06 Oct What Is Office Automation?
The corporate office world has changed drastically over the past several years. Many believe that the changes are due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing businesses to adopt widespread work-from-home policies and install hybrid workspaces, but the truth is that COVID-19 simply sped up the inevitable.
The technology that allowed us to work remotely—even when collaborating with teammates—already existed and was being used in companies across the country.
Computers, technology, and software have all improved to the point where elements of the typical job can be completed without human action. This is called office automation, and it can instantly boost productivity and allow companies to easily accomplish tasks that were falling through the cracks previously.
Office Automation Is Nothing New
Technology has long been allowing workers to be more productive at the office. Personal computers revolutionized the way offices looked in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Before that, there was the photocopier, the fax machine, the calculator, and the typewriter.
All of those were technological advances that allowed a machine to handle some, or all, of a job that previously could only be done by a human.
Nowadays, the concept of automation is moving away from a machine physically handling tasks. The big breakthroughs are coming in the way information is handled electronically, and how utilizing software to manage that data allows the human workers to succeed like never before.
A Paperless Office Is An Automated Office
There are many benefits to shifting your office into a paperless workplace.
Of course, a paperless office is good for the environment. It’s also much more convenient and efficient. How much time have you wasted rummaging through stacks of papers on your desk to find the correct invoice? Or reorganizing the endless rows of filing cabinets, making sure you can find the information later on?
With a paperless office, there are no stacks of paperwork cluttering up your desk or filing systems to sort through. Everything is handled electronically, can be accessed by everyone who needs it, and is right at your fingertips at all times.
The digital storage of information, combined with the ability to automatically manipulate and share data, sets the stage for an automated workflow.
Here at Consortyo Networks & Security, helping businesses overcome the obstacles to setting up a paperless office is a big part of what we do.
We can help you make the switch by defining the flow of a document through your business, recommending the right document management solution, ensuring you have the needed hardware and software, and even help with the plan to manage all of your old physical paperwork that will eventually be shredded.
Benefits Of An Office Automation System
Having software or technology that can create, collect, store, analyze, and share key data can be a big boost in productivity for companies of all sizes.
Mundane tasks that are now done automatically frees up workers to spend more time focusing on more critical responsibilities. The technology will also likely reduce those small human errors, which are easy to make but can be hard to identify later on.
One of the biggest benefits is the ability to collect and present massive amounts of data. By getting the decision-makers the data they need quickly and accurately, it will allow them to make better choices that can help the company grow and reach new heights like never before.
Keys To Strong Office Automation
Knowing your ideal workflow and being able to develop a compatible system is one of the most important elements of office automation.
Without a consistent workflow, automation would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. But once the workflow has been mapped out, it will be much easier to identify the steps that can be automatically handled by your software.
Another element that can make or break your office automation system is its ease of use. Having automated systems that are difficult to work with or hard to understand could actually make your workflow less efficient, defeating the entire purpose.
More importantly, people tend to be resistant to change. Workers who have had success doing something one way for their entire career will understandably be skeptical of something new, and enough resistance from the workforce could doom any form of office automation before it has a chance to succeed.
A system that is easy to use, with benefits that every employee can see and understand, has a much better chance of being accepted from the outset.
Your office automation software must also easily integrate with your other systems. The more integrated your systems, the more opportunities for automation. If your systems don’t speak with each other, then you’ll be stuck manually moving data from one system to another, which minimizes the benefits of having automation in the first place.
One of the reasons we are big fans of Microsoft Teams is because of its ability to integrate with so many other applications. It’s also easy to use, can be optimized for your business, and even has the ability to automate some of your workflow.
Conclusion
Technology doesn’t advance in a straight line. It increases exponentially, with seemingly impossible leaps forward happening on a regular basis.
It’s hard to keep up with the latest and greatest, especially when you are also trying to run a successful company. That’s where we at Consortyo come in.
We have years of experience as a managed service provider, helping to establish workflows and set up office automation to make companies throughout Central Florida be more efficient and productive.
If you have any questions about how to get your office paperless, or how else you can bring automation to your workplace, contact us today for a free consultation!
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