Five business processes that you must automate to increase productivity

The average company uses at least 15 different HR systems and draws information from 400 data sources. That is overwhelming to say the least.

Having so many systems has only disadvantages

• more time is wasted

• more errors during data entry

• risk of non-compliance to company and industry regulations

A solution to this problem is to have one system with multiple capabilities, and with the ability to seamlessly integrate with other systems to make up for features which are lacking.

Bitrix24 does a great job at this. Bitrix24 is CRM, collaboration, HR, automation, sites and stores, and project management. It’s also flexible, customizable, and can be integrated with other ERP systems  -  billing for example.

All large commercial and manufacturing companies, irrespective of the nuances of the business, have similar processes for working with clients, paperwork, shipping or providing services.

From our experience in large systems automation and management processes in various industries, we can recommend the following five main business processes that will help you improve customer service, speed up paperwork, reduce overhead costs, increase conversions, and improve employee KPI.

• Lead Management Automation

What is a lead?

A lead is a person who has expressed interest in your company’s products, goods, or services, A potential client. A lead can be either an individual or a company representative. When dealing with a large influx of leads, it is important to react promptly to them so as to increase your company's chances of retaining them.

What is Lead Management?

Lead management is the process of generating and managing leads, and driving them to make a purchase. 

It involves registering the Leads on the company CRM system, collecting detailed information about them, placing calls, setting meetings, sending emails, and so on. 

The stages of Lead management sometimes need to be done several times.

Now imagine. A customer representative or sales manager receives dozens of leads in a day. He must place a call back to each lead to clarify information, he needs to email half of them to verify what time to send the deliveries or to meet. 

Even if you create a “lead management manual”  so as not to forget any step, no employee actually has enough work time to repeat the steps for every single lead. Apart from that, it’s just not an efficient way to work - you waste time, and are more prone to making mistakes.

The solution to this problem is to use a Lead management software such as Bitrix24, where you can create automated business processes. 

Bitrix24 is a concise System that has all the tools needed by any Sales representative for effective work. 

Let’s imagine our Sales representative is  Charles. Charles receives a message  - “Call Sally, she sent an inquiry about our line of summer shoes”. After he makes the call, he receives instructions on what to do next - “ Send Sally our catalogue”.   When Sally responds, Charles is instructed on what to do next - to send her an offer or show her similar products.

Charles doesn’t need to memorize anything, because he receives instructions for next steps based on the results of his previous step.

For another client who requested a consultation, Charles receives a message to “set up a meeting”. 

Benefits of Lead Management Automation

By creating automated Business processes for lead management, a company can benefit in the following ways

1. uniformity of work - all clients will receive the same level of attention, according to the company standards 

2. Sales representatives can work more efficiently

3. Higher conversion

4. Simplifies the work of Sales representatives

• Sales process Automation

The result of lead management activities is a client who places an order. The lead is then converted into a deal. 

Deals go through several stages to be closed successfully. For some companies, it may look like this:

Commercial offer -> Contract -> Invoice -> Payment -> Shipment

For other companies, the process may be much longer:

Commercial offer -> Contract -> Technical Specifications -> Preparing a project draft -> project approval -> Invoice -> Payment -> Production -> Shipment/ delivery

As the deal goes through the stages, different documents need to be prepared by various departments of the company, and by various employees. Each of these documents must be created on time, agreed upon by management, and passed on to other departments. 

How can we ensure that all this happens on time? 
By creating automated business processes for deals. An automated business process, will

1. ensure that data and documents are sent to the required departments on time, 

2. not allow documents get stuck with one employee, 

3. remind employees what tasks they need to complete and their deadlines

• Contract negotiation 

Contract negotiation is a long, complex, yet very important process.
During contract negotiation, several parties have to read the contract and approve it -  the deal responsible person (who we’ll call manager), the head of the department, the company lawyer, the client, the accountant, the director of the company, etc. 

The manager prepares a contract and sends it to the head of the department, who makes corrections and sends it back to the manager. The manager accepts the corrections and forwards the contract to the company lawyer. The lawyer makes their comments and sends the document back to the manager. This ping-pong could go on for a long time.

The chain of approvers in the contract negotiation process could be shorter or longer than what we’ve described, but the problem remains the same. 

For every contract negotiation, the process is the same. And at each stage, there is a possibility of the contract being returned for revision, and correction. 

Now, we must not forget that the manager usually has dozens of clients with whom he works. How can he keep track of the latest version of each contract? and with whom? Who is next in the contract approval chain?

There may also be conditions for what the contract negotiation process will be. For example, for contracts worth more than 1 million dollars,  the approval of the company’s head of economic security is required. A contract for a service is coordinated by the head of the marketing department, while a contract for product supply is coordinated by the head of the production department.

Having a Business process that automates Contract negotiations will solve these problems.

Depending on the conditions set in the automated business process, the contract for approval could be sent automatically to the necessary employees. In a situation where the contract needs corrections, the business process itself will transfer the contract from one contract approval party to another.
When the final version is ready, it will inform all participants in the contract negotiation process that the agreement is ready and can be signed.

• Shipping and delivery

Shipment and delivery of goods is a complex and time-consuming process. Here, the head of the sales department needs to prepare a shipment order, communicate with the warehouse or production department, and clarify the content of the order. 

They must also specify the delivery time and address, give instructions to an employee to place an order and to send it. 

With hundreds of orders to fill out daily, completing each order correctly, and on time is a challenging task. 

To simplify the process, create an automated business process for Shipping and delivery.

 

• Preparation of documents after closing deals

Here’s a common situation:

The contract for a project was signed a while ago, the goods have been shipped or the project has been handed over, payment has been received, but the manager forgot to issue all the necessary documents for closing the deal. He forgot to sign the necessary acts for the project, to send additional contracts that were adopted during the project, and original documents to the required parties.

Having a business process to control document preparation will allow you to calmly and easily close deals with your partners, sign and send all the necessary documents on time.

Benefits of Implementing Automated Business Processes

You do not have to implement all the automated Business processes at once. If you introduce them gradually, you will undoubtedly notice that 

1. paperwork processing time will reduce significantly, 

2. downtime during order processing will decrease, 

3. the number of clients whose requests you forget to process will decrease, 

4. and employee KPI will increase.

But business process automation does not stop at these 5. As you automate more, and see the benefits, you will find new processes that can be automated in your company.

In our years of work, we have developed automated business processes for:

1. HR tasks - recruitment, onboarding, staff training

2. Invoice approval

3. Conducting promotions

4. Opening a new branch/outlet

5. Loan repayment

6. Coordination of awards to employees

7. Complete automation of the Sales department

8. Coordination of monthly, quarterly, annual reports

9. Approval of applications for the purchase of equipment

10. Shipment, delivery and returns

11. Accounting services

to mention a few.

INTERVOLGA has been creating business processes and integrations with Bitrix24 since 2003. We would love to help you work better. Tell us about your project.