Time is money, as the saying goes. Anything businesses can do to reduce or eliminate repetitive, time-consuming tasks and streamline workflows will ultimately improve resource utilization, critical KPIs, and margin growth. So, how can your company leverage data and utilize task automation tools to save more time and boost the bottom line? Read on to find out!
What is an automation management system?
As its name suggests, an automation management system is a platform that manages your teams’ automated tasks and processes to free your resources up from repetitive, low-value work.
An automation management system can help you identify the tasks that are ripe for IT professional services automation and create workflows that the system will automatically execute given the appropriate trigger.
Why should my team use automation?
Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of how to automate tasks, it’s important to understand why automation is so critical for modern business operations. Some traditional project management teams may worry will project managers be replaced by AI. But automation can have huge advantages to a team. Here are just a few of the benefits of automation:
1. Reduced costs
First and foremost, automated tasks help you save money by reducing labor costs. Automation not only frees up employees to focus on higher-level tasks, but also helps cut down on human error, which leads to even more time spent correcting those mistakes.
2. Increased productivity
Naturally, freeing your resources from the burden of mundane tasks like manual data entry means they’ll have more time and creative energy to focus on client work.
3. Improved visibility and control
Another major benefit of automation is the level of control you’ll have over repetitive tasks. With manual processes, it can be difficult to gain visibility and oversight since you can’t always measure team member progression. But with automation, you’ll know exactly how each process is being executed every time.
4. Reduced errors
There’s just no getting around it: manual processes will inevitably lead to errors. But, with automated tasks, you’ll know with 100% certainty that, as long you’ve set the system up correctly, you’ll get the results you need.
5. Increased measurement
Finally, more automation means more data — which means more metrics and KPIs to help you gauge how well your processes are working, find bottlenecks and shortcomings, and forecast project completion more easily.
How to automate tasks
Clearly, automation has a lot to offer businesses of all stripes. But how can professional services teams set up automated tasks to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce operating costs?
One thing to keep in mind is that automation completes a predefined process for you. That means that if the process is not already smooth, automating it can actually make things worse. So, the first step in task automation is identifying those processes that are best qualified for it. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are our most manual, time-consuming administrative tasks?
- Which of our processes are mapped and well-documented?
- Which processes are consistently repeated with little or no variation?
- Are these processes basic enough to be automated without human oversight?
- If one of these processes is not completed properly, how significant is the impact on the project or service delivery?
Once you’ve answered these questions to pinpoint exactly where automation can benefit your service delivery teams, you’ll be ready to implement an automation management system.
What task automation tools are available to use?
These days, there are plenty of task automation tools and automation management systems to choose from. In fact, it can be overwhelming to find the one that’s right for you and your professional services team. That’s precisely why we created the Wrike for Professional Services Performance package — to help service-based businesses get the most out of automation. Two features in particular, Wrike Analyze and Wrike Integrate, help you leverage valuable data and streamline workflows with automation.
Wrike Analyze allows you to create analytical dashboards based on data from your entire Wrike account. You can use any of the pre-built analytics templates or build a custom analytics board to focus on your industry-specific metrics.
With Wrike Integrate, you can seamlessly integrate your Wrike account with more than 400 apps, solutions, and platforms. Plus, Wrike Integrate allows you to automate tasks to eliminate manual input for recurring processes, freeing up employees and streamlining workflows.
If you’re ready to see just how simple automation can be with Wrike for Professional Services Performance, submit the form below to start a free 14-day trial!
