I have mentioned more than once in my Finlaz books that automation should lead to savings material resources, time, and people.
However, it’s all too common to observe the mistake of using applications that automate tasks, yet workers continue to spend time on them. They may use the applications, yes, but they don’t stop working on the same tasks. This results in higher costs than before the automation was implemented.
For example, they use the report someone prepared in Power BI but then print the reports and send them via email in PDF format, instead of using the available service to share the report, setting up alerts to recipients’ emails, and allowing stakeholders to directly interact with the wealth of a well-prepared report. Subscribing your clients to certain data services that might be useful to them, constitutes a good source of income.
The issue is that today many workers in businesses are dedicated to preparing manual reports for management and external clients. They fear losing their jobs, and as a result, resist automating the process. They mention any unpleasant detail to their boss so that the boss continues doing things the way they are used to. And the boss doesn’t think much about it either, as the habit of seeing their report on paper works against them.
Before deciding to purchase the necessary service licenses, company executives hesitate about firing these workers. Should they fire them? Of course not.
If you own a business, consider whether you can assign that employee to more productive tasks than preparing reports, for example, using their experience and knowledge to focus on a specific market segment, attracting new clients. It’s common for people who systematically produce many reports, to empower themselves with a lot of knowledge for that purpose.
How many other tasks can be automated today? Tons. There are applications that allow you to reduce phone calls and in-person meetings, generate leads, process email attachments, and so on.
The causes of this happening
Yet, why do people continue doing the same things in business even after acquiring the applications? Due to a lack of process organization studies and the failure to leverage workforce capabilities. And because of resistance to change. No matter how advanced and innovative an application is, if business owners only use it to spend more, it’s useless.
Are applications a panacea? No, not at all. You also need to know when it’s worth spending. Study FINLAZ or hire us for personalized consulting to discover how to express the costs and benefits of automation in $. You will learn a lot to genuinely improve your business (not just for appearances by having computers and elegant offices).
Apply what FINLAZ proposes, and you will succeed.
