How to take the first steps towards automation?
Want to take advantage of digital and Industry 4.0, but the challenge seems out of reach (and out of price)? Sometimes it’s better to start small… 👇
According to the Institut de la statistique du Québec (Dec. 2020), 30% of Quebec businesses have at least 1 employee (70% none).
Of the employers, 99.7% are SMEs with less than 500 employees, and still :
➡️ 72.5% of SMEs have fewer than 20 employees
➡️ 13.1% have 20 to 49 employees
➡️ 5.1% have 50 to 499 employees
Considering these statistics and the shortage of manpower, isn’t there reason to wonder:
How can the majority of Quebec companies undertake the great digital shift ⁉️
It would probably be wise for SMBs to start by exploring automation with relatively simple, accessible and inexpensive solutions before embarking on a “big digital shift” with great fanfare.
The robotization of tasks (also known as RPA) and the use of dynamic and cloud-based sharing solutions are two interesting starting points:
✅ Quickly automating simple, repetitive office tasks also uncovers the requirements of automation. Not to mention the quick wins achieved by refocusing humans on tasks where they add real value rather than despairing about trying to hire a new employee to act as a robot.
Here are a few examples I invite you to explore:
➡️ UiPath
➡️ Microsoft Power Automate
➡️ Automation Anywhere
✅ Securely sharing information in real time (e.g., dashboards) via customizable cloud-based tools is also an effective way to get started. This starts the structuring of information and reduces the need for multiple entries of the same information, or managing multiple versions of the same information. Another source of time and effort savings.
To get started right, you can leverage:
➡️ The features included in the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Suite
➡️ A tool such as Smartsheet
And you, do you have other solutions to recommend to help small and medium-sized businesses take their first steps towards automation?
Share them in the comment section!
This article was originally published on LinkedIn in November 2021.