Automations: the Keys to Greater Workplace Efficiency

We all feel the need to squeeze in more work during the day. Short of spending even more time on the job, how can we accomplish all we want to achieve in the course of a workday? We’re often bogged down with routine and maintenance busywork that keeps us from taking a big bite out of more creative or lucrative projects.

Take a moment to consider how much time we spend doing redundant tasks that are part and parcel of carrying out our daily duties. So many wheels reinvented! So much repetition! So much duplication of effort!

Writing standard emails, responding to communication, answering the same 20 frequently asked questions, combining data and assembling reports… those types of tasks can take up valuable minutes - if not hours - of a typical day. Eliminating as much redundancy as possible can add some time - and quality - to your workload, enabling you to have extra time to accomplish more overall.

The key may lie in spending our time more efficiently; in short, working smarter, instead of harder. A sure way to streamline repetitive tasks is to employ automations. Simply stated, automations are the employing of automatic means or systematic processes to complete tasks. What tasks do you perform every day that need less - or even no - interaction from you; tasks that in essence, you could set and forget?

Automation help abounds - it’s just a matter of recognizing the issue that could be alleviated and employing an appropriate solution. Some places to look for help automating include:

Your everyday professional desktop applications (word processor, spreadsheet and photo processor) - Running a macro (a set of instructions or series of commands and actions that is assembled as keystrokes and mouse clicks are recorded while performing a computer task. It can then be run automatically whenever that particular task needs to be done without human intervention, saving time and reducing the potential for error.

Macros can be helpful for:

• cleaning up or organizing data
• formatting cells or creating tables
• generating reports
• processing images
• generating mailing labels

Your everyday professional online applications (CRM and email distribution system) - In the same way a macro creates an automatic chain of actions to complete a task, online applications can automate workflow based upon external conditions. Once set up to run as intended, they can independently:

• Collect/process/evaluate data
• Send automatic responses/offers/forms based upon a customer response (or lack thereof)
• Lead a customer through the sales process
• Generate invoices at appropriate intervals
• Customize customer experience based upon customer’s information and behaviors

Should your information live in separate systems, a workflow automation platform can help them communicate, enabling them to connect, share access to your data and create a customized solution.

Your Everyday Mental Processes - Automations are not all technological; they are also the ways you standardize your workflow. Consider your daily communications and how much time you spend composing, documenting and tracking interactions, only to have them end up containing basically the same information every time. Imagine, rather than starting from scratch every time you needed to write or record something, that you already had it mostly complete, with a place to include every necessary element. It’s a game changer when you build a template (a master document) for all the things you write every day, like:

• Emails
• Letters
• Proposals
• Contracts/Agreements
• Meeting notes

When accomplishing more is the goal, it’s nice to have a little help from automations. Incorporating technological solutions into an overall automation mindset is a recipe for freeing up more time for more creative and profitable pursuits.

What will you automate to help you gain more productive time?