Category: IT Automation

Hooray! Leads are flooding in from your website form, chatbox, and a new ad campaign. *Cue the dance music.* Take a moment to celebrate because having multiple lead channels is critical for business growth. But if those leads end up in different places, it can make it nearly impossible to nurture those potential customers effectively.

To make the most of new leads, your team needs to know when a new lead enters your lead funnel—so you can reach out and send them to the right place immediately. Instead of checking multiple inboxes, downloading spreadsheets, or manually alerting team members when new leads are ready. Epic IT Automations can help create custom notification bots, so your whole company gets info where they want it and when they need it.

Custom Notification Bots

• Get notifications for new form responses.

• Get notifications for new email leads.

• Get notifications for new leads in your CRM.

• Customize your notification bot.

Get Notifications For New Form Responses

Forms are the bread and butter of collecting new leads. And it’s essential to know when a new lead fills out your forms so you can respond and cultivate them immediately. But manually checking for new form submissions can slow down your response time. Instead, set up customized notifications that get sent to the right place at the right time.

Send notifications in your team chat app—where everyone hangs out anyway—so the right team member can take the necessary next steps. Or use SMS to send yourself (or the right team member) an automated SMS message with every detail you need. If you use your email as a to-do list, you can also set up an automatic email for every new form submission. Whatever tool you use, send notifications where you and your team will actually see them.

Get Notifications For New Email Leads

A busy inbox is a sign that business is booming! But it can also be overwhelming and messy—especially when a new lead emails you out of the blue. To stay on top of it all, send notifications about new email leads to where you’ll see them right away, like your team chat app or your phone.

Automatically forward lead emails to a specific channel in your team chat app. That way, the information you need is in the communication tool you use most often. Or set up to get an SMS alert for only the most important emails, filtering out the emails that aren’t urgent.

Get Notifications For New Leads In Your CRM

A new lead just entered your CRM. But that’s just one step (of many) in turning that lead into a customer.

Streamline your lead lifecycle by automatically notifying yourself or your team about a new lead added to your CRM. Use your team chat app if you want transparency across your team, your email if you spend time in your inbox anyway, and an SMS message if you want to give a lead a call instantly. This will make sure all new leads get the proper outreach right away.

Customize Your Notification Bot

Want to get a notification for a new lead sent to your chat app, email, and phone? You can! Epic IT Automations can help create a multi-step process that sends a customized message to multiple communication channels at one time.

Here are a few other ways you can take your notification bot to the next level:

• Use a path step to send the notification to different places based on your lead data.

• Add an item to your task management tool at the same time you send the notification.

• Use a format step so your notification shows the info correctly, like splitting up the first and last name.

The Right Notifications Mean Easier Lead Outreach

Efficient communication is key to making sure your new leads are nurtured and turn into customers. Automation gives you the ability to control how you get notified—allowing you to make the most of every new lead as quickly as possible.

Ready To Create New Leads?

Turn to us at Epic IT Automations to assist in generating new leads and improving workplace process efficiencies. Our team works to provide the perfect strategy tailored to your goals through the use of technology solutions. Talk with any of our knowledgeable advisors to learn more on how we can assist with producing and implementing the right strategy fit to your business and goals. Give us a call at 608-496-8660 or schedule your consultation.

Source: Zapier

Picture an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) moving through a factory. Quietly and efficiently, it moves materials, components, subassemblies, and finished products between warehouse, production lines, packaging, and shipping. There’s no human involvement, no accidents, and no mistakes; the movement just happens in a dependable and predictable manner.

Why can’t administrative processes happen the same way? Well, the simple answer is that they can. For a long time, manufacturers have focused on automating what happens on the shop floor. They’ve sought to eliminate manual labor, and this effort has yielded immense benefits. Now it’s time to apply the same thinking to office workflows.

Manufacturing Productivity And Efficiency

Recent years have seen many factories become highly automated. Not only do the machines themselves run without human involvement, but so too do the handling systems. These deliver products, load and unload, and take processed material or items to the next step in the process.

In high-volume manufacturing – consumer goods and automotive production spring to mind – conveyors of various types have provided the movement. Robots take the strain when parts need loading and unloading from machines, saving people from the heavy lifting. Today manufacturers are starting to deploy AMRs that move material, components, and even tools to where they are needed.

Factory automation is known for removing people from dull, dirty, and dangerous work, but there’s another, often overlooked, benefit: automation increases consistency. When a task is automated, it’s performed exactly the same way every time. That’s something human workers can’t manage, no matter how hard they try.

