Free Up Your Time And Let The Bot Do It

This is a sponsored post.

Are you a small business owner or an entrepreneur looking to spend more time on productivity and less time on mundane tasks? Maybe you’re a big business owner that is tired of all the monotonous paperwork or maybe you run a non-profit and just don’t have the funds to hire more staff. Either way, there is a solution that can help. It’s a Bot. Yes, you did hear me right I said a bot as in a robot but don’t worry it is not what you think.

What is a Bot?

Simply put a Bot is a software program that runs automated tasks. Theses tasks are usually both simple and repetitive. Some bots you might be familiar with are chatbots that companies utilize on their websites to answer simple questions or spider bots that are used to crawl the internet to analyze websites and to categorize them for search engines. Did you know that Siri, Alexa, and Cortana are all bots?

How Can a Bot Help You Be More Productive?

Using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate many of your repetitive time-consuming tasks. RPA is a technology that allows anyone to configure a computer software bot that can be configured to execute a business process. RPA utilizes a user interface to capture data and manipulate applications to trigger responses and communicate with other systems in order to perform a vast array of tasks. RPA bots can log into applications, move files and folders, copy and paste data, fill in forms, extract structured and semi-structured data from documents, scrape browsers, and more.

It’s kind of like trying to find a phone number. Back in the day, if you wanted to find a phone number you would have to pull out the phonebook and look it up or you could call the operator and she would look it up for you, either way, a person was spending time thumbing through the pages of a phonebook to look up a number. Today we pick up our phone and ask Siri for the number. In seconds Siri has the number and is calling it.

Now imagine having the ability as a business owner to push a button and have all your financials taken care of. How much time could you save? I know that when I was an Executive Director of a non-profit, I would spend an entire week each month on paperwork. That was 5 days each month I was not able to help low-income families. That was 5 days away from fulfilling the mission of the organization. Twelve weeks a year, a total of 3 months annually spent on payroll, taxes, data entry, invoices, accounts payable, etc. and that is with me using a computer and Quickbooks. Imagine if I did it all by hand with a ledger and a pencil.

RoboWorx offers time-saving solutions for businesses large and small.

What Can a Bot do for My Small Business?

RPA uses bots to automate much of the manual work involved in daily business, such as entering data, processing invoices, issuing purchasing orders and more. It can be a game-changer for a small business.

When I was an Executive Director, I was a one-woman show. I had volunteers and interns but I was the only paid staff for many years. This means every aspect of the business fell on my shoulders, much like a small business owner or a solo entrepreneur. I did everything from developing and running programs to HR and PR. I did it all and I know many things that could have been much easier and less time consuming with the aid of an RPA system. Here a few:

Financials and Accounting

There are many accounting activities that can be automated including, accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoice processing, and reconciliations. Matching invoices with payments and sending out reminders to unpaid invoices can be automated. Reconciling your bank statement to your accounts, and your payments to your bills can all be done by a bot. All you need to do is scan in the information and the bot can handle the rest.

Human Resources

With a Human Resource RPA you can automate payroll and taxes, doesn’t that sound great. I know that is one of the most time-consuming accounting jobs. Not only payroll, but most employee data can be automated from keeping timesheets, to monitoring benefits, and even simple things like a change of address. The hiring automation is extremely helpful as well, it can send out welcome letters and new hiring onboard as well as title changes and more. Some experts even believe that with automation, HR professionals can reclaim up to 40% of their time!

Customer Management

Keeping up with customers is vital for the success of your business. There are many aspects of customer service that can be automated. For example, managing the customer database, a bot can ensure that addresses are correct and that any missing information is flagged. A bot can quickly move through a database of thousands of email addresses and sort out which ones are still valid and which ones are no longer useful. A bot can be used to print letters at a specific time based on specific criteria such as a customer’s previous buying habits or preferences. You can use a bot to email out a newsletter based on what amount of inventory you have and what you put on sale. The possibilities are endless.

If you’re tech-savvy you may be able to create your own bots with a little research or you can find some bots that are already created for you. You just have to look around and see what’s right for you, your needs, and your budget. You can download this White Paper from Roboworx to find out if RPA is right for you.