People often talk about improving business productivity with automation but don’t explain exactly how to do it.  Our founder and Zapier Certified Expert, Kelly Goss, recently appeared as a guest on the Habitz podcast to suggest ways that business owners and members of staff can remove inefficiencies and streamline their tasks.

Habitz is a community that helps small businesses and has a YouTube channel as well as a regular podcast. When Kelly spoke to Lauren she recommended three habits that will transform productivity in every area of the business.  These habits simplify, connect and automate business processes to make the business more efficient.

Where do businesses go wrong?

Businesses go wrong when they constantly deal with manual and repetitive tasks inefficiently.  For example, if they have an e-commerce system then they might be copying the data manually into their invoicing platform.  This manual task is slow and is prone to human error.

Businesses don’t take time to look at how things are done on a granular level to try and make their processes more efficient.  If they looked at them regularly then they would notice the inefficiencies and streamline them.

When changes happen in the business, rather than taking time to evaluate how best to implement them what often happens is that existing processes are tweaked.  Over time, this can make them overly complex, manual, and unwieldy.

Businesses have a lot of technology but are not able to move data from one system to another.  They should harness the cost-effective technology available in the market to connect their systems.

If a business wants to improve business productivity with automation then taking time to look at their processes and systems is essential.  Doing this will deliver long-term efficiency gains, with just a small upfront investment of time.

Three habits to improve business productivity with automation

There are three steps to saving time and improving productivity with automation.  Kelly’s method has been proven to work for all the businesses she has worked with, and it will work for you too.

1.     Simplify your processes before you think about automating them

Organise a brainstorming session with your team to make a list of the top five ‘pain points’; these are the processes that are the most time-consuming, manual, and repetitive.  They are often costly when errors occur, in terms of financial loss, reputational damage and time wasted on correcting them.

Choose one process and then document it, and as you do so try to simplify it by removing any steps which are unnecessary.

2.     Review the technology in your business

Make a list of all the systems you use, for example, the platforms you use for social media, the software you use for sales and invoicing.  Also, the apps you use to communicate with customers, for example, the email platform, SMS sender, or CRM.

Then see where each system fits into the processes you previously documented and then work out how you can connect them all.

3.     Automate processes as much as possible

There is a range of no-code tools on the market which you can use to connect your tech stack, and you don’t need to be a developer to use them.  Examples include Zapier, Make, and Microsoft Power Automate and these all allow you to connect your apps and pass data between them.

These are all no-code solutions that anyone can use.  Most have simple interfaces and often provide pre-built templates which give you a head start.  Once you’ve created your first automation you will realise how simple it is and will have the confidence to do more.

Review these habits regularly

Regular reviews will ensure you stay on top of any changes to your processes, and make them as efficient as possible.  This will help you get ahead of your competitors as it will affect every area of your business, every touchpoint with customers, and improve them.

It’s easy for any business owner and staff member to implement these habits to improve business productivity with automation.

We have some great resources to get you started:

• The Solvaa YouTube channel includes Zapier demos for some really useful zaps
• Our free e-book is the perfect introduction to business automation
• Our Zapier functions cheat sheet delves into the powerful inbuilt helper apps which can supercharge your automations

If you’d like to be guided through every stage of getting started with Zapier then our founder, Kelly’s book, Automate It with Zapier, is available on Amazon and through the publisher Packt.  It explains a range of automations and you can download templates to get started really quickly. Here are links to Amazon (.co.uk) and Amazon (.com) to get yours now.

The book is perfect for seasoned pros as well as brand new Zapier users.

Or check out our FREE MASTERCLASS with Kelly to learn about how business process automation can help you increase efficiency and allow you to run your business on autopilot. Get access below:

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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