The Power of Automation

When it comes to running a business, automation can (and likely will) become your best friend and greatest ally. However, for as convenient as automation is, it’s also important to keep the human connection with your vendors, clients, customers, and team. Finding the perfect balance of automation and manual work will allow you to take your business to the next level knowing that you can take certain items off your plate so you can give your full ​attention to other matters at hand that require human contact.

Over time, you’ll notice patterns of recurring expenses, transactions, or actions. Once these patterns are identified, you can determine whether or not automation would add convenience. Anything that is mindless and monotonous, but necessary, can be automated, as well as anything repetitive. When it comes to your bookkeeping, automation can play an essential role - if set up and executed properly. You can schedule recurring payments to be sent out for expenses that accrue every month - like rent or any utilities. On the flip side, you can also schedule invoices, which will be sent to vendors or clients who maintain the same bill each month. Beyond that, you can also schedule payment reminders to follow-up with any clients or vendors who have missed their payment deadline.

If your company uses direct deposit payment, then you may also choose to automate payroll. Take some time setting this up and confirm everything is good-to-go, before relying on the automation and never turning back. Continue to review payroll to ensure the automation was set-up properly and no issues arise. Payroll can be one of the most time-consuming tasks, so being able to automate it will save quite a bit of time so you can direct your attention elsewhere.

In addition, synching your bank account(s) and credit cards with your bookkeeping software will ensure that every transaction is automatically accounted for and logged. Some accounting software will even categorize your transactions for you. Again, it’s important to review your automatic processes once they’re set-up so you can ensure everything is running smoothly and to correct any errors there may be in your systems.

You can even automate your reporting based on the specific report and schedule you choose (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.). Because your transactions and expenses are being logged automatically, your financial reporting will all be up-to-date and “on demand” at your fingertips.

If you run an e-commerce store, consider automating your inventory. It can be almost impossible to stay on top of everchanging inventory manually, and counting large sums is more likely to lead to human error. Setting up an automatic inventory will make your life much easier.

To set-up your automated processes, it will require time, manual entry, and review. The only way automation will benefit your company is if every step is set-up correctly in order for the process to flow seamlessly. But, once you take the time and energy to set up your automation, it should be smooth sailing moving forward. Check in on your automations every so often to ensure everything is still running as it should.