A measure of our stay in this world that previously sprang up like a lover of the wall for life and turns out to be now one of the most precious assets so far: time. The absence or decrease of it does nothing more than alter the psyche of those who attribute themselves to a thousand and one tasks to accomplish, not to mention a large-scale organization.

That is why the automation of business processes came in handy for those people who dream of 25 or 26 hour days. Let's talk about walking comfortably down the street speaking in the language of time economy - to name just one of the many virtues of its application.

First things first, what does process automation mean?

Business process automation -in English Business Process Automation or BPA- 

refers to the use of software that allows automating repeatable, multi-step business transactions. This type of BPA automation tends to be complex because it is often connected to multiple enterprise information technology systems and tailored to the needs of a particular organization.

The implementation of these automated practices is generally part of organizations' digital transformation strategies to optimize their workflows.

According to data provided by the consulting firm Billentis Market Report for eInvoicing, worldwide, 70% of invoice processing continues to maintain its paper format. It is known that manual processes not only increase the chances of error, but it also takes companies at least 4 times longer to pay physical invoices. Using automation tools such as robotic process automation (RPA), the software can extract and validate invoice information in a matter of seconds. 

While an average employee can process 6,000 paper invoices per year, with the use of these new innovation technologies, companies can check 90,000 digital invoices per year using automation.

Given such efficiency tested and corroborated by experts in the area, do you think we know more about the most important types of process automation? Here we go.

Types of business automation

Among the benefits to highlight within the universe of commercial automation, we can add that the elimination of repetitive tasks, the reduction of downtime and the increase in productivity are the reasons that occupy the first positions. As a result of its numerous benefits as an in-company application, more and more companies are seeking to train their employees in the field of automation.

Below are the 4 most relevant types of automated commercial processes:

• Marketing Automation: Through automation tools, companies easily find a framework for teams to build, execute and measure the success of their marketing campaigns, eliminating the complexity of qualifying and converting leads. Another of its benefits has to do with automation via email, to enhance these campaigns from content marketing. This simultaneously helps create a higher measurable return on investment (ROI) for each of those campaigns.

The automation of business processes is ideal in cases of tracking and measuring the activity of a prospect, to then identify when it meets the established conditions and thus deliver prospects to sales as soon as they meet the predefined criteria. 

• Accounting Automation: Businesses can save considerable time on accounts receivable, accounts payable, invoicing, collections, credit card applications, data backup, and other financial processes that are part of the daily work routine. All this with the wonderful tool of procedural automation, which transforms complex transactions into clean and simple steps. This way, teams can send invoices, manage approvals and process payments through a single platform with fast approvals, combined with better visibility and control over information.

• Process Automation: Business process automation incorporates application integration to help businesses improve value and efficiency. Companies are using this technology for functions such as: order entry, email, batch processing, file transfers, as well as report generation and distribution.

In relation to this item, you may be interested in our experience collaborating with the wholesale company “Ferretera del Norte” through the application of this type of automation. In it we developed a mobile application that allows customers to be located on a map and display commercial information.

The app facilitates the location of customers, providing useful information such as general data, date of last visit, amounts of operations per visit/period and product supplier, details of operations with products, quantities and amounts.

• Human resources automation: staff recruitment is a process that involves a series of stages, starting with an online advertisement or recruiting effort and ending when the employee officially joins. Many steps in this process can certainly be automated. In fact, a human resources management system is an extremely important tool for filtering people and thus streamlining processes. With this automation, HR teams process job applications, manage employee data, and administer benefits. Additionally, these systems provide valuable information about the productivity and efficiency of a company's workforce.

Tips to know if it is time to apply business process automation in your company

If you find yourself with existential doubt about whether or not your organization needs a business change related to automation, you should know that if after carrying out previous field research, you notice any of these symptoms, you should know that the answer is YES: 

• Is a high volume of repetitive tasks managed on a regular basis?
• Do you work in large groups to complete small tasks?
• Lack of deadlines due to long manual processes?
• Negative results despite doing everything possible to comply with action plans? (for example: sales campaigns that do not start because the marketing department takes too long to develop and send presentation emails).
• Do you need better compliance, auditing and other paper records?