It’s 2022. Why are so many SMEs still doing things essentially the same way as they were in 2002?
Many business owners who have been in business for over 10 years have become accustomed to their way of conducting business. It’s not that these processes are wrong, instead, they are dated or inefficient. Your boss might be thinking that manually counting inventory or getting their employees to enter data twice is bulletproof. When in fact, these processes are prone to human error, waste valuable time and restrict the business from growing as quickly as it truly can. Automating routine, tedious manual processes should be a no-brainer for any business, no matter the size. It is not nearly as difficult or complex to automate processes as many seem to think.
Benefits of Automating Processes Include:
- Labor costs are reduced
- Creates an enhanced customer experience
- The process of managing Inventory is sped up
These benefits listed above are just the tip of the iceberg to show your boss. You won’t want to dive straight into a digital transformation until they are open to automating individual processes, to begin with. So start off with why do so many SMEs continue to ignore, or actively resist, automation? Well, there are three reasons we’ve seen some bosses resisting automation.
Reasons for Resisting Automation:
- Awareness
- Cost
- Fear of Job Loss
Let’s dive into all three to help you determine the best ways to convince your boss to implement automation tools each with a statistic to help back up your argument.
Reason 1: Awareness
Or rather the lack of awareness –of either the fact or the implications. Many SME business owners (or general managers) may simply be unaware of some of the tedious, repetitive, and mechanical processes being performed every day by the employees. Alternatively, these business owners may be peripherally aware but (being super busy) they’ve never really considered how much time is spent on these tasks, but they should! According to Deloitte, 75% of companies struggle with overwhelmed employees, meaning they are spending time on tasks that could be automated. Business owners who provide their employees with the tools to conduct their work efficiently create a work-life balance that employees strive for.
Talk to your boss about how time translates directly into payroll costs, and because manual tasks frequently result in human error, they add to business risk as well. A more efficient workplace is a more profitable workplace.
Reason 2: Automation will be complex and therefore costly
If you try the DIY approach to try and save money, it will probably end up being costly and failing. But working with the right tools and professionals with the appropriate experience, nowadays it is relatively simple and not necessarily at all costly to automate these processes. Frequently, simple automation pays for itself – measurably – in months or even weeks.
Reason 3: The fear of job loss
31% of organizations are worried about labor displacement and job loss that could come from job automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Sometimes the employees doing the manual work are concerned about being replaced by automation and losing their jobs. Parallel to many business owners who don’t necessarily want to lose good staff (which I applaud). Automating a good employee’s tedious work simply enables and empowers that person to perform more valuable, more stimulating and rewarding, work, for the same employer. For example, automated reports and sales orders eliminate the possibility of spelling mistakes, one of the most common data entry errors.
Interested in increasing automation tools within your business? Contact us today for a free Business Analysis
