Finding The Best Business Process Automation Software Guide For Enterprise Buyers
If you're reading this, it’s presumable that your company is considering business process automation software.
With the capabilities of business process automation you can simplify repetitive, rules-based workflows. Automating these types of business processes produces more efficiency in enterprise resource planning (ERP), larger cost savings, and enhanced utilization of your workforce.
Although most enterprise businesses today have implemented some form of automation, digital transformation, or process development, many fail to recognize the full potential of automation functionality and struggle to phase out remaining time-consuming manual workflows.
While partially automated processes will deliver minimal edge, they can also deterring you in the end.
In this enterprise buyer's guide, we'll clarify what business process automation is, how it functions, its superiority, and the criteria you have to look at when evaluating BPA platforms.
So let's dive right in!
What is Business Process Automation: A Primer
Business process automation (BPA), otherwise known as business process management (BPM), is the process of using technology to streamline routine, regimented tasks such as sending documents, data-entry, processing payments, or classifying documents.
Taking advantage of automation can drastically better an organization's scalability by streamlining workflows, improving productivity, and eliminating manual tasks which enables your personnel to focus on tasks that augment the business.
Advanced automation platforms, like those you're presumably assessing, implement state-of-the-art technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) to perform repetitive tasks on a person’s behalf.
Fundamentally, employees are still your best resource, but through system automation, your teammates can work quicker on more growth-focused tasks rather than having their time consumed by tedious manual tasks.
The Benefits of Business Process Automation
Written below are just a few of the outstanding benefits of BPA or automated tools.
Prevents Human Error
Streamlines Repetitive Tasks
Decreases Inefficiencies
Deters Suspicious Activity
Facilitates Cost-Savings
Enhances Third-Party Relationships and Customer Satisfaction
Lessens Supplier Inquiries
Provides Better Visibility into Processes
Greater ROI
Use Cases for Business Process Automation
Any organization that has tedious, frequently recurring tasks can improve from process automation technology. Some of the most conventional business and industry use cases include:
HR New Employee Onboarding
CRM Processes
Social Media
Evaluation Factors for Business Process Automation Software
Selecting the process automation technology that fits your organization starts with identifying your present operating procedures, pinpointing prime targets for automation and assessing the marketplace for tools.
1. Define Your Business Needs
Before ever weighing technology options, the key thing to do is to discern your company needs.
Neglecting this step could cause acquiring technology that ultimately stagnates your company, or buying additional features that you really don't need. Gather your department stakeholders to discuss the following:
What processes are prime candidates for automation?
Do you need the technology for a specific department, or can the software be used by a number of departments?
Are there any bottlenecks that deter you from launching a new system?
How many team members will require access to the tool? What are their responsibilities?
2. Conducting Pre-Purchase Research
As soon as you have your base needs determined, you can start looking for probable solutions. There are several things you can review on your own before reaching out to a vendor or entering a high-pressure sales negotiation.
Here are few resources you can usually find on solution websites or from a Google search that will aid in conducting your initial research.
Recorded demos
Pricing/Licensing Tiers
Product Pages/Data Sheets/Explainer Blogs
Product Comparisons
Peer Reviews
Partner Referrals
3. Submit RFIs to Potential Vendors
Subsequently accomplishing some fundamental research, you can begin asking for customized price quotes from the solutions you're eager to learn about.
While many software websites offer pricing, nearly all business process management platforms simply offer starting prices and will need more details about your organization to provide a conclusive pricing model for you.
If your organization uses a more standard attainment process, this would be the time to commence sending the initial requests for information (RFI) which categorically summarizes your requirements for potential vendors.
When you communicate with potential suppliers, it's imperative that you get all of your questions answered and make sure that the tool meets all of your demands. This will help you diminish vendor options during procurement later on.
4. Understanding Licensing Structures
One of the main important pricing considerations for an automation tool is the licensing structure. There are a variety of user models that platform companies use and it can have an extreme impact on the total cost of ownership. Here are some of the most commonly used structures:
Per-seat or per-user licensing: means that pricing is set per person. This is why it's crucial to determine your maximum number of users.
Maximum user licensing: This is total pricing with the total number of users allotted with additional users available for an additional cost.
Site licensing: Rather than per user, this type of licensing allows you to use the platform at a single (or multiple) predetermined locations.
