This morning my alarm went off… I realised I had nothing to worry about as it was just a bit of post-vacation “forgot house alarms are a thing” forgetfulness. Don’t worry - I am not writing a blog about my daily routines.

This blog is about automation, increased efficiency, and communication with stakeholders.

You see, I subscribe to a well-known armed response company in South Africa. You know how it goes -  your alarm goes off, you answer the call, identify yourself and then verbally give them your password.

What this company did was to automate the process to increase efficiencies and to decrease their call centre staff and hopefully those savings will flow down to subscribers like me.

The new process – they call you; you need to press a key on your phone to indicate you are okay, and then comes the kicker you need to enter a passcode to cancel the armed response guy/team.

Problem is they hadn’t communicated to me that I needed a passcode in addition to my password and they didn’t give me the option to talk to an operator. I waited for the armed response then, had to go outside (my dog barked to loud for him to hear me over the intercom), and I had to tell him my password. I am unsure how he confirmed it and if I could’ve told him anything.

While the company’s intention was to streamline the process, they made it more cumbersome and for what I experienced decreased efficiency and increased costs. With the old system I would have spoken to a person, given them my credentials and they didn’t need to send someone out. Now I can’t stop the response, must wait for the response team, and then shout my password (over my dogs barking) in the street.

This happens a lot of times with companies who wants to embrace new technology and increase efficiencies but fall flat at the post-implementation action. 

Here are three tips to help you automate your business, increase efficiency, and communicate effectively with stakeholders:

1. Use technology to automate repetitive tasks

Find the right tools to automate your business processes and use technology to automate repetitive tasks. For example, set up automatic billing for customers or automate social media postings. This will free up your time so you can focus on other aspects of your business. There are a lot of options out there, so take some time to research and find the tools that will work best for you and your team. 

2. Get everyone on the same page

Create a communication plan and be clear and concise when communicating with stakeholders. When everyone is on the same page, it helps to avoid misunderstandings and miscommunication and ensure that information is flowing efficiently.

3. Use data and analytics to track progress

Review your progress regularly. Use data and analytics to track progress and make decisions. This will help you identify areas of improvement and make changes that can increase efficiency. Automation can help you free up time, but it's important to monitor your progress and make sure that it's actually increasing efficiency. Regular review will also help you identify any potential issues so that you can address them quickly.

Implementing these tips can be transformative for your business. By taking the time to automate your processes, increase efficiency, and communicate effectively, you'll set yourself up for success.



At DoughGetters we continue to work with numerous small and medium businesses to help them embrace new technology, understand, and implement it and afterwards - support them. We have an experienced team who can help with tried and tested change management processes to help your business soar. 

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