How to Automate Your Small U.S. Business
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Thanks to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, small businesses are becoming more effective and efficient than ever. Also known as Industry 4.0, small businesses are ushering in an era of automation that allows them to compete with larger companies. Like many other previous industrial tides in history, it is a positive transition.
Automation can streamline your small business, increase performance, versatility, and customer satisfaction, and save money over time. It can save time and labor by performing “repetitive digital admin tasks” like payroll, scheduling, and other tasks that prevent employees from completing their core duties.
Because even the most experienced workers can make mistakes, automated processes can minimize error rates, reduce labor costs, save time, and optimize resources. This allows employers and employees to focus on growing the company. Automated performance tracking can even tell a business whether or not the automation is working for the business.
Below, we dive into how small businesses can start automating without breaking the bank.
More than physical robot processes
When many think of automation, they envision fleets of robots producing, packaging, organizing, and transporting various goods. Accordingly, warehouse robot technology promises a compound annual growth rate of over 27% from 2019 to 2024. Improved manufacturing is indeed a significant benefit, but certainly not the only one.
Small, affordable robots can take on cleaning tasks, for example. And even those reluctant to automate manufacturing processes can excel with automated accounting or email marketing, with a potential return on investment (ROI) of $35 for every dollar spent.
Because finding space in their budget can be a major hurdle for small and medium-sized businesses looking to buy their own fleet of robots, companies like Formic Technologies are making it possible for companies to rent robots by the hour. This allows companies to start automating without much risk, capital or expertise.
What are other companies doing? reaching their bases
Automation is also changing the way businesses initiate, interact with, and nurture their customer base. For example, 24/7 chatbots can instantly respond to frequent customer requests and eliminate unnecessary work for employees. This strategy also extends to social media, which is becoming a mandatory modern method of outreach. The automation can aggregate leads, mentions, and other relevant data while also processing pre-scheduled notifications, updates, and blog posts.
Automating other personalized marketing correspondence such as anniversary emails, “happy holidays” emails, and online shopping cart abandonment reminders can also have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line. Morrow Audio, for example, achieved a 26% recovery of profits from “lost carts” using this automation method. No wonder then that around 80% of the top companies automate their marketing processes.
Since robots never give up or hurt themselves, they are a necessary tool to avoid downtime. Decentralized cloud storage offers additional security and speed. In other areas, AI units improve their self-correction and self-direction abilities. As a result, every decision is informed, data-driven, and free from the inevitable human bias. Also, AI systems can predict market trends or perform cost-benefit analysis to improve the efficiency of your small business.
How to start automation
With benefits like scalability and fewer errors and costs, small businesses should start automating now to keep up with the competition. To start automating, companies should consider the following:
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What tasks will you automate? Choosing the right tasks to automate may seem obvious, but this is where many companies get it wrong. Organizations must first understand how automation works and where it fits into their business model. Businesses probably don’t want to automate processes that require creative thinking in relation to human input, but rather more tedious or dangerous tasks.
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What automation tools do you need? Once you understand what tasks should be automated, organizations can choose the tools they need to get the job done. This can include software that automates sales, social media posts, manages chatbots, etc.
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What are your automation goals? There’s no reason to automate if it doesn’t bring profit. Because of this, companies need to set goals to measure success. Because automation can save time, companies should also consider what they’re doing with that extra time. Defining measurable goals is an essential part of automation.
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How do you track the results? Without setting goals and choosing the right KPIs, you will struggle to measure how much positive impact automation is having on your business.
You can start small and build from there. A little research can go a long way, so explore your market options in robotics and automation. It’s also important to encourage input from people who manage or work with the automation tools.
Benefit from automation
While previous changes in the industry may have been case-specific, automation can be universally useful for small businesses. Advanced robotics, cutting-edge AI, and all-encompassing analytics are no longer limited to affluent companies. This democratization of automation could be the biggest game changer yet, and it’s designed to benefit everyone.
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