Is Automation That Important?
That all depends… Do you spend as much time as you’d like finding ways to increase revenue? Do you have enough time in your day to even eat lunch on most days, and enjoy it? Do you have the time to talk with your staff and boost morale on a daily basis? If you answered NO to any of these questions, then the answer is an astounding YES, IT’S IMPORTANT!!
Automation vs Manual
Ask yourself, how many reports do you update each day manually because “they only take a few minutes”? On average people in management are updating or creating 10 to 15 reports a day, at a minimum. Each of those reports likely take at least 10 to 15 minutes to manage. So yeah, they only take a few minutes, until you add them all together. Those 10 to 15 reports, at 10 to 15 minutes each add up to a minimum of 1 hour and 40 minutes, each day. The average amount of time is 2 hours and 35 minutes a day, 12.5 hours a week, 50 hours a month, etc.… I think you see where I’m going with this.
Now ask yourself this… What could you be doing with that time to increase revenue? If it were automated, you would have that much extra time in your day for more important things, and this is just reporting. In many cases, automation pays for itself.
What other tasks and activities can I automate?
- New Business Onboarding
- Reconciliations
- Recalls
- Outsourced Placements
- Payments Posting
- Uploading information about the Joker’s location to the Batmobile
- The list just keeps going…
With the tools available in the receivables management industry, you can automate almost anything.
It costs too much to have a developer set all this up.
The initial cost of having a developer set automation for you depends on what you’re automating. Yes, depending on the job, you might have some sticker shock. It is important to understand that automation requires an upfront investment, to free your time for revenue generation indefinitely. Evaluate the cost of lost opportunities versus the time and money spent on manual tasks, every time. You will find the initial cost to be substantially lower, and you’ll have peace of mind that it’s getting handled every day, without relying on someone to do it.
The Real Value Add
Automating as much as you can will free you and your staff up for more important things such as:
- Up training current staff to increase revenue
- Taking care of client needs in a timely fashion
- Having time to get to know your staff better (yes, you may be the boss, but they probably secretly like you)
- Analyzing your data to recognize opportunities
- Playing golf during the week while everyone else thinks that you’re “attending an offsite meeting”
The “Real Value Add”, is going to be giving yourself time to do all the things you wish you could be doing now, but just don’t have the time.