An inspection provides a good example. Tired and distracted human inspectors miss defects that should be caught before they reach the customer. At the same time, as humans are inherently subjective, a good product is sometimes scrapped unnecessarily. By being repeatable and consistent, automated inspection solves these problems.

Human variability is a problem when processes are supposed to be standardized. It leads to omissions and errors, and tasks can take longer than they should. That disrupts downstream operations and hits productivity and efficiency. Conversely, once automated, they are repeatable, consistent, and reliable.

Key Elements Of Factory Automation

Industrial manufacturing is currently going through a fourth revolution. The history looks like this:

• Steam power takes over from human and animal energy sources – the First Industrial Revolution
• The Second Industrial Revolution involved a switch to electricity, oil, and gas, accompanied by the development of the telephone and telegraph
• Computers and PLCs brought about the Third Industrial Revolution and gave us the automation seen today in most factories.
• Inexpensive sensors, coupled with internet communication, advanced analytics, and even AI, are bringing about a digital transformation, a Fourth Industrial Revolution sometimes referred to as “Industry 4.0.”

As we see it in factories today, automation is characterized primarily by PLCs and computers running programs that control motions and actions. Motors power slideways, spindles and conveyors, with encoders reporting speed and position. Solenoids open and close valves and gates in response to signals from the controllers while sensors report back so that processes can continue.

The digital transformation will reduce waste while increasing utilization measures like OEE and boosting efficiency. Breakdowns will go away as machines become able to report their condition to a maintenance system that schedules overhauls and repairs. Quality will rise as machines become able to adapt to changing conditions, environmental or material-related, and people will move from repetitive tasks to more creative, forward-thinking, problem-solving roles.

Office Workflows And Automation

Now and increasingly in the future, factory automation is essentially about moving data. The same is true of the processes used to run every business. In some cases, these are codified as procedures (usually when required for the Quality Management System (QMS)), and in others, there are informal or loosely defined ways of doing things.

Examples of well-defined work processes (in most organizations) include:

• Paying bills
• Documenting training
• Calibrating measurement devices

Processes that are often poorly proceduralized, (or not at all) include:

• Near-miss reporting
• Supplier selection
• Monitoring indirect material consumption

These, and the many others that exist, are characterized by paper forms, folders, spreadsheets, and the occasional template. For each, the workflow involves people creating or initiating documents, adding information, and passing them along to other people. In many cases – most types of requests, for example – need feedback from the originator that tells them what to do next. Many also need storage to provide an audit trail or a (somewhat) searchable history. In manufacturing terms, automation of office and administrative tasks is somewhere between the second and third revolutions.

What Is Workflow Automation?

For certification to a Quality Management Standard like ISO 9001, the way in which tasks are done is documented as a series of steps. This is the workflow. Most organizations used descriptive documentation, but flow charts work just as well. (Some will argue they are less ambiguous and therefore better.)

Workflow automation refers to using software that implements those flow charts. It doesn’t take away human involvement or decision-making but automates data movement. In a sense, it’s analogous to a factory conveyor or AMR: it moves the data from one step in a process to the next. Moreover, because it prevents shortcuts and non-standard ways of doing things, it could even be thought of as a poka-yoke for paperwork!

Taking the analogy further, in an automated workflow, the software notifies the “machine” that a new job or batch has arrived and is awaiting processing. This is like having sensors on a conveyor. We could even imagine monitoring the length of the queue and raising a flag if it becomes too long.

As is quality control, storage and analytics are integral to an automated workflow. Metrics are readily implemented. Errors and omissions are detected immediately they occur, or better still, prevented by poka-yoke type “mechanisms”.

Examples Of Workflows That Can Be Automated

Any sequence of tasks that needs performing regularly is a candidate. Examples can be seen in:

• Document approval processes
• Safety reporting
• Raising purchase orders
• Travel expense approval
• Product lifecycle development

The Benefits Of Workflow Automation

Automating workflows in office and administrative processes yields very similar results to automating manufacturing processes. They include:

• Higher quality – in an automated workflow process, the software can check for errors and notify those responsible immediately. Not passing incomplete or incorrect data through the system saves a lot of time and improves record accuracy. Workflow management also stops people from taking shortcuts and prevents promises of “following up with the paperwork later.”
• Less manual work – completing the repetitive, predictable activities integral to so many office processes saves time, freeing up people for more productive work.
• Faster processing – automation reduces the variable delays that clog bottlenecks and slow progress everywhere to a crawl.
• Quicker new product development – documentation and approvals often cause delays while working on the next generation. By accelerating processing, automation helps get new products to market faster.
• Lower costs – as with manufacturing automation, faster processing, higher accuracy, and less need for human input- lead to lower costs.

