The current state of the economy has left many companies in a state of uncertainty, with 58% of business leaders feeling the pressure of too many initiatives to be supported without the right resources. While these companies look for ways to stay competitive and, in many instances, to accomplish more with less, compromising on delivering high-quality experiences is not an option, particularly in a world where fast, seamless digital experiences have become the norm. Yet, in this downturn, companies are struggling to maintain their high standard of service while also dealing with staffing and skills shortages.
As business and technology leaders turn to mere cost-cutting measures, the paradox of needing to constantly deliver better customer and employee experiences and the need to reduce cost while not having enough resources continues to deepen if not addressed in a future-proof and recession-proof way.
One solution to all of this is IT automation. Not only does it help organizations keep pace with their competitors, but it also plays a pivotal role in maintaining customer and employee satisfaction. Let’s explore five key benefits of deploying IT automation within your organization.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
Today’s customers don’t just prefer quick and efficient service; they expect it. IT automation helps businesses meet these expectations by reducing response times and resolving issues more quickly.
One great example of this would be automated help desk systems, which can respond to customer inquiries within seconds, even outside of business hours. This provides customers with the support they need at the exact moment they need it.
Additionally, automated ticket tracking and resolution ensures that customer issues are handled promptly and efficiently, leading to higher levels of customer satisfaction. The happier your customers are, the less likely they’ll be to seek out your competitors.
Increased Employee Satisfaction
Despite to conventional perceptions, IT automation can have a positive impact on employee satisfaction. Rather than replacing human workers, automation can free up skilled workers and allow them to focus on more strategic tasks, and even augment their productivity and growth. For instance, by automating routine processes that would normally have been performed manually, employees can spend more time on higher-value tasks, such as analyzing data and developing new solutions.
As an added bonus, because IT automation eliminates the need for manual data entry, it subsequently reduces the risk of human error and time spent on reconciliation or re-work.
When skilled IT professionals are able to focus their time and effort on more meaningful work, they are far more likely to stay on for the long term. This, in turn, addresses the notoriously high turnover rate and staffing shortage issue that so many organizations are facing.
Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity
IT automation increases both efficiency and productivity. For example, automating the deployment and updates of software eliminates the need for manual workflows and reduces the time it takes to deploy new software from days to just a few hours. This leads to faster time to market, improved competitiveness, and increased opportunity for the broader teams to innovate knowing IT can deliver fast and effectively.
Likewise, when automation is integrated into the incident management process, not only does it eliminate the need for human intervention, but it also provides the opportunity to proactively monitor and remediate potential issues before they occur. This can help to prevent costly outages and downtime, keeping operations up and running and enabling IT staff to continue to perform at their highest levels and not be bogged down in chasing down alerts.
Higher Confidence with Better Decision Making
When you take away the pressures of unintentional yet costly human errors, you can build teams who can make bold and fast decisions with more confidence and authority. IT automation improves data accuracy by eliminating human error, which can be a major source of costly inaccuracies that often occur in manual processes. As an example, automated data backup and recovery systems reduce the risk of data loss due to human error, providing organizations with a reliable and secure way to manage their data.
Additionally, automated reporting and analysis ensures that data is accurate and up-to-date, providing organizations with the critical information they need to make more informed business decisions. Team members can be empowered to make impactful decisions faster to continue to drive business to the next level as errors are eliminated, accuracy increases, and processes speed up with the use of IT automation.
Preparing the Workforce of the Future
One important thing to note is that while it may be tempting to cut costs and reduce processes—especially during uncertain times such as these, it’s crucial to also think about retaining and upskilling employees, as they are the ones who will help get a company through tough situations and come out with stronger skillsets that will further benefit the business.
As a real-world example of this, a major player in the airline industry saw a massive spike in volume during the pandemic, which resulted in the cancellation and rescheduling of hundreds, if not thousands of flights. Although automation had been on the list of things to do, it wasn’t a top priority. When they finally moved forward with automation, however, it doubled their efforts and enabled employees to respond effectively to a 400% increase in volume and ultimately salvage the company’s reputation
Driving Certainty in Uncertainty
The role of automation during uncertain times is to drive certainty and improve performance, engagement, and customer experience. By automating critical processes and workflows, companies can respond quickly and effectively to changes in volume and demand, ensuring that their customers are not impacted, and that their employees are not overworked.
With the right investment in automation, companies can not only weather the uncertainty of the current economy but emerge stronger and more successful on the other side.
Watch this fireside chat to get real-world insights from an automation leader and practitioner.
