The Enterprise Buyer's Guide for Business Process Automation Software
If you're reading this, it’s presumable that your business is considering business process automation software.
With business process automation functionality, you can streamline tedious, rules-based tasks. Streamlining these types of business tasks generates more yield in enterprise resource planning (ERP), greater cost savings, and enhanced operation of your manpower.
Even though most enterprise organizations today have enforced some form of automation, digital transformation, or process improvement, many fail to recognize the full potential of automation functionality and struggle to phase out remaining tedious manual tasks.
While partially automated workflows will deliver minimal edge, they can also costing you in the end.
In this enterprise buyer's guide, we'll explain what business process automation is, how it functions, its benefits, and the parameters you have to study when evaluating BPA applications.
So let's dive right in!
What is Business Process Automation: A Primer
Business process automation (BPA), also known as business process management (BPM), is the process of using technology to establish routine, regimented tasks such as routing documents, data-entry, processing payments, or classifying documents.
Utilizing automation can substantially better an organization's scalability by streamlining workflows, establishing productivity, and eliminating tedious work which enables your staff to focus on tasks that develop the business.
Advanced automation platforms, like those you're presumably evaluating, implement innovative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) to take care of repetitive tasks on a employee’s behalf.
Ultimately, people are still your greatest resource, but through enterprise automation, your teammates can work faster on more important tasks instead of having their time wasted by routine manual tasks.
The Benefits of Business Process Automation
The following are just some of the awesome benefits of BPA or automated tools.
Reduces Human Error
Streamlines Repetitive Tasks
Reduces Inefficiencies
Deters Suspicious Activity
Creates Cost-Savings
Enhances Vendor Relationships and Customer Satisfaction
Decreased Supplier Inquiries
Provides Better Visibility into Processes
Greater ROI
Use Cases for Business Process Automation
Any company that has tedious, repetitive tasks can benefit from process automation software. Some of the most common business and industry use cases include:
HR New Employee Onboarding
CRM Processes
Social Media
Evaluation Factors for Business Process Automation Software
Selecting the process automation technology that fits your business starts with identifying your existing workflow, finding optimal processes for automation and evaluating the marketplace for tools.
1. Define Your Business Needs
Before ever weighing technology options, the most important thing to do is to discern your organizational needs.
Disregarding this element could lead to acquiring technology that ultimately restrains your organization, or buying additional features that are unnecessary. Gather your department heads to discuss the following:
What workflows are prime candidates for automation?
Do you need the application for a particular department, or can the technology be used by a number of departments?
Are there any blockers that prohibit you from deploying a new system?
How many employees will require access to the application? What are their duties?
2. Conducting Pre-Purchase Research
When you have your foundational needs established, you can start looking for potential solutions. There are several things you can research on your own before discussing with a vendor or entering a high-pressure sales conversation.
Here are few resources you can usually find on software websites or from a Google search that will stimulate your initial research.
Recorded demos
Pricing/Licensing Tiers
Product Pages/Data Sheets/Explainer Blogs
Product Comparisons
Peer Reviews
Partner Referrals
3. Submit RFIs to Potential Vendors
Subsequently accomplishing some preliminary research, you can begin asking for customized price quotes from the solutions you're eager to learn about.
While numerous software websites offer pricing, the majority of business process management platforms simply offer starting prices and will ask for more details about your organization to provide a definitive forecast model for you.
If your business uses a more conventional attainment process, this would be the time to commence sending the initial requests for information (RFI) which categorically outlines your requirements for potential vendors.
As you discuss with potential sellers, it's important that you get all of your questions answered and see to it that the tool meets all of your requirements. This will help you diminish vendor options during the final decision later on.
4. Understanding Licensing Structures
Among the major important pricing considerations for an automation tool is the licensing structure. There is a wide selection of user models that tool vendors use and it can have a profound impact on the total cost of ownership. Here are some of the most generally used structures:
Per-seat or per-user licensing: means that pricing is set per person. This is why it's crucial to determine your total number of users.
Maximum user licensing: This is total pricing with the maximum number of users allotted with additional users available for an additional cost.
Site licensing: Rather than per user, this type of licensing allows you to use the software at a single (or multiple) predetermined locations.
