An Enterprise Buyers Guide In Selecting The Best Business Process Automation Software
If you're reading this, it’s presumable that your company is taking a look at business process automation software.
With the capabilities of business process automation you can streamline tedious, rules-based processes. Automating these types of business processes produces more efficiency in enterprise resource planning (ERP), greater cost savings, and improved usage of your workforce.
Although most enterprise businesses today have enforced some form of automation, digital transformation, or process development, many fail to realize the full capabilities of automation functionality and struggle to eliminate remaining time-intensive manual workflows.
While partially automated workflows will deliver minimal edge, they can also costing you in the end.
In this enterprise buyer's guide, we'll clarify what business process automation is, how it functions, its advantages, and the parameters you must look at when evaluating BPA applications.
So let's dive right in!
What is Business Process Automation: A Primer
Business process automation (BPA), also known as business process management (BPM), is the action of using technology to streamline routine, standards-based tasks such as sending documents, data-entry, processing payments, or archiving documents.
Taking advantage of automation can significantly better an organization's bottomline by streamlining processes, improving productivity, and eliminating manual tasks which enables your personnel to focus on tasks that augment the business.
Up-to-date automation platforms, like those you're likely evaluating, implement breakthrough technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) to perform repetitive labor on a human's behalf.
Ultimately, people are still your best resource, but through enterprise automation, your teammates can work faster on more productive tasks instead of having their time wasted by tedious manual tasks.
The Benefits of Business Process Automation
Beneath are just some of the outstanding benefits of BPA or automated software.
Eliminates Human Error
Streamlines Repetitive Tasks
Reduces Inefficiencies
Deters Fraudulent Activity
Enhances Cost-Savings
Betters Supplier Relationships and Customer Satisfaction
Decreased Supplier Inquiries
Enhances Better Insight into Processes
Improved ROI
Use Cases for Business Process Automation
Any company that has tedious, continual tasks can benefit from process automation software. Some of the most common business and industry use cases include:
HR New Employee Onboarding
CRM Processes
Social Media
Evaluation Factors for Business Process Automation Software
Selecting the process automation platform that fits your organization starts with examining your current operating procedures, pinpointing optimal processes for automation and assessing the marketplace for applications.
1. Define Your Business Needs
Before ever assessing software options, the primary thing to do is to discern your business requirements.
Turning a blind eye to this aspect could result in acquiring technology that ultimately stagnates your business, or buying additional features that you really don't need. Gather your department managers to discuss the following:
What processes are prime candidates for automation?
Do you need the application for one department, or can the application be used by a number of departments?
Are there any blockers that prohibit you from implementing a new system?
How many team members will require access to the application? What are their roles?
2. Conducting Pre-Purchase Research
As soon as you have your core needs determined, you can start looking for potential solutions. There are various things you can review on your own before reaching out to a vendor or entering a high-pressure sales conversation.
Here are few resources you can usually find on solution websites or through a Google search that will help you conduct your initial research.
Recorded demos
Pricing/Licensing Tiers
Product Pages/Data Sheets/Explainer Blogs
Product Comparisons
Peer Reviews
Partner Referrals
3. Submit RFIs to Potential Vendors
Once you've done some fundamental research, you can begin asking for customized price quotes from the solutions you're eager to learn about.
While numerous software websites offer pricing, the majority of business process management tools simply offer starting prices and will ask for more data about your organization to arrange a definitive forecast model for you.
If your business uses a more formal procurement process, this would be the time to start sending the initial requests for information (RFI) which respectively summarizes your requirements for potential vendors.
When you communicate with potential sellers, it's important that you get all of your inquiries answered and make sure that the platform meets all of your demands. This will help you diminish vendor options during procurement later on.
4. Understanding Licensing Structures
Among the major important pricing considerations for an automation software is the licensing structure. There is an assortment of user models that software businesses use and it can have a profound impact on the total cost of ownership. Here are some of the most generally used structures:
Per-seat or per-user licensing: means that pricing is set per person. This is why it's imperative to determine your maximum number of users.
Maximum user licensing: This is total pricing with the total number of users allotted with additional licenses available for an additional cost.
Site licensing: As a substitute to per user, this type of licensing allows you to use the platform at a single (or multiple) predetermined locations.
