How to gain efficiencies through automation

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In an era where efficiency is paramount and time is of the essence, automation emerges as the solution. From streamlining repetitive tasks to revolutionising entire industries, automation has woven its way into the fabric of our lives, promising increased productivity, enhanced precision and unparalleled convenience.

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As we stand on the cusp of a future shaped by artificial intelligence and robotic innovation, exploring the multifaceted implications of automation becomes not just relevant but crucial. In this blog, we look at common areas for automation and common processes that can be automated.

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Through our own customer conversations, we’ve identified 3 common areas of automation that companies can focus on in their efforts to respond to the current market conditions and improve operational efficiency:

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1. Tech stack optimisation

2. Back-office automation

3. Front office automation

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1. Tech stack optimisation

Tech stack optimisation typically comes in one of two flavours: managing your spend on software licenses and maximising the returns of your existing automation tech stack.

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Remove underutilised licenses:

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Organisations currently use hundreds of SaaS applications, many of which (nearly 40%) go unused. This can translate to a significant waste of money annually. To help identify underutilised applications automatically and then deprovision them for a given user, you can turn to automation.

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MBA has a solution to make this automation more tangible and easier to adopt by launching our License Optimisation Accelerator. The accelerator, which comes as a customisable, pre-packaged solution, allows you to set up automated processes that continually analyse the use of different applications to pinpoint underutilised licenses. When an underused license is identified, the accelerator notifies the user (typically via Slack or MS Teams) that their seat is potentially set to be deprovisioned for that application, unless they request to keep it (which would trigger a separate approval workflow automation).

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Maximise your automation tech stack’s ROI:

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Like any software purchase, you need to invest in an automation platform that offers the highest return possible. An automation platform’s ROI potential involves a number of considerations. You’ll need to account for the volume of integrations and automations you plan to build over a period of time, the types of integrations and automations you plan to pursue, the resources you’ll need to maintain them and the platform’s infrastructure requirements, among other factors.

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2. Back-office automation

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Back-office teams can automate countless processes in the name of efficiency gains and cost savings.

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One example of this is within HR teams, who can automate any of the following:

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For finance teams, the automation possibilities are just as great, if not greater.

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If the idea of automating all of these areas seems (understandably) overwhelming. You can make the task less daunting and still realise significant returns by automating one process at a time. Examples include:

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• HubSpot’s HR team which was able to save more than 100 hours a month, simply by automating the process of validating data on new hires.

• The finance team at Slack can support an extremely fast and reliable order-to-cash cycle—it’s 93% streamlined and their system uptime is almost 100%.

• Since automating multiple financial processes, the finance team at Terminus has been able to save 1,000+ hours per year, gain granular cash flow predictability, and recoup $30,000/year from replacing 3 middleware systems.

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Front Office Automation

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Automation not only helps go-to-market teams operate more efficiently—it also allows them to improve their KPIs. And, like back-office teams, they can automate a wealth of areas.

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• By automating their process of executing marketing campaigns, Pure Storage has been able to save $400,000 (which they’d spend on an agency) and accelerate their timeline for taking campaigns live from 3 days to 10 seconds.

• By automating their email campaigns, AvidXchange has saved $100,000 in annual marketing spend and freed up one of their full-time employees.

• By automating support ticket routing, Rapid7 has been able to save 8,000 FTE salary hours.

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It’s clear that automation can help any business cut costs and introduce efficiencies. Focussing on the three areas above when building automation delivers clear benefits.

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Talk to MBA today about how we can help your business with automation.

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