To automate or not to automate. That is the question!
More and more companies are accelerating their process automation developments to allow their employees to work remotely and avoid crowded offices. In addition, COVID-19 government guidelines and stop-and-go instructions have forced companies to re-formulate and re-engineer their internal processes. But apart from COVID, many companies have taken the opportunity to accelerate their automation projects in order to cut costs and reduce head count.
Let’s explore if that’s always a good idea.
Automating routine tasks and using technology to achieve greater speed and accuracy definitely has a positive effect on improved productivity, speedier service, and more uniform and consistent workflows. On the other hand, automation to simply cut costs may be damaging, especially if it is “shoved down the throat” of customers and employees. In these instances, cutting costs as a single objective is never a successful strategy over the long-term. Some may accept the idea of pushing administrative tasks onto customers, but many others may find it downright irritating.
A more beneficial strategy involves the implementation of consistent processes to improve productivity. At first glance, the two strategies may look the same, but improving productivity versus cutting time and costs will have greater “buy-in” from the employees and more long-term and lasting benefits for customers.
Here are a couple of examples on why focusing on purely cutting costs may backfire.
- A purchasing manager finds a cheaper supplier for shopping bags and at first glance, switching to the less expensive supplier results in saving money. But what if the new bags are poor quality and break? Frustrated customers complain about the cheap bags and cashiers are forced to double bag all purchases. The results are more work, slower check-out, and of course, evaporated savings. This is in addition to customers thinking the company is nickel and diming them, which in turns, puts their trust in the brand in question!
- In another scenario, a customer calls to inquire about a product or service and is “greeted” by an automated answering service that only delays the contact. We all know the frustration of the push one, push two, push three instructions in order to reach an actual human being. Worst of all, when the customer finally speaks with a representative, they find out that the employee doesn’t have the answer and transfers the call to another department! This department, of course, happens to not answer their phone. The final frustration? The automated system suggests the customer visit the website (which they probably did to begin with in order to get the telephone number). We now have a frustrated customer and a frustrated employee. This is in addition to a lost opportunity and an unresolved issue.
These examples demonstrate how companies shoot themselves in the foot by choice. When did avoiding speaking with a customer become a corporate objective? Interacting with customers and prospects is an opportunity to serve an existing customer or create a new customer. In both cases, it’s a chance to turn a complaining customer into a satisfied one! An important rule of thumb to remember: “If you do not want to talk to your customers, a competitor would be more than happy to “.
And what is it with the “no-reply email”? Who invented this? A one-way communication is never beneficial. Pursuing a sale as a single transaction will keep you at the transactions level, which means always searching for new customers. Pursuing a relationship with your customers, however, make them come back for more, and likely attracting others in their network as well. This is not rocket science.
Automating repetitive routine tasks will always be welcomed by employees. Making employees behave like robots will destroy engagement, initiative, and innovation. Using robots to weld repetitive tasks with speed and accuracy is definitely economical and effective. Using robots to interact with customers is risky. The bottom line? You need to push hard for using technology but not to the point where you are alienating customers and demoralizing employees. Making decisions based merely on accounting numbers may help your short term but risk your long-term growth, and even your survival.
Go ahead, speed up change but don’t crash!
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