10 key indicators for evaluating automation efficiency
Business automation is gaining momentum and is becoming an integral part of company development. Its implementation allows you to increase productivity, reduce costs, cut errors, and focus on strategic tasks. But, how can we measure the success of business process automation? What key indicators should we consider?
In this article, we'll look at the key performance indicators that will allow us to assess the results of automation and its impact on the company.
1. Reduced lead time:
One of the most obvious performance indicators is the reduction in the time required to complete business processes. Automation allows you to increase the speed of tasks and avoid delays by transferring routine processes to the system. This results in increased productivity and improved customer experience.
2. Improved accuracy:
Automation avoids human error and reduces the risk of incorrect data or processes. The accuracy of business processes can be measured, for example, by the number of errors per unit of work. The fewer errors, the higher the accuracy and reliability of the processes.
3. Increase in employee productivity:
Automation can free employees from routine and monotonous tasks, allowing them to focus on more complex and strategic tasks. The increase in employee productivity can be measured, for example, by the number of tasks completed per unit of time or by improvements in the quality of work performed.
4. Cost reduction:
Automation can help save time, resources, and money for a company. This indicator can be measured, for example, by:
- reduced labor costs
- reduced costs for materials or energy
- reducing the number of errors that lead to extra correction costs.
5. Improved customer experience:
Automation can help improve the customer experience by ensuring that their inquiries, orders, or transactions are processed quickly and accurately.
Customer experience metrics can be measured, for example, by response time to customer inquiries, customer satisfaction, or increased repeat purchases.
6. Increased workload:
Automation allows more tasks to be processed per unit of time, which can lead to an increase in the amount of work a company can do.
This can be measured, for example, by:
- the number of transactions processed in one day
- the volume of products produced over a certain period of time.
7. Increased innovation:
Automation can boost innovation in your company by allowing you to work on new ideas and develop better solutions.
The innovation rate can be measured, for example, by:
- the number of new products or services introduced to the market
- the number of patents or copyrights obtained by the company.
8. Improved security:
Automation can improve the security of business processes by reducing the risk of errors, data leakage or mishandling.
Security performance can be measured, for example, by
- number of security incidents
- reduction of recovery time after an incident
- level of data and information protection.
9. Increase in market share:
Automation can help a company take a stronger position in the market, increase its market share and competitiveness. Market share can be measured, for example, by sales volume or by the number of new customers attracted to the company.
10. Improved environmental sustainability:
Automation can contribute to improved environmental performance, such as energy efficiency, reduced resource use, or reduced emissions.
Environmental sustainability can be measured, for example, by
- reducing the amount of paper used
- reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
- implementation of energy-efficient technologies.
An example of automation implementation by FreshTech:
AIR project - YouTube channel management system. The main idea behind the system was to automate the process of calculating remuneration and referral payments to partners and simplify customer interaction.
Before implementing automation, the company analyzed its activities and recorded key indicators. After the project was implemented, the analysis was conducted again and the following results were obtained:
- Reduced human costs for generating payout reports by 5,760 times thanks to an automated system that ensures accurate and fast remuneration calculation.
- The company was able to increase the number of partners from 8,000 to 82,000 thanks to attractive terms of cooperation and a user-friendly system interface.
- Saving resources: Dialogue between AIR and its clients regarding monetization and statistics has become clearer and more transparent, which has helped to avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary support requests.
Methods of measuring and monitoring indicators
The choice of indicators and evaluation methods varies depending on the specific process and goals of the company. One of the most common approaches is to use key performance indicators (KPIs). The methodology includes the creation of basic metrics for measurement and installation of monitoring and analytics systems.
Besides KPIs, you can also conduct surveys of employees, customers, and other stakeholders to assess their satisfaction and opinions on automation implementation.
The results evaluation stage is one of the key ones. After all, measuring and monitoring performance indicators will help you assess the success of the implementation and identify opportunities for further improvement. If you are considering whether your business needs automation or not, leave your contacts in the form. Our manager will answer all your questions and create an individual offer for your project.