Ongoing vs subscription licensing: Ongoing licensing is typically pay once and use indefinitely, whereas a subscription price will need to be renewed
The pricing model that best suits for your organization will finally depend on the budget, total users or site locations, in addition to the degree of flexibility you want. As an example, if you'd rather not be latched into a long-term investment, you might opt for a subscription model that you can revoke anytime.
5. Deployment Models
The deployment model is an extra crucial deliberation as your business could have certain legal or compliance-related requirements that impose you use only one type of infrastructure.
For instance, many organizations in the healthcare and government sector have meticulous regulations which stipulate they control all computing and application infrastructure on-premise and that any new software be certified in compliant in a specific framework like HIPAA or FedRAMP.
Several vendors present several deployment options precisely for this reason. These can be divided into two essential groups: on-premises, off-premises, or hybrid deployment.
On-premises (Data Center): This hosting option compels your company to use the software via your on-premise data center environment. Accordingly, your organization retains complete control over the installation, architecture, administration, maintenance, and data security.
This restricts the scope of risk tangled with outposting deployment to a third party, but it also furthers your duties and has its own level of risk.
For example, neglecting routine updates and backups may set your organization up in a precarious place if a data breach or emergency happens. But as aforementioned, for some in a compliance-heavy enterprise, there may not be any other options here.
Off-premises (Cloud-based): For companies that are not bound by legal demands, or have regulatory requirements that a cloud option can fulfill, this option might be a lot more tantalizing.
This stems from the fact that cloud deployments allow your organization to unload much of the administrative and maintenance concerns it would under other conditions, be responsible for.
Moreover, the majority of enterprise-level technology is deep-seated on best-in-class infrastructures specifically AWS or Azure and offers redundancy, reliability, not to mention service level agreements (SLAs) if you seek more uptime guarantee.
Hybrid (Mixed) Deployment: The third alternative, for those that want to make the most out of cloud innovation but conduct in a compliance-heavy business, is a hybrid or mixed deployment.
Albeit being a tad more intricate, a hybrid environment would handle all your sensitive data and related aspects in an on-premise environment while your non-classified data and processes can be made possible in a cloud environment.
6. Implementation Requirements
A further key consideration is the implementation requirements, on behalf of the software vendor, for your organization. Just because you may want to use a certain tool, doesn't mean your present capabilities are enough to run it. Therefore it's important to consider the following:
Configurability. Does the tool come with all essential functionality when acquired, or will it need some adjusting once installed? This is relevant to know to assure you can maximize your investment and hit the ground running.
System requirements. In thecase of an on-premise deployment, do you have the entire essential hardware to operate the software appropriately? If not, your whole investment could be compromised.
Elasticity. Can the software scale to satisfy higher demand as your organization develops, if the maximum number of concurrent users are online, or if your infrastructure incurs a utilization load spike? It's imperative to choose an automation software that can scale to adapt to growth or a utilization flux. Several SaaS and cloud options supply auto-scaling as the need arises, whereas most on-premise deployments require that auto-routing under load spikes is implemented ahead of time.
7. Integration capabilities
One more important reflection is integration potential. While the notion of an all-in-one solution is an alluring concept, it usually doesn't work that way. Especially with automation, the automation tool will need to correspond with multiple systems and other tools in accordance with how many business units are taking advantage of it.
For this reason, you need to supply your potential vendors with a full list of all systems and tools to certify that your automation platform can properly incorporated with each.
On the other hand, if a distinct tool is not listed under integrations, does the platform vendor provide an application programming interface (API) so that a developer can connect your systems his or herself?
If there isn't a preconfigured integration in ready for your other systems, and the API either doesn't exist or is taxing to use, it may not be the finest fit for your business.
8. Customer Support
Yet another important, yet often disregarded feature is available customer support. Oftentimes, organizations are not aware of the value of great customer support until they desperately need it and it's unavailable.
Each and every software vendor has its own particular customer support offering which can be 24/7/365 or restricted to certain hours. They typically also have leeway for their customer support services - issues they will support and issues they won't.
Most often, basic customer support is given for issues connected to the tool itself, nonetheless, concerns that are customer-oriented (i.e. implementation issues, best practices, etc) may solely be available at a premium, if at all.
At any rate, it's critical that you recognize what the degree of your customer support provides, its accessibility, and the options available to you (i.e. ticket service, phone, email, chat, etc). Additionally, as your staff is learning to utilize automation software, it's key that they have training resources accessible, whether live or pre-built.
