So, you might be asking yourself… “Self, what is automation?” or “Self, how can automation help my small business?” If you are, you’re talking to yourself too much, but you have very valid questions. Let’s look at the first one:
What is automation?
Merriam-Webster defines automation as:
au·to·ma·tion
noun \ˌȯ-tə-ˈmā-shən\
- the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically
- the state of being operated automatically
- automatically controlled operation of an apparatus, process, or system by mechanical or electronic devices that take the place of human labor
So, now you’re asking “That’s great, Randy, but what does that have to do with my small business?”. You sure ask a lot of questions, don’t you? I guess that’s why you are the boss.
Most small business owners have daily tasks that they have to do everyday so that their business can function efficiently. Maybe you need to download or upload reports, or maybe you need to convert files from one program to another, or maybe it’s just that you need to back up your sensitive data so that if the worst should happen, you can recover as quickly as possible. I’d bet if you looked around your office right now, you could come up with a list of tasks that have to be done in your computer system everyday.
I’d also bet (hey, I’m in Nevada…betting is like breathing around here!) that most if not all of those tasks could be automated for you. Which bring us to the why portion of this post:
How can automation help my small business?
Ok, so now we know what Automation is…the next thing to figure out is how can it help?
If you made a list of things you could potentially automate earlier (you did do that, didn’t you?) you can easily see how long each task takes and just how much of your (or your employee’s) day is taken up with those tasks. Think of how much time you could save if those tasks did themselves and all you have to do was check to make sure they were done. Time equals money, so you’re not only making your life easier you’re also (potentially) saving or making more money.
Then there’s the human element: Except in specific instances, any task done by a human has a siginicantly higher chance to be done incorrectly or not done at all compared to the same task done by automation. One correctly setup and configured, an automated task will not make mistakes and will no fail to run as long as you don’t have a power outage or computer crash. And, in those circumstances, correctly configured automation will run once you’ve recovered, where as most human are in panic mode are are even more likely to make mistakes or miss critical actions.
To Recap
Automation can save you time and money. Depending on how complex the automation process is and how complex the task is you could be looking at saving hours each day, and then when you add in the cost of fixing mistakes and how mistakes lower efficiency, automation might be the next step you need to grow your small business.
Large corporations automate as much as possible to maximize their profits…you can do the same! Automation happens to be something we here at CTS are very good at, so now might be a great time to take advantage of our Free Consultation service.
