Business automation uses technology to take the manual labor out of day-to-day business processes. From hiring to email management to accounting, nearly every corner of a small business’s operations can benefit from some level of business automation.

With business automation, businesses can simplify and optimize workflows. The ultimate goal is to replace human labor and augment the same with technology in a way that helps improve the entire end-to-end process.

By integrating these processes onto technology platforms, companies also benefit from better reporting capabilities and the ability to analyze data over time.

Here are 50 easy Automation Ideas that we at SPARK have compiled for your small business or startup.

1. Email Automation

Email automation makes the email process seamless for marketers and eliminates repetitive manual efforts. Most employees spend numerous hours reverting to emails, which are irrelevant to their daily responsibilities. With email automation, Businesses can organize their piles of regular emails and respond to relevant messages quickly and effectively.

2. Social Media Management Automation

A routine presence on social media is a must for any successful branding process. Companies use business automation software to schedule posts for automated publishing. This kind of software also delivers reports and brings all business social media profiles into a single platform.

3. Tracking Customer Behavior

Many practical tools enable a business to clearly define customers’ preferences regarding diverse parts of the website. Displaying the change in sentiment when making adjustments and transformations offers a clear understanding of the tactics and strategy.

4. Restarting failed devices or services

If a device or service you’re monitoring stops or slows down, you can automate a response or task instead of manually restarting the service yourself. You can also automate maintenance windows.

5. Network File Management

As files (e.g., log files) grow with increased network activity, automatically move, copy, rename, archive, or process files to manage them more efficiently.

6. Backups

Ensure backups are happening regularly, so you never lose critical network data. Improve network security by automating backups to save to another location off your primary server.

7. Hiring Process Automation

Hiring new employees is a multi-stage process that begins with a job posting or recruitment of specific candidates and ends when the employee is fully onboarded. Many steps along the way can be automated, making the overall hiring process more straightforward and less time-intensive.

A human resources management system (HRMS) is a valuable tool in automating the hiring process. These systems automate the candidate management process as part of a broader set of functionalities. As a result, they can reduce the work that comes with making offers to candidates and setting them with all the equipment and access to systems they need for the role.

8. File Transfer Automation

The days of moving files between filing cabinets and walking them over to various departments are long gone. Instead, today’s organizations rely on digital file transfers, but not all transfer mechanisms live up to expectations. For example, using a platform like Google Docs or a service like Dropbox comes with its own challenges. However, companies can efficiently store and share files within their four walls or with customers, business partners, and other stakeholders using business automation.

9. Meetings Automation

Managing and organizing the events and activities, creating a calendar, and setting up meetings have traditionally been handled manually. But numerous automation platforms have made it easier to deliver seamless internal and customer engagements. For example, automating appointments using automation platforms (MAPs) can optimize the communication process before, during, and after the session and meet the company’s business objectives.

10. Generating and Distributing Report Automation

If spreadsheets and reports are a critical part of your everyday business operations, automating report generation and distribution will streamline your process in less time and be hassle-free. Businesses can use process automation tools to generate automated reports and distribute this information, and recipients can analyze historical data, forecast future performance, and make optimal decisions.

11. Auditing Process Automation

Auditing is one of the most complex business processes, especially in large corporations. It’s a systematic examination of an organization’s documents, accounts, and books. However, thanks to automation through BPM (Business Process Management) tools, a large part of the auditing process is automated, with minimal potential for error.

12. Network configuration and provisioning

Change or update device configuration settings automatically to ensure consistency across your network. Configure new switches, routers, and firewalls to set up correctly by deployment. Make changes to routing, shut down unused switch ports, or change device configuration settings.

13. Reconfiguration of device settings

Set up systems to shift traffic away from down WANs and internet links if one goes down.

14. Ticket validation

Automating the extraction of data from tickets (e.g., help desk tickets) helps recipients receive relevant information and shortens the time needed to validate, research, and solve issues.

