Business process optimization became the most common and effective techniques for modern companies. One of the main steps to get business processes optimized is to automate your business. You might have already heard of the advantages of automated business. Automated business means well-organized work with employees and customers, high level of working process effectiveness, business process optimization, profit markup, etc. No wonder many companies wish to automate their business as soon as it is possible. However, not every company can do it correctly. This can follow to a number of problems and very often companies have to get back to the previous forms of work which are not modern and slow business processes down. If you are planning to transfer your business to modern systems but not sure what to start from, so all you need to do is just to answer the questions below.
Step 1. Business processes
First of all, you need to understand what part of business process should be automated. The following questions should be answered:
- What activities do the employees of the company do?
- What are the main reasons of problems in the work of the employees?
- What areas of the company functioning need business process optimization?
Each activity of employees comes across certain difficulties. And very often it is hardly possible for a manager to follow each difficulty and to eliminate it.
Tips:
First of all, you need to get problem areas of business automated. They slow the work of the whole company.
Then, each process should have an employee responsible for it.
Business processes are better to organize in a way all time limits, dates of beginning and finish of projects could be transferred to each employee automatically.
Step 2. Data
Data is the most valuable possession of each company. It should be managed correctly. It should be figured out:
- What data does the company work with?
- According to what parameters can it be distributed?
Tips:
It is extremely important to check how timely the database is filled.
You don’t need to make data sheets for everything. First of all, it is better to start from the most important data and only then you can arrange the rest of information.
Use related fields and you will not have to copy data every time you want to create a data sheet.
Step 3. Access
Not all the data can be accessible. It’s not only the case of safety. Some information is not necessary to be open for employees. So, it is important to understand:
- What groups of employees take part in company business processes?
- What data does each group work with?
Tips:
The list of fields should be made for each group of employees.
Besides the access to the fields, the access to adding and deletion of recordings, data export and import, access to reporting should be thought over.
Step 4. Samples
Using of samples of documents is a good decision when a company is in the process of business process optimization. There are always a number of documents used by a company the most frequently. It should be determined:
- What documents are used the most frequently?
- What data for these documents is gathered in data sheets?
Tips:
The samples should be flexible. The rest information will be filled automatically.
Several similar documents can be integrated into one sample with various options. This can save your time and eliminate the number of probable mistakes.