Most businesses that would benefit from automation don't describe themselves that way. They describe the symptoms: the admin that fills the day, the two systems that never agree, the quote nobody followed up. Here are six things we hear in first conversations, and what each one usually means.
1. “We type the same thing in twice.”
A customer's details go into the CRM, then into the job system, then into accounts. Each time, a person types them, and each time there's a chance of a typo. If information is entered more than once anywhere in your business, that work can almost always be removed, and the systems can be made to agree with each other.
2. “Everything lives in a spreadsheet.”
Spreadsheets are where processes go when the software doesn't quite fit. The job tracker, the leave register, the month-end checklist. They work until the person who built them is away, or the file gets copied, or two people edit it at once. A spreadsheet that has become a system is a sign that a real process is waiting to be built.
3. “Someone has to check this every day.”
A person opens three systems each morning to see what's changed, what's overdue and what's waiting on someone. That checking is exactly the kind of work a connection between systems does on its own, with a message to the right person only when something needs them.
4. “We keep missing follow-ups.”
Quotes go out and nobody chases them. Enquiries wait in an inbox over the weekend. Approvals sit with someone who's on site all week. None of this is anyone's fault. It's what happens when the next step depends on a person remembering. Follow-ups are the easiest thing to automate and usually the first thing that pays for itself.
5. “Reporting takes hours.”
If the Monday numbers are built by exporting from several systems and pasting into a spreadsheet, two things are true: someone is losing half a day a week, and the numbers are already out of date by the time anyone reads them. The same figures can come straight from the systems, checked against each other, whenever they're needed.
6. “Only one person knows how that works.”
Every business has a process that runs because one person knows the steps. When they're on leave, it stops. Writing the process down and building the routine parts into a workflow protects the business and frees that person for work that needs their judgement.
What it doesn't mean
Being ready for automation doesn't mean replacing your systems or your people. The best first projects use the tools you already have, remove the steps nobody enjoys, and leave decisions with the people who should be making them.
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By Zerowait. Examples are illustrations, not client work.