Listed below are examples:
Webinars
Guides
Training Labs
Tutorial Videos
Instruction Manuals/Documentation
Community Help Forums
9. Security
One more important consideration is the platform security features. With an automation platform, it's almost guaranteed that it will have some sort of connection with sensitive data, for this reason, you need to be confident that any data used is safe from unauthorized access. See to it that your tool provides the following security features:
Access management to control who can access the software.
Permission controls to distinguish what a user can and can't use while utilizing the software.
Compliance certification (if [needed) to guarantee that the supplier has met all its responsibilities to comply with any legal regulations that your company is liable for.
10. Ease-of-use
Finally, it's of the essence that the software is intuitive and easy to use for your colleagues. A convoluted user interface can bring about lost productivity as you appropriate time and assets toward having your team train on how to utilize the software.
Offerings like a free trial can help make certain that your teams appreciate the product before purchasing. In addition, demos, training resources, and process templates can also go a long way to shorten the learning period as all platforms, even intuitive ones, will require some sort of adaptation period.
The Procurement Process
When your company has analyzed all of the evaluation criteria and you distinguish what you're searching for, it's time to start considering your options, examining and reducing your choices, and ultimately buying and bringing the product about.
The following is a step-by-step guide to assist you with the procurement process.
Step 1: Compare Your Options
It's in all likelihood you've already developed a list of potential sellers during the evaluation process. Now’s the time to remove any that don't satisfy your requirements and reduce your short-list. When your short-list is prepare, compare your options on the basis of the following traits:
Price
Features
Free Trial Options
Security and Compliance Capabilities
Customer Support
Step 2: Schedule Demos
With presumptively only 2-3 options standing, it's now time to see for yourself what the tool’s capable of. Not only will this assist you to evaluate functionality, but it will also provide you with some idea of the product's ease of use. If it has an excessively intricate user interface or appears as though it will require a precipitous learning curve, it probably isn’t the best fit.
Step 3: Making the Purchase
When you've chosen one out of all the options, don't just pay the full selling price. There may be leeway for negotiation, and if not, there could be an extended free trial you can use before monthly or annual wages.
Additionally, be careful of hidden pricing technicalities such as flat-rate vs per-user pricing, or paying for unnecessary extra functionality.
A seller that is completely unwilling to negotiate, or offers questionable pricing with a lot of hidden fees is likely not going to be a worthy long-term partner for your company. Think strongly before proceeding as you may regret your decision in the course of time.
Step 4: Implementation
When you've purchased, it's time to bring about your new system. Influenced by how deeply embedded your previous software was, or how complex the integration is, this procedure might be slightly more tricky. Here are a few tips to help you boost the transition.
Inform your team members on the new automation platform, instruct them to view demos, or acquire some training. It's crucial for long-term scalability that each of your teams use the software in line with best practices rather than enforcing their own individual uses.
Contact customer support when necessary for technical issues.
Hire the help of a solutions partner like Wave.
While a bunch of software businesses have technical support for problems] with regard to their software, usually, difficulties around best practices and implementation optimization are out of their scope.
We can can be of assistance in the roll out of new software in a phased procedure that makes the most sense for your company and results in as little layoff as possible while we see to it that everyone knows how to use the tool according to best practices.
Start Your Organization’s Digital Transformation with Wave
Manual business processes slow your business down, which leads to bottlenecks, jumbled workflows, misplaced information, and human error. This reduces overall productivity, causes upscaled expenses, reduces your control over the business, and can eventually hinder your long-term feasibility and scalability.
Wave assists your business to execute automation solutions and content management systems (CMS) that simplify your processes end-to-end, automate tedious, recurrent duties, and can merge with any ERP system you choose.
While we work predominantly with ECM systems like OpenText, M-Files, and SharePoint, we're perfectly willing to work with whatever system you're currently utilizing.
Rather than tearing out deeply embedded legacy software, we can go hand in hand your system and implement supportive tooling that can correlate and enhance your present systems.
We’d be happy to convey our automation software as an on-premise or cloud-based solution to work with your compliance requirements and budget.
If you have any inquiries about how Wave can contribute to digital transformation and business process automation in your organization, contact us today.