15. Planning Group Events

Convenient and effective planners of collective events with individual access for visitors make planning much more efficient.

16. Solving client requests without the participation of an employee

A personal account enables a client to use individual sets of automated services without contacting a company representative.

17. Claims Processes Automation

Processing claims of any kind is a long process that often creates a lot of frustration for everyone involved. When some or all steps can be automated, it takes the pressure off the claimant and the organization and enables them to focus on the most critical aspects of the process. Organizations can speed up the claims process using technology like Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

18. Analysis of complaints

Processing and analyzing reviews and questions is greatly simplified by implementing the appropriate technological algorithms.

19. Grouping data from warehouse and trade operations

Forming a single panel with data about the goods in the warehouse can significantly facilitate the work of the sales department and everyone involved in the process.

20. Informing and training new staff

After hiring, you can set up automatic training systems to familiarize the new employee with their responsibilities, inform them about the rules, and offer other systematic training materials.

21. Performance Monitoring

Automate manual activity related to day-to-day network performance monitoring. With the automation service, a business can get periodic captures of infrastructure performance metrics.

22. Marketing Automation

Marketing is another vital business task that can be simplified and optimized with business automation. For example, marketing automation software can organize leads, automate email blasts, and help companies better align campaigns and programs with the efforts of their sales teams.

23. Automating user feedback with forms

Customer service representatives are the frontline workers of any business and are a great source of information. This information is crucial but can get lost along with other tasks and priorities. The solution is to automate user feedback using forms.

How? Send out forms to clients following their purchase, once their trial is over, or after interacting with your team. Automation services can route their answers directly to the customer service platform, turning them into tickets you can address in time.

24. Repeat Display Ads Automation

Seeing a single display ad may not be enough for a conversion. Repeatedly, showing a prospect the same ad on multiple platforms makes conversion much more likely. Again, automation can do this for you.

25. Reimburse employees for work-related expenses

If your employees travel for work, need to take potential clients to lunch, or have any other expenses they charge to the company, a large amount of extra work

falls on your plate. Plus, it’s a hassle for employees – no one likes dealing with expenses. Automation enables employees to input data into a digital form. When the form has autofill fields, it’s faster to do each time, and the risk of mistakes is much lower.

26. Automating email signatures

This may seem like a small task, but having your title and contact information in your email signature can save you a few seconds to type your phone number. But, of course, those seconds add up with the number of emails that get sent regularly!

27. Automate Research

Google Alerts is a beacon in an age of information. Using search terms for your company, industry, and competitors, the tool monitors online mentions and compiles them for you in real-time, daily, or weekly emails that you can glance through in a minute—no more scouring the web for untold hours!

28. Website traffic tracking

If you use Google Analytics, setting up a report to have emailed once a week is simple. You’ll have the statistics of your website appear in your inbox instead of wasting precious time gawking at who’s on your site now.

29. Automate E-commerce reminders

If your website sells a product, you’ll want to ensure you’re optimizing sales by nudging customers who’ve abandoned their carts. This is easy to automate, likely using your email marketing software. If a customer has an abandoned shopping cart, set up a ping to inquire if they’re still interested.

30. Automate Event registration

If you’ve organized an event or are sending a client or staff member out to an event, be sure you put together a pre-written email with directions, instructions on what to bring, and other details. Having a standard one-pager will prevent dozens of specific discussions.

31. Filling out various forms and documents

Intelligent forms for leave requests, time tracking, and expense records are other factors that can be improved through business automation.

32. Performing repeatable tasks

It is better to entrust identical tasks to RPA technologies to avoid human error.

33. Automate surveys

Small enterprises can automate their processes to include survey links to get an idea of what product or service needs improvement. They can send automated emails based on surveys. They can send surveys or web forms with multiple-choice questions. If the feedback is positive, then the automated software can send a complimentary email. If the input is negative, the business can automate the process to contact the client via phone or email so that they try to figure out what the customer has in mind.

