When the people in your company hear the term business automation, what do they think?
Complicated software? Robots ruling the world? Yet another vanity software I don’t need?
As the IT director, your job is not only to manage all the technology your organization uses – you also have to be the interpreter of terms like business process automation to help others understand what it really means and if it is worth their time.
Here are four common views people in your organization might have about business process automation software and some smart answers to them.
Business Process Automation is Complicated
So, the whole point of business process automation solutions is to streamline your processes, thereby making things much simpler. But while the principles of business process automation are based on simplicity, the actual tools used to enact it can end up bringing more complications.
It really depends on the business process automation software you choose. Some software requires a lot of backend coding and programming just to make it usable. This means it is incredibly complex for your users.
However, a great business process automation solution is going to be human-centric, no-code, and make automating a process as easy as opening a new spreadsheet. So yes, business process automation tools can be complicated, but they don’t have to be.
Business Process Automation is Pricey
When your CFO hears that you want to use software to automate your business processes, his fist likely tightens around the metaphorical purse-strings. Many organizations have burned through a lot of money trying to set up business process automation software. On-premise software, combined with consulting fees, can add up costs extremely quickly. Often, the savings gained by automating a process don’t offset the ongoing costs.
However, there have been big changes in the business process automation market in the last 5 years. Specifically, the entry of cloud-based apps in the SaaS market has tremendously simplified software pricing because of its on-cloud storage and flexible pricing model.
Business Process Automation is Difficult to Maintain
While automation sounds like something you just set up and let it run forever, anyone who has worked in it knows that automation requires a lot of maintenance, often requiring a lot of time from internal IT teams and outside consultants. Aside from the initial startup costs, many small and medium businesses check out of business process automation once these ongoing maintenance charges are considered.
kissflow’s business process automation software that is cloud-based, however, has built all of the ongoing technology maintenance costs into the price. You never have to worry about server space, updates, or versioning.
Cloud Business Process Automation Means You’ve Given Up Your Data
Many in your organization might be very shy about putting data on the cloud. Who has access to it? What if there is a security breach? Is it encrypted? For a long time ‘cloud’ has been synonymous with ‘less secure’.
But cloud computing has been mainstream in the enterprise world for more than a decade, and the vendor responsibilities regarding data security have only been enhanced in all these years. All professional cloud-based business process automation solutions host their data upon robust platforms like Google Engine or Amazon Web Services and store it in multiple data centers around the world.
Business Process Automation, More Accessible
CIOs around the world are seeing the benefits of business process automation, and a lot of the myths and stigmas around it have fallen away. Business process automation software doesn’t have to be an expensive, hard to use tool. It can simplify your work place and bring more order and data to the processes you handle the most.
Give Kissflow Process a shot today with a free trial and see how far business process automation has come!