The most talented employees on your payroll are subject to a specific kind of tax, one that saps their productivity and makes them feel like expensive data-entry clerks. That’s the tedium task, which is levied against employees of small businesses that use multiple tools that don’t integrate well. Ultimately, what happens is that these businesses have employees manually connect these apps in various ways, all of which waste time that would be better spent doing meaningful work.
So, how do you stop manual data entry once and for all? It all starts with figuring out where their time is being spent.
Find the Human Bridge Moments
The first task is figuring out where your employees are expected to act like a human bridge, then figure out a way to automate that process.
Most of the tedium involved with these kinds of tasks comes from simply moving information. Contact information, for example, is notoriously important, but do you know how it moves from the contact form on your website to your customer relationship management system? If your team is doing the work manually, then that’s a human bridge moment that can be addressed, and failing to do so could leave the situation susceptible to user error and burnout on the employee’s end.
Often the most tedious work is the most valuable, and the above is just one example. Look for tasks that involve data living in one specific location, where the tasks to move it are repetitive and predictable, and if the work is easy; these are prime opportunities for automation.
Use “If This, Then That” Logic to Bridge the Gaps
Armed with knowledge about these gaps, it’s time to actually do something about these tasks without relying on your employees to manually perform them.
“No-code” integration offers businesses a way to handle this without getting a developer involved. All you have to do is define triggers and actions for what happens when those triggers are initiated. This means apps can talk to each other, and once you have this flow of information in place, it should require little to no actual human interaction (provided it was all set up properly).
Tasks like invoicing and lead management can virtually become hands-off, which frees up time and resources for other tasks.
Utilize a Single Centralized Source of Truth
When your data doesn’t match between sources, that means you’re lacking a single source of truth, a serious issue for when you’re connecting apps.
When you don’t have this single source of truth to work from, data shared between apps is inconsistent. When you can designate the place where your data is centrally located, it can be dispersed to your other platforms consistently, meaning all apps get the same data. You might have this source of truth be a CRM, and your other apps and solutions pull information from it as needed.
With a single source of truth, you’ll reduce error, have better and more accurate reporting, and scale without having to worry if your systems are all up to date.
Connecting apps doesn’t just reduce wasted time. It also makes it easier for your team to do their jobs, which keeps employees happy, or at least content, and potentially frees up their time for more valuable efforts.
Learn more about how automation and smart infrastructure design can help your company save time and money. Call us today at (610) 683-6883.