The pandemic has been the catalyst for a wave of high-tech transformation, here in Australia and globally. Across the country, SMEs are finding ways to make their operations more streamlined and productive, courtesy of digital technology. Hence, we’re seeing businesses automatically sending messages to conference attendees, creating email campaigns in a matter of minutes and building sales pipelines, all through the power of automation.
So, where to begin if you want to ensure your investment in technology delivers genuine value and not just automation for automation’s sake?
Value-adding functions humans don’t have to do
Run a business and you’ll quickly learn there are some tasks you have to do and do well. One of these is onboarding new employees: recording their particulars; sorting their super, and ensuring they have the information and tools they need to get started.
Another is invoicing. Getting it right matters, because customers who are incorrectly billed will lose trust in your enterprise, regardless of the quality of your offering.
Neither of these important functions needs to be performed by the human hand. Automate both processes and you’ll see greater consistency, fewer errors and omissions and more time freed up to spend elsewhere in the business.
Scaling new services
Optimising or expanding your offering is the key to growth and an automated system makes it easy to experiment. If a new product or service bundle goes off with a bang, you can use the technology to take orders, batch and organise deliveries, and capture feedback from customers. In its absence, your business may struggle to scale up fast enough. Result: unfulfilled or late orders, disgruntled customers and a bungled growth opportunity.
Understanding your customers
What wouldn’t you give to get inside your customers’ heads, to see what makes them tick and how you could serve them better? Automation allows you to do so, by alerting you to obstacles on the customer journey, long before your customers and prospects flag the fact there’s a problem if they ever do. You can use it to monitor key touchpoints, such as your help pages and messaging service, and reach out to frequent visitors who appear to be having difficulties. You can also use the insights those interactions provide to improve your service for future buyers.
Being there for customers when it counts
In life, and in business, timing is everything. You can use automation to help get yours right, so you’re there on the spot in all the moments that matter. Key data points in your possession – think contract renewal dates, customers’ birthdays, anniversaries and the like – can be used to alert your employees that it’s time to get in touch, or to generate emails sending customers your best wishes along with a special offer.
Improving the customer experience
In today’s times, customer experience is no longer merely a ‘nice to have’. The sum total of your dealings with buyers may be the only thing that differentiates your organisation from competitors. You can use customer experience automation to help ensure yours is overwhelmingly positive every time you interact with customers. It’s enabling technology that allows you to create one-to-one marketing campaigns, share data with sales and support staff, and deliver rapid responsive service that makes your customers feel recognised, valued and heard.
Automate and prosper
Think your enterprise could use a boost in any of these departments? The good news is automation software is no longer the exclusive preserve of large companies with deep pockets and armies of high-tech support staff to configure and support it. These days, it’s user-friendly and affordable, for even the smallest of concerns. If improving productivity, profitability and customer experience is a priority for your business, it’s time to start your automation journey.