Ongoing vs subscription licensing: Ongoing licensing is most often pay once and use indefinitely, whereas a subscription price will need to be renewed
The pricing model that is best for your organization will finally depend on the budget, the number of users or site locations, in addition to the level of flexibility you want. For example, if you'd prefer not be locked into a long-term investment, you might opt for a subscription model that you can revoke should you feel the need.
5. Deployment Models
The deployment model is an extra crucial deliberation as your business might have certain legal or compliance-related requirements that dictate you use just one type of infrastructure.
For example, many companies in the healthcare and government division have meticulous codes which demand they hold all computing and application infrastructure on-premise and that any new software be certified in compliant in a specific framework like HIPAA or FedRAMP.
Many vendors present an assortment of deployment options precisely for this reason. These can be separated into two fundamental groups: on-premises, off-premises, or hybrid deployment.
On-premises (Data Center): This hosting option requires your company to use the software with your on-premise data center environment. That being the case, your company retains full control over the installation, architecture, administration, maintenance, and data security.
This limits the scope of risk concerned with outsourcing deployment to a third party, but it also increases your obligations and has its own level of risk.
For instance, neglecting routine updates and backups could set your organization up in a risky place if a data breach or emergency arises. But as previously mentioned, for some in a compliance-heavy enterprise, there may not be an option here.
Off-premises (Cloud-based): For businesses that are not bound by legal demands, or have regulated demands that a cloud option can meet, this alternative may be a lot more tantalizing.
This is because cloud deployments grant the organization the opportunity to unload many of the administrative and maintenance concerns it would usually be held accountable for.
Not to mention that, the majority of enterprise-level technology is deep-seated on best-in-class infrastructures like AWS or Azure and supplies redundancy, reliability, and even service level agreements (SLAs) should you want more uptime guarantee.
Hybrid (Mixed) Deployment: The third alternative, for those that choose to make the most out of cloud innovation but operate in a compliance-heavy industry, is a hybrid or mixed deployment.
While a bit more intricate, a hybrid environment would handle all your sensitive data and related aspects in an on-premise environment while your non-classified data and processes can be executed in a cloud environment.
6. Implementation Requirements
Another important consideration is the implementation requirements, on behalf of the software vendor, for your company. Just because you might want to use a certain tool, doesn't mean your present capabilities are sufficient to run it. Thus, it's important to look at the following:
Configurability. Does the platform come with all essential functionality when acquired, or will it need some refining once installed? This is essential to know to ensure you can get the most from your investment and get off to a good start.
System requirements. In theevent of an on-premise deployment, do you have the entire prerequisite hardware to run the platform correctly? If not, your whole investment could be compromised.
Elasticity. Can the platform scale to satisfy higher demand as your organization cultivates, if the maximum number of simultaneous users are online, or if your infrastructure causes a utilization load spike? It's crucial to select an automation platform that can scale to accommodate growth or a utilization flux. A large number of SaaS and cloud options offer auto-scaling as the need develops, because majority of on-premise deployments compel that auto-routing while load spikes is implemented beforehand.
7. Integration capabilities
A further key concern is integration potential. While the idea of a packaged-deal solution is a beautiful concept, it often doesn't work that way. Specifically with automation, the automation tool will need to correspond with various systems and other platforms based on how many business units are resorting to it.
For this reason, you need to supply your potential vendors with a full list of all systems and tools to guarantee that your automation software can properly incorporated with each.
Alternatively, if a specific tool is not listed under integrations, does the software vendor grant an application programming interface (API) so that a developer can connect your systems his or herself?
If there isn't a preformed integration in ready for your other systems, and the API either doesn't exist or is taxing to use, it probably isn’t the finest fit for your organization.
8. Customer Support
One more important, yet often disregarded aspect is convenient customer support. Frequently, companies are not aware of the value of good customer support until they desperately need it and it's not available.
Every software vendor has its own particular customer support offering which can be 24/7/365 or restricted to certain hours. They usually also have a range for their customer support services - issues they will support and issues they won't.
More often than not, basic customer support is offered for issues relating to the platform itself, yet, problems that are customer-centric (i.e. implementation issues, best practices, etc) may exclusively be accessible at a premium, if at all.