Ongoing vs subscription licensing: Ongoing licensing is typically pay once and use indefinitely, whereas a subscription price will need to be renewed
The pricing model that works best for your organization will ultimately depend on the budget, the number of users or site locations, in addition to the degree of flexibility you want. For example, if you'd prefer not be held into a long-term investment, you might opt for a subscription model that you can cancel whenever you have to.
5. Deployment Models
The deployment model is one more crucial deliberation as your organization can have specific legal or compliance-related requirements that prescribe you use only one type of infrastructure.
For instance, many companies in the healthcare and government section have strict codes which stipulate they hold all computing and application infrastructure on-premise and that any new software be licensed in compliant in a specific structure like HIPAA or FedRAMP.
A lot of vendors offer several deployment options precisely for this reason. These can be separated into two essential groups: on-premises, off-premises, or hybrid deployment.
On-premises (Data Center): This hosting option calls for your organization to set up the software via your on-premise data center environment. In doing so, your company retains full control over the installation, architecture, administration, maintenance, and data security.
This limits the scope of risk concerned with subcontracting deployment to a third party, but it also furthers your duties and involves its own level of risk.
For example, overlooking routine updates and backups may put your organization in a risky place if a data breach or disaster were ever to occur. But as stated previously, for some in a compliance-heavy enterprise, there may not be an option here.
Off-premises (Cloud-based): For businesses that are not bound by legal demands, or have regulated standards that a cloud option can fulfill, this alternative may be far more attractive.
This stems from the fact that cloud deployments allow your organization to get rid of much of the administrative and maintenance troubles it would usually be responsible for.
Furthermore, the majority of enterprise-level technology is built on best-in-class infrastructures namely AWS or Azure and offers redundancy, reliability, not to mention service level agreements (SLAs) should you want more uptime guarantee.
Hybrid (Mixed) Deployment: The third choice, for those that want to make the most out of cloud innovation but operate in a compliance-heavy industry, is a hybrid or mixed deployment.
Although being a tad more troublesome, a hybrid environment would contain all your sensitive data and related features in an on-premise environment while your non-classified data and processes can be executed in a cloud environment.
6. Implementation Requirements
A further key deliberation is the implementation requirements, in favor of the software vendor, for your business. Just because you might have an inclination to a certain tool, doesn't imply that your existing capabilities are adequate to run it. Therefore it's essential to examine the following:
Configurability. Does the software come with all needed functionality out of the box, or will it require some adjusting once installed? This is relevant to understand to assure you can get the most from your investment and start off on the right foot.
System requirements. In theinstance of an on-premise deployment, do you have the whole necessary hardware to handle the platform properly? If not, your entire investment could be compromised.
Elasticity. Can the software scale to meet higher demand as your business develops, if the limit on the number of concurrent users are online, or if your foundation acquires a utilization load spike? It's necessary to single out an automation platform that can scale to handle a growth or a utilization flux. Several SaaS and cloud options provide auto-scaling as the need develops, considering that a large part of on-premise deployments demand that auto-routing during load spikes is implemented in advance.
7. Integration capabilities
One more important consideration is integration potential. While the concept of all together solution is a beautiful concept, it usually doesn't work that way. Particularly with automation, the automation tool has to reach out to multiple systems and other platforms in accordance with how many business units are taking advantage of it.
Therefore, you must provide your potential vendors with a complete list of all systems and tools to ensure that your automation platform can properly incorporated with each.
On the other hand, if a distinct tool is not listed under integrations, does the software vendor grant an application programming interface (API) so that a developer can connect your systems his or herself?
If there isn't a pre-built integration in ready for your other systems, and the API either doesn't exist or is tremendously difficult to use, it most likely isn’t the best fit for your business.
8. Customer Support
Another critical, yet often disregarded quality is convenient customer support. Frequently, companies don't realize the worth of good customer support until they really need it and it's not available.
Every software vendor has its own different customer support offering which can be 24/7/365 or limited to specific hours. They commonly also have leeway for their customer support services - issues they will assist and issues they won't.
Most often, basic customer support is given for issues linked to the software itself, however, issues that are customer-oriented (i.e. implementation issues, best practices, etc) may only be accessible at a premium, if at all.
