asn’t technology supposed to prevent employees from having to perform daily mundane tasks? As it turns out, not so much.
A global study conducted by Onepool reveals that office workers spend three hours a day on manual, repetitive computer tasks that shouldn’t be a part of their job.
“If you work in an office, likely your productivity and happiness are significantly undermined with having to be responsible for manual computer administration tasks that could easily be automated and eat into your day,” said Shelly Kramer, Principal Analyst for Futurum Research.
Of the most hated tasks employees are responsible for, the top three are manual data entry, email traffic management, and filing digital documents. The study found that employees in the US spend an average of 2.9 hours a day on these “hated” manual tasks.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, and employees know it. 87% want their employers to automate mundane tasks and business processes. With more time to do their primary job, workers believe they’ll be more productive and take advantage of opportunities to learn more skills.
Mundane Tasks That Can Be Automated
A McKinsey study found that workers spend 28% of their average workweek answering emails, 19% spent gathering info and data, and 14% on collaboration and communication. That only leaves 39% spent on their role-specific activity.
If you’re like most, you can probably relate to this. But that isn’t to say those tasks aren’t important — it’s just that several of these mundane tasks can be automated. The desire to automate these tasks not only frees up time, but also removes human error and improves reliability.
Here are a few mundane tasks that can easily be automated:
- Emails -- Automating email is easy and affects productivity in a big way. By funneling emails and using advanced filters, known email domains can go to one folder and frequent email responses can be automated.
- Data & info collection -- First, automation eliminates mundane tasks like converting info into numbers for computer analysis. Second, it reduces human data entry errors. Third, it can generate large amounts of data that humans cannot handle.
- Lead management -- For example, automating qualified marketing leads so they can be handed off from the marketing team to the sales team. This way, sales reps will get timely and critical info regarding a lead, and then info on the quality and outcome of the lead can be sent back to the marketing department.
Automate Administrative Duties
In 2021, automation tools have become more accessible and more affordable to organizations than ever before — and that goes for both large and small businesses alike. In fact, for smaller businesses that employ fewer employees that need to wear multiple hats, automating administrative duties can be particularly useful.
Some of the administrative duties that can be automated include:
- Payroll management -- When programmed correctly, payroll duties such as calculating wages based on time worked and compiling tax records can be easily automated to reduce errors and hours spent performing these tasks.
- Generating reports -- It’s often required of employees and teams to generate reports on a daily, weekly, and/or monthly basis. By automating these reports, valuable time is freed up and more detailed data can be provided.
- Time tracking -- By automating the time it takes for certain tasks to get completed,the need to physically monitor activities is eliminated. It’s also a better way to understand cost, efficiency, and experience requirements.
- Scheduling -- A huge part of managing teams is managing schedules and ensuring tasks are carried out at the right time by the right people. With an automation tool, bots can assign staff based on their qualifications and availability.
Automate Sales and Marketing Duties
We touched on automating sales and marketing leads before, but there are so many more marketing duties that can be automated. Most marketing departments automate mundane tasks such as ad campaigns, social media posting, and email marketing. Automation tools allow marketing teams to be more efficient and provide a more personalized experience for customers and prospects.
Typically, successful marketing automation takes into account the behaviors of your leads’ interactions with different marketing channels and their evolving needs. That can include how they interact with social media channels, the viewing of a pricing page, or how long they visited a blog post.
How to Automate Mundane Tasks
There are various tools that automate mundane tasks: you could build your own code, use Excel, or use individual tools like those built into your productivity or CRM software. But there is a better way, and that’s by integrating Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with your existing IT infrastructure.
RPA enables you to create a set of instructions for a robot (‘bot’) to perform. These bots are capable of performing human-computer tasks more quickly with better accuracy and no errors. RPA is able to automate all the mundane, repetitive tasks mentioned above and more. Essentially, any process that requires a person to perform a high volume of repetitive data work can be automated.
As explained by David Landreman, CPO of Olive, “The most common uses of RPA programs supplement repetitive functions or data-intensive processes, where logic-based outcomes are anticipated.”
The Importance of Automating Mundane Tasks
In the competitive business landscape of 2021, automating mundane tasks is pivotal to staying one leg up on the competition. It allows organizations to improve productivity and retention rates, build a stronger brand, and grow faster — all while cutting business costs.
By partnering with an RPA expert like CloudScale, you can automate and modernize your organization’s existing IT systems to drive continuous value, innovation, and impactful employee experiences.
Interested in learning more? Check out our Automation Workshop.
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