Process Automation In The Office

In manufacturing, using automation to cut costs, lead time, and improve quality has long been a way of life. It’s past time that the same thinking was applied to workflows in the office. Today it’s both feasible and practical to save time and money by automating many office processes.

Connect with Epic IT Automations today and learn how we can help you work more efficiently by automating repetitive, high-volume workflows. Call us at 608-496-8660 or schedule a consultation to get started.

Any CFO looking to maximize the effectiveness of their finance team needs to be open to workflow automation. Automation can open up a world of possibilities by shifting finance processes away from manual, spreadsheet-based methods. Nevertheless, implementing automation is not always a simple process. CFOs first need to understand some basics of workflow automation and how it would fit their situations.

Where does a CFO begin with introducing automation? What benefits can she expect? Are there any downsides to automation? And why should automation be implemented now? We explore these questions below.

Which Finance Functions are Ripe for Automation?

The automation-minded CFO first needs to decide how and where automation can best do its work. In other words, which finance functions would benefit the most from automation?

The answer lies in looking where manual processes are slowing down finance operations and creating bottlenecks. Many working in finance today already understand that paper-based documents, phone, and fax are outdated methods of workflow management. But they may not understand that even Excel spreadsheets and email while improving over paper and fax, are still overly cumbersome methods prone to errors and inefficiencies.

When considering where to start with automation, look first to finance functions that require a great deal of time manually entering data. Also, examine any processes where a lot of errors are made or an inordinate amount of time is spent checking for errors or correcting them. Finally, any workflow with an intricate request-and-approval process could be greatly streamlined with automation.

Accordingly, consider the intensive data entry of accounts payable and receivable. Think about how one error in a spreadsheet of vendor and contract approvals could carry over to other areas, compounding the mistake. Or think of a complicated request-and-approval process for capital expenditures (CapEx), where requests above a certain threshold need to be elevated to higher levels for approval — perhaps even to you as CFO. Automation can make a substantial difference in these and other areas of finance operations.

Workflow Automation Benefits

The CFO considering workflow automation must also weigh the costs and benefits of implementation. After all, this will require having your finance team become familiar with a new piece of software or platform. So what benefits can she expect from automation?

Increased Efficiency

Arguably the most obvious benefit of automated workflows in finance operations is greater efficiency. An automated platform can eliminate a great deal of manual data entry, which cuts down on the potential for human error. The system can make calculations and auto-populate fields. For a request-and-approval process, the automated workflow can automatically direct different types of requests to the correct approver. All these features increase speed and accuracy.

Better Transparency And Reporting

Other immediate benefits of automation are improvements in transparency and reporting. A customized dashboard can provide lightning-fast insights. If your invoice or CapEx approvals are hitting snags, you can identify the bottlenecks right away. And the automated system can provide accounting on a continuing basis, so you do not have to wait until the financial close to view insights from a report.

Free Up Your Finance Team For Higher Level Thinking

Various reports have shown that finance teams spend a large proportion of their time processing transactions. Much of this work tends to be a low-value activity that is inordinately time-consuming. By speeding up transaction processing, automation can free up your finance team to focus on more strategic and insightful work.

By allowing your finance team to focus on higher-level thinking, you are more than likely to improve team morale as well. Less manual effort and mistakes will bring peace of mind. The ability to focus on strategic efforts will likely increase job satisfaction among team members. The payoff here will be more motivated and decreased turnover.

Potential Challenges Of Implementing Automation

It is tempting to believe that automation will immediately bring on days of wine and roses with a new trouble-free finance department. But you must be prepared for some initial resistance to new technology and processes. It may be advisable to start small by automating only certain types of finance workflows, then build on that success over time by expanding automation to additional workflows.

Also, be aware that some amount of training will be required for the new automated system. Retraining may be necessary down the road. To minimize this training burden, seek out automation tools that are relatively intuitive and easy to learn.

What Are The Costs of Delaying Automation?

While automation might be a clear net positive for your finance team, any CFO has a lot of items on his plate competing for attention. It might appear easier to simply delay introducing automation into your finance workflows. If so, you should be aware of the costs of the delay.

Ongoing Inefficiencies

Without automation in place, all the inefficiencies and bottlenecks of your current manual workflows will remain. If your company is growing, these problems will tend to get worse over the long run. The current snags in the process could result in missed deadlines, additional mistakes, and possibly even hits to your bottom line.

