If the budget of the organization allows you to spend a lot of money on a new project, then it is better to immediately seek the help of professionals.
Let's look at the pros and cons of this option:
Experience. A specialist who has already configured several systems knows not only the technical components of the product, but also the most frequently encountered problems.
Efficiency. The developer tries to complete the setup in the shortest possible time, because his income depends on it.
Business is fairly smooth. Full-time employees do not receive additional tasks, and the workload does not increase. This allows you to maintain the quality of your core responsibilities and not waste time and energy on understanding new software.
Risks. The contractor may be incompetent or even a fraudster, then the funds allocated for business automation will be wasted, and you will have to do the setup yourself.
Nuances of the activity. The developer does not understand all the complexities of your business model, so it will take additional time to study it and describe the processes.
Additional costs. It is necessary to pay not only for the program itself, but also for its deployment and configuration services. For well-known developers, this part of the implementation work is equivalent to the cost of the product itself.
Financial report
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When using a third-party organization, choose it by considering the following criteria.
Learn from experience. It is important that the company has specialized experience in your field of activity. Read public reviews, study case studies, talk to the developer's previous clients.
Consider specialization. A professional who deals only with amoCRM will be able to set it up better than a contractor who deals with all systems in succession.
Avoid freelancers. This does not mean that a freelancer cannot, in principle, set up an automation system, but he may postpone deadlines, demand additional payments that were not agreed in advance, etc. Choose an agency that is well-known on the market.
Compare quotations. You should not sign an agreement with the first contractor you agree to. Study the developer's experience, his team, completed cases. In the course of such an analysis, you often discover nuances that you did not even think about at first.
Make an agreement. For business, this is an obvious point, but it is still true. Determine all the terms of cooperation in a written agreement, clearly establish a list of services and their costs. This will prevent unreasonable demands for additional payments and allow you to control deadlines.
How to achieve a doubling of website traffic and sales?
Alexey Boyakin
Dmitry Svestunov
Head of SEO and Development Department
Read more posts on my personal blog:
I am always concerned with the question of moving to a completely new level. Such an increase in indicators is not 2-3 times, but generally several orders of magnitude. For example, if we talk about a website, from a thousand visits to ten thousand or from ten thousand to a hundred thousand.
I know that such a leap is always the result of hard work in five areas:
Technical state of the site.
Search engine optimization.
Collection of site semantics.
Creation of useful content.
Commitment to conversions.
At the same time, every manager needs to increase sales and the number of applications to the website.
To achieve such growth, download our step-by-step template for increasing sales from the site:
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Stages of business process automation
It is more convenient to divide the implementation of the automation system into several steps. This will help you better plan your work.
Step 1: Understand your company's processes
It is necessary to evaluate how certain operations are currently structured, whether automation can improve their quality, or whether other methods should be used.
Create a model of each process to help you visualize the required changes more clearly. Programs such as "Camunda" or "Visual Paradigm", "Miro" can help at this stage. You can also use mind maps or customer journey maps (CJM).
The resulting diagram should clearly indicate which points need to be changed.
The following signs indicate the need to modernize a process.
The process takes a long time to complete.
The nature of routine work that can be performed according to a given pattern.
Includes many standard operations.
Now you need to develop a goal, for example:
Minimize costs;
Increase labor productivity;
Optimize the use of limited resources;
Increase the accuracy of operations and reduce the number of errors.
The development of clear goals is necessary to calculate the cost of automation and choose the best way to implement it.
There may be a situation where the introduced system, instead of improving, worsens the quality of business processes. Profitability does not increase, and there is no return on investment. To avoid such misunderstandings, it is necessary to calculate the costs and potential benefits at the initial stage of the project. If the company's monthly revenue is 3 million and the expenses are 1.5 million, then the benefits are extremely questionable.
The method of calculating profitability depends on which process will be automated. You can compare the costs of existing operations, purchase and set up the system, and train users. Usually, the time to complete a task before and after automation is calculated, and then this difference is compared with the change in profitability due to the implemented system.
Some processes can be evaluated only with the help of economists and financiers. If you analyze the order in which tasks are performed and, if necessary, make changes to the algorithm, many tasks can be optimized without investing a lot of money in software tools.
Step 2: Choose a tool
When looking for methods and means of automation, consider the following criteria.
Convenient and clear interface.
