Software Innovation: What makes automating your industry so essential?

If I had to choose my favourite thing about the work I do, the part that gives me the biggest buzz, it’s this: providing ground-breaking automation software which empowers its users and streamlines their industry as much as possible.

Let’s face it, every industry could use at least a little streamlining, and usually a lot.

In my case, the two industries I’ve had the pleasure of helping to automate and streamline are the legal and property management industries. In both instances, there were all sorts of clunky operational processes and inefficiencies that frustrated everyone involved.

That’s why the software my businesses have developed has become a core part of my clients’ operations.

The importance of automation

This is a no-brainer, but let’s talk about it anyway.

We’ve probably all had experiences, either at work or in life, when a process we’re involved in hasn’t worked as smoothly as it should. When that happens, it’s frustrating, time-consuming, and it can sometimes cost a lot of money in unnecessary delays or finding solutions to get the problem right.

That’s bad enough when it’s a disrupted work process, and you’re probably getting bombarded from every side while you try to find out what’s gone wrong. But when your customers are affected by a disrupted process, the impact can be disastrous. It’s aggravating, it undermines their trust, and it makes you look inefficient. Worst case scenario? They’ll switch to somebody whose processes are better automated and more robust than yours. Bingo, you’ve just lost a valuable client, not to mention gained some potentially harmful word-of-mouth if they ever tell somebody else about their experience.

Think about it: if you’ve ever been a consumer of somebody else’s service, and communication between you has failed or the process you’re a part of has broken down, how did that make you feel? Even if it was eventually sorted out and you remained with them, I’d bet the experience still stowed some doubts and annoyance in the back of your mind.

The benefits of automation

• Improved quality and productivity.
• Superior performance, and the elimination of human error.
• Assurance of compliance at every stage of the workflow. Regulatory obligations won’t fall through the cracks that could cause problems at a later date.
• Optimised consistency, both in communication and the way the process is undertaken. Automating and streamlining an industry improves accuracy, reduces cost, and ensures better collection and dissemination of vital data.
• Labour-saving; not just in terms of reducing the amount of human participation required in a process, but freeing the people involved from tedious routine tasks so that they can focus on the areas which need their complete attention.
• Greatly improved communication between everybody involved, as well as the computers or machinery they interact with.
• Enhanced client experience and satisfaction.

Takeaway

Automating an industry isn’t just about saving time and money.  It’s about enhancing our client’s experience and the experience of our client’s client.

In fact, as far as I’m concerned, it’s about enhancing the experience, simplifying the journey, and increasing the engagement of every stakeholder involved in the process.

If we can get all those things right, we truly are making progress.