Businesses contain processes that work together to achieve a successful outcome. But as businesses grow, processes can become redundant and less efficient, affecting growth and the evolution of the whole system. When you’re noticing that the business is not doing what it’s supposed to, it’s time to make a change.
In this article, we explain what business process automation (BPA) is and how you can implement it to achieve maximum benefits.
BPA as a concept
Business process automation systematizes and automates processes by handing responsibility for them over to software. Here are some of the benefits of BPA:
- Improves workflow
- Frees up time and resources for higher-level tasks
- Reduces human error
- Smoothes out process execution
- Increases the quality of employee and customer relationships
If you think about it, anything can be achieved with BPA; it’s only a matter of setting the right goals.
Preparing for business process automation
The success of business process automation depends on how well business processes are aligned with business goals. That’s why before automating anything, you should:
- set a specific goal or a number of goals;
- make a list of current business processes.
Get rid of redundant processes, which should be easy to spot once you have all processes listed. Next, find what can and should be automated. Just look for processes that are repeatable, need to be error-free, and must be consistent across the whole organization.
Now you can choose the type of business process automation that works best for your company. Here’s how we automated our business processes at SteelKiwi.
Ways of implementing business process automation
BPA can be a standalone solution but it can also be part of a bigger initiative, like business process improvement, reengineering and management.
Business process improvement
Business process improvement (BPI) redesigns and improves existing business operations. If applied properly, BPI can make processes better, cheaper, faster, and more customer-friendly.
Business process reengineering
Business process reengineering (BPR) rebuilds existing company solutions from scratch, improving their speed, quality, and efficiency. BPR fixes basic employee and organizational issues, then implements technology to redesign and improve core processes.
Business process management
While BPA integrates automated software to reduce manual intervention, BPM is a business management methodology. It includes implementing business process automation.
Now we’ll show you some real-life examples of business process automation from our designers, developers, and engineers here at SteelKiwi.
Business process automation examples
Actual solutions help us understand the essence of BPA. If you want to see more examples of our work, visit the SteelKiwi projects page.
Nova Vita
Nova Vita is a customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that we developed for a healthcare center in the Netherlands. It includes a website and mobile apps for iOS and Android.
As an ERP, Nova Vita offers schedule management and cloud-based storage. With Nova Vita, doctors don’t need paperwork: all X-rays, MRI scans, lab results, and other records are securely stored on a cloud server and can be accessed by authorized users.
As a CRM, Nova Vita allows administrators to manage patient appointments. Doctors can use Nova Vita to communicate with patients in real time, offering them help and medical advice.
Nova Vita is a business process reengineering solution. We used BPA to reinvent the medical center’s existing workflow, improving internal communications and external customer interactions while making everything run faster and smoother.
Meddy
Meddy is an appointment scheduling and management system. It’s integrated with Meddy.co, a website containing a database of hospitals and medical professionals in Qatar, Dubai, and Bahrain.
Meddy is also both a CRM and ERP. It lets hospital administrators
- work with multiple hospitals at once without mixing them up thanks to comfortable facility filters;
- create, view, and manage work schedules of hospital staff;
- schedule, edit, and control the status of doctors’ appointments;
- manage multiple users at once with a single phone number ID.
Meddy implements the business process improvement approach. We took an existing system and extended its capability by adding new features and improving the flow.
NexDep
NexDep is an online platform for finding court reporters, interpreters, and legal videographers. Its features include
- an algorithm to help providers find jobs that best fit their schedules and the services they offer;
- a report system for providers to upload their work materials;
- fraud protection through a system of file protection and penalty fees;
- a notification system to remind about upcoming sessions and keep providers posted on job updates.
NexDep represents business process improvement. We took an offline business, studied its flow, and improved it with automation.
Hashtag Hound
Hashtag Hound finds apt Instagram hashtags. It’s a social media management tool for those whose Instagram accounts are their business platform.
With a powerful algorithm, Hashtag Hound analyzes a number of influential Instagram accounts and selects hashtags that get posts trending.
Hashtag Hound is a standalone business process automation solution. Since many businesses are based on Instagram (models, artists, online stores, and more), it’s important for their accounts to be popular, and Hashtag Hound helps make them just that.
Developing a business process automation project
As you can see, we have plenty of experience creating business process automation solutions. If you’re looking to improve, reengineer, or manage business processes, contact our sales department to get started now.
