Hi,
From
Shortening your cash cycle
How far do people automate their businesses?
We have a reasonably small business but it is unbelievable how much time it takes to do all of those little tasks.
Our process goes something like:
* We get phone/email enquires (which may lead to an order)
* A customer orders from our website or phone
* We create a quotation and email it back (this is a manual process as it includes artistic design) - but the base quote details could be automated.
* We change/re-email until customer accepts quote
* Sometimes we chase up with them if they haven't responded to their emailed quote
* Once accepted we produce our product and send
* We also email to say the order has been sent
* We then may need to chase up if payment is overdue
* We may need to send a letter for overdue payment for legal reasons and chase the money up through the court system
* When payment is made it is recorded
We also do BAS, record business expenses and gather business data.
Everything is quite simple but when added up an automated system could save 30 to 60 minutes per order. It wouldn't take long for well developed automation system to pay for itself! (and as a software developer I have been tempted many times to start writing a system specifically for our business process)
How much effort do people put into automating their daily/weekly/monthly tasks?
How much time does it save (or do people estimate it could save?)
I'd also assume it would reduce errors and improve consistency
Any other comments?