Ways that automation can support your business

Time is money and, for that reason, there are always going to be a few tasks worth delegating. When it comes to marketing, it’s likely going to be quicker, and easier, for a machine or a few lines of code to work hard on your behalf. But what are some prime examples of this working in practice? How can you put them to good use in your own line of work?

It’s thought that over half of all businessesare using automated marketing in one form or another. Here are a few great ways that automation, and automated business systems, can help to support you moving forwards.

Offer customers a more personalised service

One of the great ways you can tailor automation to your advantage is to offer your customers personalised support. If they sign up for your email list through your website, for example, you can greet them personally in their inbox regularly. Not only this, but in a similar vein to Amazon, you can capture information from shopping and browsing behaviour through cookies and other web tools.

This means that you can automate email marketing campaigns based on products and services you know your customers are interested in. Rather than going through the major physical effort to personalise sales to customers, you can rely on an automated email service to show your customers what they could be missing out on.

Cut down on labour, money

Business automation is, of course, going to cut down on the amount of physical labour you actually need. If you need to monitor how well a machine or system is working, for example, you can automate a completely different system to keep a close eye on things.

You can also use chatbots. Chatbots will communicate with your visitors and customers when they navigate to your website. Instead of having to outsource or employ someone to monitor chats for you, you can arrange for a program or bot to handle queries on your behalf. It’s remarkably easy to do.

Ultimately, it is all about cutting down on the amount of money you would normally spend on employing or outsourcing. This means less pressure on your budget and less pressure on your staff.

Actively make more money

As well as saving money on various costs, automation can also help you make money in the background. A start-up or smaller business may, for example, look into cryptocurrency markets, or online trading, to help boost their capital. There are certainly many reasons why this is worth looking into.

However, if you’re unsure how online trading works, crypto investments are getting easier to manage too. This is because people at home and at work are using bots and programs to make difficult decisions for them. Automated trading systems are very easy to set up and to start using. Users can request that an automated trading bot looks for specific changes in markets before they decide to buy and sell.

Automating anything, of course, takes away the human and therefore emotional aspect of making money. This has never been more important than in trading.

Keep track of stock

It’s safe to say that stock-checking and inventory control is the lifeblood of any retail operation, online and offline. However, keeping track of all stock at any one time is nothing short of a chore. How do you best prepare for stock shortages? Are you necessarily going to know what’s going to be popular one season to the next?

Instead of relying solely on predictions and forecasts, modern businesses are automating their retail AI to offer real-time analysis. For example, stockroom and inventory workers can scan barcodes and data on physical products which will automatically update through point of sales software.

POS software can also be set to automate alerts when stock is sold, or when new items arrive. Businesses dependent on keeping their customers replenished with items will benefit hugely from running their inventory control through AI, instead of delegating it to physical labour.

Is automation the future for all businesses?

There’s a clear argument for automation taking over all businesses in all industries. However, it may take some time for specific industries and firms to adapt. Therefore, regardless of the business you run right now, it may be worth looking closely at entry-level automation. This way, when technology starts growing more mainstream, you can be sure that you are ahead of the curve and are ready to react.