Ability to save a history of activities of the client and the managers working with him, listen to their conversations, create a database and monitor the progress of tasks.
Ability to generate reports and obtain statistics on important performance indicators.
The choice should be determined based on the goals and scope of the enterprise.
Phases of Business Process Automation
Step 3: Implement Changes
In order to automate business processes effectively, it is necessary to perform a number of related activities.
Carry out outreach with employees. Not all employees will understand the new system or find it easy to use. To avoid disruption, take the time to explain to colleagues the advantages of implementing the system and the benefits to them personally.
Inform about upcoming layoffs or job searches for employees whose work will be performed by the automated system.
Evaluate the possibility of integrating existing business tools with the new system.
Check plans and plan in advance what to do if they are not working and need to be changed.
Develop new work regulations and conduct employee training. You can assign training activities to full-time HR experts or contact software developers directly.
Step 4: Analyze performance and make adjustments
After the system is implemented, monitor its effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and listen to feedback from colleagues. If necessary, overhaul production cycles and management models.
Remember that business process automation does not always show its effectiveness immediately. It is necessary to collect as much data as possible before the change, and then monitor the growth or decline of certain indicators as the new system is used. Thus, the introduction of an acquisition pays off within 2 months on average, while the introduction of a warehouse accounting system pays off within 6-12 months.
Often changes to the relevant processes or modifications to the system are required, depending on the business model.
Download useful documents on the topic:
Checklist: How to achieve your goals in negotiations with customers
Evaluating the effectiveness of business process automation
The characteristics of calculating ROI vary from organization to organization, so it is necessary to determine in advance the key indicators for analyzing the effectiveness of the automation system.
If we evaluate an average company with a stable financial situation, then usually the shortest payback period is 1 year, a more realistic period is 2 years. In the worst case, payback may take 3 years. These values may vary depending on the scope of the enterprise, the cost of the software, the set goals, the business model and other conditions.
The following indicators indicate the effectiveness of automation equipment in a small company.
Reduction of the time required to complete similar tasks;
Reduction of transaction cycles and sales cycles;
Positive dynamics of KPI indicators;
Reduction of the number of complaints to the support service and the number of dissatisfied customers.
For ease of calculation, traditional indicators are suitable: the cost of automating business processes, enterprise revenue, "liquidation" profit. They can be compared in the context of a specific period, or compared with the cost of deploying the system. In the latter case, if the cost is too high, you should consider using another software product. Small businesses often try to implement expensive initiatives because they believe that expensive projects are not necessarily a bad thing. This may be true, but is such a system suitable for this particular business?
Example of evaluating the effectiveness of business process automation
A common example of evaluating the effectiveness of business process automation is to calculate the cost of implementing a system in relation to the labor costs of each specialist.
Let's take the example of the process of selling advertising towers in a business in a marketing agency. The algorithm is as follows.
The customer calls the manager and asks for telemarketing leads, indonesia telephone number data the production of a suitable product. The specialist arranges and holds a meeting to discuss the type of tower and the required technical characteristics. The customer reports agreeing with the final project. Next, a commercial proposal is drafted, and then a contract is prepared and signed (while checking the availability of the necessary spare parts or finished products in the warehouse). After that, the payment is made, and the order is sent to production. When it is ready, the tower is shipped to the customer and the closing documents are signed.
After the transaction is completed, the customer receives a quote for the production of the souvenir. This process is very simple and can be easily automated.
Manager Ivan needs 16 hours to complete the algorithm in 8 working days (in total). Of this, 2 hours were spent negotiating with warehouse employees, 2 hours on developing a business proposal, 2 hours on drafting the agreement, and 1 hour on drafting the closing documents. It takes 6 hours. For one hour of work, Ivan's salary is 400 rubles (including taxes and other mandatory deductions). Thus, the cost of 6 hours of professional work is 2,400 rubles. In the absence of other duties, Ivan will be able to conclude 10 contracts. The cost of operating work is 24,000 rubles per month and 264,000 rubles per year (including vacation pay).
Now, let's assume that the owner of the agency has implemented a CRM system with information on stock balances and component prices, business proposal templates, contracts and closing documents. This reduces the time of working with customers from 6 hours to 1 hour. As a result, a manager will be able to handle more clients in the same working time, the agency's revenue will increase, and Ivan's working time and salary costs will conversely decrease.
