At a certain stage in the life of a small business, the owner/operator has to make a decision: remain at the current operational size, or scale the business up. For business owners with a drive to expand and grow their operations, there are a number of essential steps that can make the process easier and more successful in the long term.
One of those steps is business automation. Here is everything you should know, including what it is, why it is essential, and how to implement it.
What Is Business Automation?
Everything that happens within your business on a day-to-day basis can be broken down into a series of processes. That might be something as simple as stocking your stationery cupboard, for which the business automation workflow might look like this:
Other processes are more complex and can have many different steps that might involve multiple employees across various departments.
The act of business automation is about identifying those processes, documenting them, and, where possible (and pragmatic), deploying systems or software to take care of some or all of those steps for you.
So, going back to our very simplistic example of stocking your stationary cupboard –if you know that you use X number of boxes of paper per month, then youcould set an automatic order to make sure that you have that number of boxes delivered on the first of each month. By automating the first step in the process chain, you have made the whole process easier and also ensured that you should never run out of paper –improving the overall operations.
As it applies to the ScaleUp Method, business automation is about making the company more able to organically and smoothly grow your business while retaining the characteristics and procedures that worked in the early days.
How Important Is Business Automation?
From an operations perspective, business automation is vital. Consider a scenario where you have a key employee who is the only one within the organization that handles a specific part of the business.
What happens if they leave? Or if they are incapacitated for an extended period? Your operations would be disrupted in the short term, potentially costing you customers or clients and negatively affecting your brand.
Through the automation of services, you can ensure that no matter what happens, there are processes in place to keep your business running smoothly. Even for those processes that cannot be automated, the act of clearly identifying, analyzing, anddocumenting the steps for each process means that new employees or existing staff should be able to pick up any deficit rapidly.
When Should You Implement Business Automation?
There is a direct and straightforward answer to this question:
Day 1.
Many business owners consider business automation the last step of the scaling activity –realistically, it should be the first. The sooner you get a handle on your processes and begin to streamline and automate them, the sooner you can scale up your operations.
Bear in mind as well: articulating your individual processes in a clear and unambiguous manner will ensure that everybody is working the same way. So if you have more than one payroll processor, for example, they might have preferred ways of doing things and slightly different approaches –your process documentation gives each person clear instructions on how you want the task to be completed.
With that in mind, it should be clear that early adoption of some (or all) of these techniques will benefit the company in both the short and the long term, both operationally and in terms of scaling up.
How Do You Implement Business Automation?
Start by completely streamlining your processes. This means you need to identify and remove duplicate or redundant steps and ensure that all of your activity is optimized. You can also take this opportunity to add in any new processes, combine multiple processes into one, or make any adjustments or modifications to help you better achieve your goals.
Next, compare your costs. If a manual process takes two employees two days to complete, and with business automation software, it could be done by one person in half a day, you need to calculate the comparable price of four days of labor (two people x two days) with half a day of labor and the cost of the software. If the price is not correct, then do not automate –sometimes, the technology is just too costly to make sense.
Creating a Business Wiki
Perhaps the most underutilized aspect of small business automation is the wiki. This can be a potent tool if used correctly –you need to document and upload every single step of your processes. This will allow for an easily found, accessed, and navigated living document that can be used as a reference by any of your employees.
To create your business wiki, make sure that you detail each process in an individual article. Then, group your tasks and teams within the wiki. So, for example, your HR department will have a Human Resources section of the company wiki. That section wouldinclude articles describing the process for onboarding (as well as the relevant documents that the HR representative and the new employee would need), a report outlining the best practice for payroll processing, and an article for dealing with exit interviews, as well as elements of business intelligence automation for example.
Companies that utilize this methodology typically start too late –once the company grows, it is challenging to assess and identify the processes simply because there are so many. Getting the wiki begun in the early stages of your scaleup will allow you to build it organically over time and ensure that every member of your company is aligned and working to the same ‘rules’.
Employee Experience Automation
One of the most effective ways to use automation and process improvement is in employee onboarding. For many organizations, the onboarding process is messy –the new staff member will likely sign documents, go through employee handbooks with human resources, and then go to the specific department they will be working with to continue the process.
It is within the job role that processes can really make a difference. As much as the new employee is trying to make a good impression on you and your company, the reverse should be true –you need the company to make a good impression on the employee. That means if the person is sitting around waiting for a workspace, equipment, training, or a manager introduction, they will likely start questioning your company.
So, as an owner focused on business growth, you need a good, well–documented, and tested process that is ideally out of your hands. Ensure that the onboarding is complete –training on equipment and systems, an explanation of best practices and procedures, and a full description of KPIs and goals are all essential. Getting this right will mean that your employee knows how to do the job you need them for, what you expect from them, and how you will measure their success.
This is excellent process automation: not only are you making sure that no steps are missed and that everything is in place when and where it should be, but you are also likely to reap benefits in terms of employee retention and reducing turnover. An employee who feels confident in what they are doing and knows exactly what they are expected to achieve is more likely to stick with you than one who feels consistently undervalued and does not know their targets.
Recruitment of top talent is time–consuming and expensive, so if you are constantly having to deal with skill gaps due to high turnover, you will find it very difficult to scale your business operations and grow.
Small Business Hunters
For more information about business automation, scaling your business, or the ScaleUp Method, reach out to Small Business Hunters. Our team has led multiple companies from early stages to seven–figure turnover and rapid growth. We are keen to share our experience with like–minded entrepreneurs and business leaders, andhelp you to scale up your business successfully.
You can find Small Business Hunters right here.
