to their inherent skillset.
Business Process Automation with QuickReach
Apprehensions will always be there especially when you want to ensure success in every upgrade you want your business to have. This can be about the costs, expertise, and resources among others. However, it is important to know that there are business process automation platforms that address these concerns such as QuickReach.
There are a lot of processes that you can start automating in your organization, be it in
HR, finance, office admin, or IT such as onboarding, leave requests, purchase requests, purchase orders, sales orders, payment approvals, and travel expense approval.
Automating these business processes should not be a hassle and will be as easy as one-two-three when done through QuickReach. QuickReach offers various free workflow templates that match your existing processes within business areas and let you roll-out solutions in minutes.
Try out QuickReach here or book a meeting with us so we can discuss how we can create delightful experiences for your customers and employees together.
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