Either way, it's crucial that you understand what your level of customer support offers, its handiness, and the options accessible to you (i.e. ticket service, phone, email, chat, etc). Additionally, as your employees are learning to use automation software, it's key that they have training resources available, whether live or pre-designed.
Examples include:
Webinars
Guides
Training Labs
Tutorial Videos
Instruction Manuals/Documentation
Community Help Forums
9. Security
One more important consideration is the tool security measures. With an automation platform, it's probable that it will have contact with sensitive data, therefore, it’s important to be sure that any data utilized is safe from unauthorized access. Ensure that your tool provides the succeeding security features:
Access management to control who can use the tool.
Permission controls to identify what a user can and can't access while utilizing the tool.
Compliance certification (if [needed) to ascertain that the supplier has met all its commitments to abide by any legal regulations that your business is responsible for.
10. Ease-of-use
Lastly, it's of the utmost importance that the platform is intuitive and convenient for your coworkers. An overly complicated user interface can bring about lost production as you appropriate time and assets toward having your employees train on how to properly operate the platform.
Offerings like a free trial can help secure your teams adore the software before purchasing. Additionally, demos, training resources, and process templates can also go a long way to shorten the rate of learning over time as all software, even intuitive ones, will require some sort of adaptation period.
The Procurement Process
After your company has examined all of the evaluation criteria and you distinguish what you're in pursuit of, it's time to start deliberating your options, pegging your choices down, and ultimately buying and implementing the product.
Listed below is a step-by-step guide to assist you with the procurement process.
Step 1: Compare Your Options
It's likely you've already prepared a list of potential sellers during the evaluation process. It is now time to eliminate any that don't satisfy your needs and narrow down your short-list. Once your short-list is ready, compare your options in accordance with the following characteristics:
Price
Features
Free Trial Options
Security and Compliance Capabilities
Customer Support
Step 2: Schedule Demos
With probably only 2-3 options remaining, it's now time to find out what the tool's capabilities are. Not only will this help you evaluate functionality, but it will also supply you with some perspective of the product's usability. If it has an extremely complicated user interface or it seems like it will require a precipitous learning curve, it probably isn’t the best fit.
Step 3: Making the Purchase
When you've finalized your choice, don't just go along with the full asking price. There may be leeway for negotiation, and if not, there might be an expanded free trial you can use before monthly or annual payments.
Moreover, keep an eye out for hidden pricing minutiae such as flat-rate vs per-user pricing, or paying for extra functionality you don't need.
A seller that is reluctant to negotiate, or imparts suspicious pricing with a lot of hidden fees is likely not going to be a worthy long-term partner for your organization. Deliberate before going through with it as you may regret your decision in the course of time.
Step 4: Implementation
When you've purchased, it's time to implement your new system. Depending on how deeply embedded your previous tool was, or how complicated the integration is, this method might be slightly more tricky. Here are a few hints to help you ease the transition.
Educate your staff on the new automation platform, have them view demos, or attend training. It's important for long-term scalability that each of your staff use the software according to best practices instead of applying their own individual uses.
Involve customer support when required for technical issues.
Recruit the help of a solutions partner like Wave.
While a bunch of software businesses have technical support for problems] in connection to their platform, regularly, difficulties around best practices and implementation optimization are out of their range.
We can help you roll out new platforms in a gradual approach that makes the most sense for your company and results in as little layoff as possible while guaranteeing that everyone knows how to use the platform according to best practices.
Start Your Organization’s Digital Transformation with Wave
Manual business processes disrupt your business, leading to bottlenecks, incoherent workflows, missing information, and human error. This diminishes productivity, leads to greater expenses, reduces your control over the business, and can ultimately obstruct your long-term feasibility and scalability.
Wave assists your business to implement automation solutions and content management systems (CMS) that streamline your operation end-to-end, automate tedious, monotonous work, and can merge with any ERP system of your choosing.
While we work predominantly with ECM systems like OpenText, M-Files, and SharePoint, we're happy to work with any system you're currently utilizing.
Instead of tearing out deep-seated legacy software, we can go hand in hand your system and execute supportive tooling that can complement and develop your current systems.
We’d be happy to convey our automation software as an on-premise or cloud-based solution to work with your compliance needs and budget.
If you have any inquiries about how Wave can assist digital transformation and business process automation in your company, contact us today.