Digitalization and artificial intelligence are offering SMEs more and more opportunities to automate processes and workflows. Automation is a key element in organizing companies efficiently and thus making them fit for the future.
Through automation, tasks are transferred from employees to machines or systems. These carry out automated processes to achieve the task objectives without employees having to intervene.
The advantages of automation are obvious: significant efficiency gains, largely error-free operation, adherence to regulatory compliance and scalability are adequate responses to the ever-increasing competitive pressure and the shortage of skilled workers. The implementation of automation steps in medium-sized companies takes place in administration, manufacturing and production as well as in logistics, as there are many opportunities here to achieve the desired objectives.
The Challenges of Automation
Achieving the potential results entails a number of challenges in terms of implementation. The optimal automation of processes requires the consideration of all relevant processing steps and thus the inclusion of the complexity involved. Active management of business processes is therefore linked to the automation of these processes in order to design them intelligently. The range can be wide. There will be processes that can be automated without change, while other processes will have to be developed for the first time and still other processes will have to be redesigned.
Two core elements are anchored in the processes. The first core element contains the knowledge of the company and its employees as to how the individual work steps must be carried out. The second core element supplements the knowledge of execution with the regulatory requirements and the determination of compliance within the company. In combination, the process description and the automation documentation are a central component of the company’s knowledge management. Automation and digitalization steps werden idealerweise mit dem Wissensmanagement eines Unternehmens verzahnt.
The business sector and the type and scope of automation also determine the methods, machines and systems. In certain areas of the company, a software application can ensure an automated process, while extensive automation technology with hardware and software, as well as machines, is used in production. The same applies to logistics.
In order to make individual automation steps or automation projects a success, a clear target definition is required, which is then transferred to a project calculation. The costs of developing and implementing individual project steps vary greatly. In the end, the measures should have a positive economic effect for the company, which should be evaluated individually.
Examples of Automation in Medium-Sized Companies
Automation for the execution of processes has a wide range of applications:
- Logistics: Sorting, distribution and order picking are at the center of considerations here. Automated transport and storage systems can be used to efficiently organize the receipt, storage and delivery of goods.
- Accounting: Automated document recognition using OCR leads to automated document processing, including allocation to business transactions from upstream systems, e.g. an ERP system.
- Administration: A document management system digitizes company documents for subsequent processing, checking and approval by a workflow management system. Outgoing documents are created in an upstream system – e.g. an ERP system – and then automatically sent to the recipient and archived in the document management system.
Practical Approach
In our consulting practice, the following points have proven their worth when implementing automation steps and automation projects:
- Answering the question of where there are manual work activities in the company and how frequently they occur provides a good basis for assessing which steps should be automated. Frequently repeated work steps can usually be automated effectively.
- An overview of the IT systems is helpful. The information that is available in the individual systems and may be required in downstream systems is of interest here. Is this already provided digitally and automatically or is manual intervention required? Data availability is the basis for automation.
- The development of clear targets is the basis for successful automation. The target picture not only contains the objective of the automation measure, but also shows the relevant factors and the environment in which automation is to be embedded. They also identify all relevant stakeholders who are to be involved in this automation change step.
- Clarity in processes and procedures is the key factor par excellence. Can an existing process be automated or does it need to be revised? Only clear procedures ensure that employees’ knowledge can be integrated into the process and compliance with rules can be guaranteed.
- Active project management with defined resources ensures the successful implementation of automation measures.
When automating business processes, there are numerous aspects that need to be taken into account and one or two challenges that need to be overcome. THE MAK`ED TEAM develops individual solutions for its customers independently and with a high level of expertise, which are implemented pragmatically and tailored to the company’s goals. The right choice of technologies, a strategic approach and seamless integration into the existing process landscape ensure successful results of process automation that meet the catalog of requirements and can also cope with future developments.
More about Digitalization and Process Management.
