How does automation make employees more creative?

The word ‘automation’, in a workspace environment, often leads people’s minds straight to imagining a near-future takeover of that workplace, thanks to the proliferation of emerging AI chatbots and sophisticated robotic technology. While this area is developing quickly and impressively, the portrayal of automation can often be sensationalized.

In truth, most organizations’ digital transformation is being driven by the need to automate to improve the efficiency and ensure employee engagement to retain talent. In doing this, businesses of all sizes and sectors have had differing degrees of success, and are at very different stages of the journey.

Now faced with stagnating productivity and economic pressures, more and more organizations are turning towards business process automation to help optimize budgets and streamline workflows.

Recent research by Ricoh Europe found that digital transformation could increase EU and UK GDP by 3.4% over the next five years, the equivalent of €622 billion of growth. It’s an alluring productivity boost at a time when many businesses face stagnating economies and resource cuts.

While employees are overwhelmingly in favor of automation, with 69% ready to embrace automation tools to reduce admin and tedious tasks, it’s vital that businesses bring employees on the digitalization journey.

This will help to alleviate any fears of a ‘robotic takeover’ and demonstrate the benefits it brings.

So how can automation help your employees day-to-day?

What’s the difference between workflow and process automation, and how can you ensure that employees remain at the center of decision-making?

Reduce errors and boost quality

With technology advances leading to an increasing number of processes in our daily lives being simplified through digitization, those that are bogged down by manual tasks are understandably frustrated.

Reliance on human processing risks error and leads to a higher potential for unnecessary delays. For example, account teams that manually process invoices reportedly misclassify one in 20 invoices.

At the same time, increasing expectations from today’s customers require a speedy yet errorless service, with the ability to perform transactions digitally becoming a minimum expectation rather than a bonus.

Standardizing processes with automation can help improve customer service by lowering the margin of error, boosting the quality of work, and speeding up response times.

Meanwhile, employees are craving automation so they can focus on more fulfilling work that drives innovation.

Processing paper-based documents requires time and patience, leaving less time for the creative projects and problem solving that will move the dial for the business.

Research showed that 64% of European workers would find work more enjoyable, if only they had time for creative tasks.

Ridding employees of their heavy admin burdens and boring manual processes helps to improve engagement and make them feel more valued.

As well as boosting workplace culture, automation has clear productivity benefits. For businesses, manual processes represent a high labor cost, and low value-add. Not to mention the compliance and security challenges associated with physical documents.

Along with optimizing resource and offering peace of mind that documents are securely stored, process automation also offers environmental benefits as businesses use less paper.

Weighing up the options

Digital transformation can often be found in pockets across a business. Some may have automated individual workflows, such as digitalizing receipts or processing of invoices. Others may have automated entire processes within a department, such as the full end to end HR onboarding process.

IT teams shouldn’t jump to digitize a process before first understanding the nuances of the challenges they face.

This is of particular importance in the HR environment where critical and secure information is managed and transacted. In some instances, it will be best to automate one specific workflow to solve the issue, whilst more technical and complex infrastructure may be required to combat a broader business issue.

Workflow tools automate one process, starting at one point and ending at another, such as HR dealing with a job application form. Products like DocuWare enable automation of document workflows, reducing paper costs and getting businesses the information they need faster.

Meanwhile, process automation works across multiple workflows with several data and contact points. Take HR onboarding for example. It is a multi-step process that incorporates documents from multiple locations. Automation platforms, like Axon Ivy, reduce the number of touchpoints across the entire process, boosting its efficiency and speed.

Working with a digital partner helps organizations make informed, strategic transformation decisions and select the solutions that meet their needs. It’s even better to choose a one-stop shop partner that ensures better alignment of platforms across an entire organization.

Keeping it people-centric

Whilst implementing new technologies can address some incredibly complex issues, it is critical to the success of that automation that you are bringing your employees on the journey with you. Failing to communicate and consult with your employees on your company’s digital strategy and the benefits it brings could breed misinformation and risk resentment.

Our research revealed a strong association between wellbeing at work and a sense of having a say in workplace decisions. While 56% of European employees said their job is a source of happiness, this figure increased to 67% for those that feel like they have a say in decisions that influence how they work on a day-to-day basis.

Regular communication with employees about implementing new automation tools will be vital to maintain trust.

Employers should clearly convey the benefits that come with automation to alleviate fears and misconceptions around automation making employees redundant.

Automation is not about cutting jobs but improving resource and paving the way for businesses to do more innovative and creative work.

Guaranteeing business success

As business leaders look to automate new parts of the business for efficiency and productivity gains, it’s key to integrate plans as part of a wider business strategy – which incorporates HR and facility teams’ interests, as well as IT. Rather than viewing each solution in isolation, IT teams should work cross-departmentally and start with the issue at hand: the right automation technology will follow.

When coupled with employee engagement, digital transformation is extremely powerful and effective for businesses. The key is to clearly communicate the benefits that automation brings.

Want to be a part of shaping the future of work? Don’t miss UNLEASH World in Paris this October.