Automate me happy
Why the value of personal automation shouldn’t be overlooked by SME business leaders planning to introduce more automation in 2023.
Why the value of personal automation shouldn’t be overlooked by SME business leaders planning to introduce more automation in 2023.
What you’ll learn
Personal automation tools help individuals work faster and smarter. Discover five practical examples SME leaders can use to free up time and build a happier, more productive team.
We explore why personal automation should be on the radar of SME business leaders if they want to get more efficiency from the working day and create a happier workforce.
There's a lot of talk of the application of automation in business. Sometimes termed business automation, sometimes just automation. Whatever you choose to call it there appears to be some consensus on definition — the application of technology to perform repetitive or time-consuming tasks, freeing up people to spend time doing more valuable things.
It's quite often talked about in the context of business workflow automation — how technology can be used to enable, simplify, speed up, and reduce the cost of common business processes. However, there is also personal automation.
Personal automation is what individuals can do to automate aspects of their specific job. By automating or speeding up the time-consuming, boring bits, individuals can dramatically increase their productivity.
By improving personal efficiency and productivity, people have more time. This additional time could be spent doing more valuable work, help someone reclaim a work-life balance, or simply reduce stress levels. The benefit felt will ultimately depend on the individual. What is common is that it has the potential to improve quality of life, bring more meaning, and make people happier.
Happier people equal more content employees. More content employees are more productive, more loyal employees.
We work with construction, engineering and manufacturing businesses to identify technology opportunities and build practical digital roadmaps.
How many emails or instant messages can go back and forth to organise a 30 minute meeting? For those people arranging and hosting a lot of meetings, get them a Calendly account or similar alternative. They can setup a link and send it to people to let them book in meetings around their availability.
Staying on top of industry news doesn't require hours of daily research. Set up Google Alerts to notify you of relevant articles daily, weekly, or even as they are published. It couldn't be simpler to set up.
A canned response is just a template to speed up the creation of a response to a common question. Build up a library of these in your CRM — both at a business level and individually for each employee's specific role.
In the modern working environment we are still very time poor. Writing lists and setting reminders is still a really powerful way to prompt us to do things on time and stop us forgetting — and there are much better tools available now than Outlook tasks.
Time tracking is a useful way for individuals to learn more about their work and working style. It helps you see where you are spending too much time and where you can introduce more personal automation to help.
These five simple examples don't even scratch the surface of what's available and possible. I recommend starting with a simple automation strategy and plan — looking at the application of business workflow and personal automation collectively. The aim is to define the goals of automation, the business process foundation needed, and the right tools for your business.
Rubik works with industrial businesses to develop digital strategy, identify opportunities for data and technology, and implement the right solutions at the right time.