Increased Risk

Since manual routines and spreadsheets are error-prone, any finance team using them will be subject to increased risk. Manual processes make it more difficult to follow internal controls, which are put in place for the precise reason of decreasing risk. Furthermore, manual processes make it more difficult to trust financial reporting.

Failing To Keep Up With Competition

The simple fact is that automation is becoming ever more prevalent for finance departments everywhere. If you are not implementing automation for your company’s finance functions, you can be assured many of your competitors are. Not only will these competitors reap the benefits of automation, they are more likely to attract top talent for their finance teams — possibly from your team.

Interested In Workflow Automation?

Connect with Epic IT Automations today and learn how automation fits into your organization and the possible benefits. Call us at 608-496-8660 or schedule a consultation!

Source: Integrify

Microsoft Excel is used by millions of users worldwide. And for good reason. Excel is a powerful spreadsheet database that does a lot more than just help you store data. From financial analysis to customer information, Excel can be an essential tool for any business managing cross-functional departments.

But if Excel is a big part of your day-to-day, you may be looking to streamline certain processes involved, particularly when it comes to internal data management and team updates. By pairing Excel with Zapier, you can create powerful workflows—called Zaps—to automatically log form submissions, send team updates, sync databases, and create projects.

Log Forms and Survey Submissions

Whether you’ve just asked your customers to rate your business or you’re collecting responses from team members to host an event, forms apps—like Jotform and Typeform—are undeniably handy.

But if you’re using Excel to store and analyze those responses, you’ve probably experienced the dread that comes with transferring data between your two apps. You don’t want to export hundreds of responses or waste time manually copying and pasting them into Excel. You have better things to do. (Who could blame you?)

Save time by using Zapier to automate this entire process. Your responses will get added straight to your Excel sheet from your forms app any time a new one is submitted.

Send Notifications for Important Updates

The hard part is done: You’ve added vital customer information to an Excel sheet, and it’s ready for sales. Maybe a customer has changed their email address, and you need to update your email list. Or perhaps you’ve logged important company information that you need to hand over to your stakeholders.

The question is: How do you keep everybody in the loop whenever there’s a new update or a new row? You can’t be expected to check Excel 10 times a day, then send your team an email or Slack notification every time something changes. It would take over your life.

Fortunately, you can use Zapier to set up automated alerts whenever new rows are added or updated in Excel. You can choose how to present each message so everybody receives the details they need to know at a glance—without logging in and out of Excel constantly.

Update Data Across Multiple Spreadsheets

Do you store data across multiple spreadsheets? You’re not the only one. Having multiple databases across different teams is pretty common, but it can make it difficult to keep information up to date, particularly when someone updates or edits a row.

This is exactly how mistakes and missed updates can happen, as manual updates take time, precision, and an eagle eye for detail. To keep your spreadsheet data consistent across all sources, you can automatically update your data across spreadsheets whenever a change happens, no matter how small.

Create Tasks and Projects

Do you use Excel to plan out projects and workflows? It’s also very likely that your team uses a project management app to track and manage tasks once you kick off work. But you don’t have to refer back to Excel every time you set up a project manually—you can get Zapier to do the heavy lifting for you.

This means that whenever you add a new row to your Excel spreadsheet, Zapier will automatically create a task or project for you in your project management app with that specific information. This lets you and your team tackle every new item that comes in straight away.

You can forget the tedious admin that goes with setting up projects, ensuring no task slips through the cracks. Instead, you and your team can get straight to the bulk of your work.

Use Webhooks to Connect Excel to Almost Any App

Have data in one app that you need to send to Excel, but Zapier doesn’t support the app? Don’t panic because you can use webhooks to achieve the impossible.

In simple terms, webhooks let your apps speak with each other—sending detailed information back and forth whenever new items occur in the first app.

This Zap, for example, will catch payloads inside your app, which Zapier’s webhooks will catch. Zapier then automatically enters that data into a new Excel spreadsheet row for you.

Do more in less time

No matter how you use Excel, pairing it with Zapier ultimately helps you save time and focus on your most important work.

But using automation to log form submissions, send team notifications, update multiple spreadsheets, and create projects can streamline your IT processes, serving you with better ways to move your work forward at growth speed.

And this is only the beginning: You can easily develop tailored solutions to how you and your team get work done with Excel.

Ready to increase your workflow with the use of Zapier? Give  a call at 608-496-8660 or schedule a consultation to learn more.

Source: Zapier