August 2017
A United Front: 4 Ways to Help Your Team to Embrace Process Automation
Despite the rising popularity around process automation – not least because it saves businesses money and time – there’s often a strained relationship between frontline staff and the innovative solutions which make automating small tasks possible.
The reason behind this animosity is that many employees are worried that they’re facing replacement thanks to automation, leading them to reject the likes of bespoke CRMs outright, or at the very least make it difficult for an organisation to successfully adopt this new way of working.
This strained relationship doesn’t have to be the norm, however – there are plenty of ways to ensure employees embrace the idea of process automation for their own benefit, as well as helping the company to reach its own goals.
1. Talk to Your Team
Before you take any decisive action on introducing process automation to your team’s workflow, it’s best to speak with employees directly. At this stage, transparency is crucial: not only does it build better trust between you and your team, but it also provides the perfect opportunity to highlight the benefits of automating small tasks, as well as what it will mean for their role within the company.
2. Build it Around Them
A bespoke CRM solution provides integrated workflow management and process automation to make life a lot easier. Aside from that, it’s also a direct response to the needs and wants of your employees – so it makes sense to have them in mind when specifying how the tool should be built. For some employees, this may involve discussing with them which tasks they feel could be automated to make their lives easier – a smart move in getting them on board.
3. Listen to Their Feedback
As process automation is introduced into the business, it’s important to keep revisiting how it’s faring. This includes asking the team for feedback, allowing them the opportunity to continue collaborating with you on the process. And you never know: they could have noticed something you’d missed which would make their workflow run even smoother!
4. Offer Training or Personal Development
Although the previous suggestions will help to get your team’s support, there’s still the pressing matter of allaying their fears to attend to – which brings us to our final piece of advice. With additional time now freed up, why not consider redirecting some of that time towards providing additional training within different parts of the organisation, or investing in personal development amongst your team? They’ll get the message that you’re not replacing them and that humans still matter in the workplace, and they’ll be developing themselves professionally within the process (another bonus for the business)!
A Team United
Taking this advice to heart is just the first step towards keeping the team engaged with a bespoke CRM solution that automates processes. It’s a new way of working which your team will need to explore and develop an affinity with over time. But, if you use this advice and remain transparent and understanding, we’re sure that they’ll be embracing process automation in no time – and they’ll wonder how they ever used to get by without it!
Lunar CRM is proud to include process automation as a major feature in our bespoke CRM solution. To find out more or to book your free demo, simply get in touch with our team.