34. Automate document processes

Small business can automate their processes to track new clients and customers. For example, an email can be sent to them requesting them to send documents or forms that are required on a routine basis.

35. Automated Receipts

If your business has piles of receipts, scan them to an automation service to automatically get the necessary information exported from them. Once you’ve scanned the backlog, make a habit of snapping images as you go to avoid a slog during tax preparation.

36. Automate Paying bills

Coordinating with your bank to set up automatic payments is an easy way to ensure your office has electricity without needing to write out monthly checks.

37. Automate Voicemail Messages

Business automation software can also set up voicemail so that no call is left unattended. Automate the voice calls so that when you cannot attend the call, the receiver receives an automated email about when you can connect with them.

38. Automate Appointments

Small businesses can schedule their automation software to email leads and clients about an appointment. Reminder emails can be sent once the appointment has been fixed. In addition, automation tools can keep track of the calendar and schedule a position on a particular day.

39. Invoice reminders

Have a customer who owes payment? Automation services enable you to create automated email reminders for pending customer payments.

40. Follow up with potential contacts

After you attend an event, what do you do with all the business cards you receive? If you put off reaching out until later, people may forget who you are, and you’ll have lost the chance to make a valuable connection. An ideal option is to scan the business card using automation software to upload the contact information automatically. Via automation, you can send each contact a brief message, perhaps offering to set a time to talk later. You can automate the whole process, including scheduling appointments.

41. Batch Processing Automation

Companies use batch processing to automate the management of either grouped or batched transactions. Rather than managing these transactions individually, the software “batches” multiple transactions and manages them all at once. Batch processing needs little or no human intervention. It works exceptionally well for “end of cycle” transactions, such as processing end-of-month or end-of-quarter reports or weekly/biweekly payrolls.

42. Controlling subordinates

Employee tracking maps will help you determine which of your hired people are practical and who only creates the appearance of work.

43. Evaluation of the urgency of user requests

It is convenient to analyze the urgency of the call automatically.

44. System Security Automation

With this Automation service, businesses can automatically conduct security scans of devices, databases, or systems within the environment.

45. Analysis of significant amounts of information

Processing large amounts of data and maintaining tables of “hot” leads with manual input is time-consuming and contains significant errors. Therefore, it is better to entrust this task to Automation Services.

46. Meeting Organizing Automation

Calendar Management Platforms make it easy to arrange and manage online and offline appointments with potential clients.

47. Handling support requests

Chatbots help to promptly answer simple questions posed by users so that specialists can devote their time to more technical and complex situations.

48. Facility Management Automation

From managing building security access to replacing leaky windows to repairing heating and cooling systems, facility managers often have to use highly manual processes to handle those tasks. These approaches are inconsistent and decentralized and would benefit significantly from automation that allows teams to react quickly, provide the right level of service and maintain audit trails. The software usually works with an automated response mechanism, whereby an action triggers a response.

49. Customer Support Automation

Each business needs to develop an online presence. Potential and current customers will first try to contact the company online. If they see a live chat feature on the website, it’s a bonus. They can instantly get their questions answered. If they send an email and receive an automated response, they are happy to get instant assistance.

50. Project Management Automation

Many tools enable team leaders to get all members on a single platform and monitor the workflow. Where’s the automation in this process? The automation software display all activities and tasks of each member on a single dashboard. All organization members automatically get their daily tasks and are expected to deliver them by a specific deadline. This offers an effective way of handling tasks compared to individual email communications.

SPARK is a computer, voice, and web company dedicated to bringing you the best in web design, networking, and computer-related services. If you are looking for reliable customer service, dependability, trust, and a cost-effective solution to your needs, get in touch with us. The expert services of our dedicated team of professionals are always at your disposal.

We also offer specialized plans tailored to your requirements, allowing you to make changes on the go, making it easier for your business to scale. SPARK gives you peace of mind by knowing you’ve made a wise and well-informed decision. Connect with us today to understand Business Automation and how it can benefit your business!