How do you know if you have a problem that needs a solution?
- How important is it to the core of the business or organisation?
- How often does it happen? Is it frequent or only once in a while?
- How long does it currently take and how much time could be saved with an app?
Is a new piece of software the right solution?
Problem statement: Creating, sending and following up on invoices is a labour-intensive process and sometimes we make mistakes or don’t get paid on time.
Why:
The invoices are created manually, which takes a long time to create and sometimes people make a mistake. The follow-up process is also manual, which also takes time and means that we sometimes miss late payments.
- The information isn’t all in one place, so I have to copy and paste the information from different places.
- I have to manually format them.
- I keep a list of the invoices and whether or not they’ve been paid in a spreadsheet. I go through all of them once a week and check against payments made to use so I can either mark them as paid or follow up with the customer.
- I have to type get the customer details from the CRM and the sales information from the project management system.
- I copy an old invoice and add in the new information, it takes time to delete all the old information and paste in the new information.
- There’s nowhere else to track invoice information and I don’t know how to automate the process of sending out an email when the payment deadline has passed.
- We store the customer information, and the payment information in different places.
- We don’t have a template invoice.
- There’s nowhere in our CRM where we can store invoice or payment details. I don’t know how to connect the spreadsheet to my emails.
- Our CRM doesn’t have the ability to store things like deal or project information, only the customer’s personal information.
- I haven’t had the time to learn how to make a template in the software we use to create the invoice
- There’s no integration between my email app and the spreadsheet app I use.
Do you need a new app? What can you do with what you already have?
Summary
Before you download or subscribe to new software, ask yourself ‘Do I need a new app?’ To answer that question:
- Figure out how much resource it currently costs you to do the process or task?
- Ask the Five Whys to get to the heart of the issue.
- Investigate your current tech stack to see if you already have a solution.
Whether or not you need a new app will depend on what you find when you dig into these points, and on your priorities. You might be time-poor but have a decent budget, or you might have flexibility on how something can be done, or it might need to be an exact process. The final decision will be up to you, but I hope that this post has given you some tips on how best to make that call
Solvaa: Strategy, Solutions, Support, Education
UK-based Solvaa® is a systems, process and automation consultancy specialising in improving business workflows. Solvaa® works with SMEs worldwide to implement digital tools, better processes, use business process automation and generative AI to boost productivity, enhance lead management, and remove unnecessary time, costs and hassles from stretched business owners’ days.
We help you simplify and streamline existing processes, integrate your business tools to make data transfer more efficient, and automate manual tasks. Our business process automation specialists have extensive experience using multiple cloud-based business tools, including Zapier, Pipedrive CRM, SmartSuite, Xero, Google Suite, ClickUp, Asana, Airtable, Hubspot, Active Campaign, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Quickbooks and many more. We are Zapier Certified Experts, SmartSuite Certified Partners, Pipedrive Certified Partners and Xero Certified Advisors. We also educate teams about using AI in their daily roles, mindset, governance and strategy in our Solvaa AI Academy.
Solvaa® was founded in 2016 by Kelly Goss, a no-code solutions architect, business process automation specialist and author of Automate It with Zapier (first edition) and Automate It with Zapier and Generative AI (second edition).
A thought leader on business process automation and digital adoption, Kelly attended an invite-only Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the UK government at No.10 Downing Street, providing insights and recommendations on how SMEs can benefit from productivity gains by using digital technologies, automation and AI. She has also been invited to speak at the House of Lords and at many other events.
Contact us today to find out how Solvaa can help your business make big savings on operational costs and time, and significantly increase productivity.
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