At any rate, it's important that you understand what the degree of your customer support presents, its accessibility, and the options at your disposal (i.e. ticket service, phone, email, chat, etc). Also, as your team is learning to use automation software, it's crucial that they have training resources conveniently attainable, whether live or pre-made.
The following are examples:
Webinars
Guides
Training Labs
Tutorial Videos
Instruction Manuals/Documentation
Community Help Forums
9. Security
Also a critical consideration is the software security characteristics. With an automation platform, it's very likely that it will have contact with sensitive data, thus, it’s important to be positive that any data utilized is safe from unwarranted access. See to it that your tool provides the succeeding security features:
Access management to regulate who can use the platform.
Permission controls to distinguish what a user can and can't access while using the tool.
Compliance certification (if [necessary) to ensure that the vendor has met all its obligations to adhere to any legal regulations that your company is in charge of.
10. Ease-of-use
Finally, it's of the essence that the platform is intuitive and convenient for your team members. An overly complicated user interface can bring about lost productivity as you appropriate time and assets toward having your employees train on how to use the software.
Offerings same as a free trial can help make certain that your teams enjoy the product before purchasing. Additionally, demos, training resources, and process templates can also go a long way to shorten the learning period as all platforms, even intuitive ones, will call for some sort of adaptation period.
The Procurement Process
When your company has reviewed the entire evaluation criteria and you know what you're in pursuit of, it's time to start taking into account your options, pegging your choices down, and ultimately buying and actualizing the product.
Listed below is a step-by-step guide to assist you with the procurement process.
Step 1: Compare Your Options
It's presumable that you've already developed a list of potential vendors during the evaluation process. Now it's time to eliminate any that don't meet your needs and taper down your short-list. When your short-list is developed, compare your choices based on the following traits:
Price
Features
Free Trial Options
Security and Compliance Capabilities
Customer Support
Step 2: Schedule Demos
With presumptively only 2-3 options remaining, it's now time to find out what the tool's capabilities are. Not only will this help you evaluate functionality, but it will also supply you with some perspective of the product's serviceability. If it has an overly intricate user interface or it seems like it will require an elevated learning curve, it may not be the best fit.
Step 3: Making the Purchase
When you've finalized your choice, don't just settle for the full cost. There may be leeway for negotiation, and if not, there might be an extended free trial you can use before monthly or annual fees.
Additionally, keep an eye out for hidden pricing loopholes such as flat-rate vs per-user pricing, or paying for extra functionality you don't need.
A seller that is completely unwilling to negotiate, or imparts questionable pricing with a lot of hidden charges is plausibly not going to be a good long-term partner for your company. Bear this in mind before following through as you may regret your decision in the future.
Step 4: Implementation
When you've purchased, it's time to implement your new system. Depending on how deeply embedded your previous platform was, or how intricate the integration is, this process might be slightly more tricky. Here are a few tips to help you ease the transition.
Educate your team members on the new automation platform, have them view demos, or get some training. It's crucial for long-term scalability that each of your staff use the software in accordance with best practices rather than enforcing their own individual uses.
Involve customer support when needed for technical issues.
Enlist the help of a solutions partner like Wave.
While many software organizations have technical support for problems] in connection to their software, usually, problems around best practices and implementation optimization are out of their range.
We can help you roll out new tools in an incremental procedure that makes the most sense for your business and results in as little dead time as possible while guaranteeing that everyone knows how to use the tool according to best practices.
Start Your Organization’s Digital Transformation with Wave
Manual business processes slow your business down, leading to bottlenecks, jumbled workflows, misplaced information, and human error. This diminishes productivity, leads to upscaled expenses, loosens your control over the business, and can someday hinder your long-term sustainability and scalability.
Wave helps businesses like yours to implement automation solutions and content management systems (CMS) that streamline your operation end-to-end, automate tedious, recurrent tasks, and can integrate with any ERP system you choose.
While we work profoundly with ECM systems like OpenText, M-Files, and SharePoint, we're happy to work with whichever system you're currently applying.
Instead of tearing out deeply embedded legacy tools, we can cooperate with your system and implement supportive tooling that can correlate and enhance your current systems.
We’d be happy to convey our automation software as an on-premise or cloud-based solution to suit your compliance requirements and budget.
If you'd like to learn more about how Wave can assist digital transformation and business process automation in your organization, contact us today.