Business Process Automation: What It Is and Why You Need It Now

May 18th 2021 11:00:00 AM

Dr. Donald Berwick, the former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, once remarked, “We must accept human error as inevitable—and design around that fact.“ Human error is a fact of life. It happens all-too-often in business, too. To reduce the likelihood of human error, savvy business owners look to business process automation (BPA).

What is Business Process Automation?

These business owners are interested in using technology to automate specific activities. The goals of implementing BPA include the following:

• Boosting efficiency
• Improving the customer service experience
• Reducing expenses
• Simplifying business procedures

Is introducing business process automation to your company a priority for you? Would you like to take the next step immediately? Contact us online or call (330) 645-9959 to make an appointment with a Scanco Solutions Expert today.

Why You Need BPA Software Now

If you’re in business, you know you want to keep growing. BPA is a strategy that can help you reach that goal. Here are some ways it will benefit your company:

• Managing Client Accounts

It can be challenging for businesses to keep client records current. BPA software keeps client accounts up to date. Your sales and customer service team can access client files quickly to retrieve information when needed. This feature makes following up with clients for after-sales service a much easier process.

• Project Management

Business process automation software helps keep track of tasks, orders, and projects. Your managers and team members can track the status of current items, and the risk of anything “falling through the cracks” is greatly reduced.

• Communication

With BPA software, communication between all your team members becomes more efficient. As a result, your operations become more productive. Error rates drop and you save money because you are not spending time “putting out fires.”

• Forecasting

Business process automation helps to improve your company’s forecasting by reducing projection errors. Your sales team will have the best, most accurate information to draw on when having discussions with clients.

Choose the Best Business Process Automation Software

Before you can decide on a specific BPA platform for your business, you’ll need to do a bit of homework first.

Decide Which Tasks You Want to Automate

There really is no “right” answer here. It depends on your business and your priorities.

To start, consider which tasks you and your team members perform that are repetitive in nature. Areas that include these types of tasks generally include:

• Backing up files
• Bill payments
• Customer support functions
• Email signatures
• Inventory management
• Invoice reminders
• Onboarding processes for new customers
• Online forms
• Reporting
• System processes

Once you have determined exactly which tasks you want to automate, you will find choosing BPA software a much easier task. For example, if you have a medium-sized business that is focused mainly on serving customers in your local region, you probably won’t need the same types of solutions that a large enterprise with multiple locations requires.

Determine the Critical Features You Need

The next step in choosing the best BPA software for your business is to ascertain which features are most important to you.

• Cloud-Based Software

Why do we suggest that you look for a cloud-based software option? Your team members may not always be on-site when they need to access data. In choosing a cloud-based option, they will be able to collaborate with colleagues and get access to real-time data from any location.

• Secure Platform

Security is a key component in business process automation. You need to ensure that your own company’s information, as well as that of customers and suppliers, is kept secure from hackers.

Part of your security is protecting sensitive information. You can do this by restricting access based on user roles. That way, only those team members you designate will have access to confidential information.

• Service Level Status Indicator

In business, it’s entirely normal to be juggling several tasks at one time. You need a way to monitor different workflows and indicate which ones are a priority for your team. When you have a “rush” job, this needs to be communicated to employees quickly and efficiently so they can deal with it promptly.

• Real-Time Notifications

When your team members need to pivot and adjust what they are working on, this information needs to be conveyed to them quickly. The best way to relay it to them is with real-time notifications to the specific team members involved. Depending on the situation, waiting for them to log into the system to receive the information may mean they don’t receive crucial information quickly enough.

Look to Scanco for BPA Software Solutions

Scanco is your source for business process automation solutions. We work with businesses of all sizes to help them find the solutions that work best for them.

Sage Production Management gives manufacturers the capability of having complete visibility over their entire operation. Track all your costs and get real-time item statuses to keep your customers up-to-date about their orders. The inventory management controls allow your team to export spreadsheet data and sales order data, as well as create purchase orders, so you have the materials at hand when needed.

Operations Management for Sage 100 gives you the tools you need to perform accurate job quotes by breaking down job costs into individual components (labor, material, and subcontractor-provided services). When you can see each component in detail, it makes providing accurate job quotes a much easier task. Since Operations Management integrates seamlessly with Sage 100, your financial and operations data are synchronized. You can also say, “Goodbye,” to your clipboard, since manual data entry will be a thing of the past.

Scanco makes it easy for you to find out which solution is the best fit for your business. Take a few minutes to check out our online tool. All you need to do is answer a few questions and it will recommend a solution or module to help you solve your current challenges.

If you have questions about business process automation or how Scanco’s products can help you automate your business, contact us online or call (330) 645-9959 to make an appointment with a Scanco Solutions Expert today.