What Is Business Process Automation (BPA)?

In a fast-paced digital world saturated with information, businesses are looking for ways in which to streamline processes to get a competitive edge over their rivals. One way businesses are evolving is by using business process automation (BPA) software (such as ThinkAutomation) which is changing the pace of routine business workflows.

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What is business process automation (BPA)?

Business process automation (BPA) utilises state-of-the-art software to automate repeatable business processes end-to-end. It can take multi-step business processes and execute them with higher efficiency and accuracy.

Many business process automation tools utilise 'If This Then That' logic to string together a series of actions that replicate the processes a human worker would take during a task.

Business process automation has the added benefit of being able to replicate tasks usually carried out by multiple people across multiple departments. For example, BPA software could be used to onboard a new employee by setting up new work accounts, scheduling training and inductions, and setting up payroll details.

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How business process automation is used

There are many use cases for business process automation. Some of the most popular ways to use business process automation software are:

Email to database processing

ThinkAutomation can scan emails and extract data. Extracted data fields can then be mapped to a database table with column names. The software will then automatically create the required SQL commands to update your database. Once configured, ThinkAutomation can process all incoming emails, parse and extract any data you need and then update your company databases – all automatically.

Intelligent document processing (IDP)

Any business document can be processed automatically to extract data or manipulate a document. For example, an incoming email message with a PDF attachment could be automatically processed to extract the text, parse the data and save it to a database.

Database monitoring

Business process automation software can be used to periodically read your database records, retrieve the results (according to your pre-defined rules and conditions) and then execute an automation.For example, a loyalty offer could be automatically sent to customers who have been on your database for X number of years.

Database transformation

If you have data from multiple sources, ThinkAutomation can retrieve this data, transform it as needed and move it to multiple data stores. For example, the software can look for certain changes in a database record, then automatically move that data to a different database type.

Sales process workflows

Using software bots, ThinkAutomation can turn enquiries from multiple sources into coherent sales leads in one place. The software recognises keywords and phrases and can be trained to automatically identify engaged or sales-ready content. This can then be sent as automated alerts and reports to help your sales teams identify potential customers and increase conversions.

The benefits of business process automation

There are many benefits to using business process automation, but they mainly break down to either saving your business time, money or avoiding mistakes. Here are a few benefits you can expect:

• - Repeatable tasks are more accurate when automated
• - Automating tasks frees up workers to focus on higher-value activities
• - Reduces operational costs by streamlining workflow and manual labour
• - Can improve customer satisfaction by providing rapid responses and quick issue resolution
• - Automation can scale up to handle large amounts of data

BPA vs RPA – how they differ

Business process automation and robotic process automation (RPA) are often mixed up and confused with one another, but each has its own specific meaning and use cases.

How to automate your business processes

There are many ways to automate your business processes, with some requiring a high level of coding knowledge to implement. If you’re a complete beginner to business process automation, the best place to start is by finding the right software.

Step 1: Choose the right tool

here are a whole host of different software providers and tools out there that can help you automate your business processes. ThinkAutomation gives you the tools you need to start automating your workflows with minimal knowledge.

Step 2: Find your repetitive tasks

Think about which tasks your business performs that are repetitive and could be automated. Once you identify processes that can be automated, you’re ready to implement actions.

Step 3: Map out the process

Understanding all the variables and moving parts of a business process will help you to automate the workflow. You can visualise your processes by drawing a process map, mapping out each step and identifying aspects that can be automated.

Step 4: Set up your actions

Using ThinkAutomation’s 'If This Then That' logic rules, you can create a string of actions that execute when a parameter is met.

For example, you could run an automation that scans all your incoming emails, sends a summary of the text in each to ChatGPT, then prompts ChatGPT to decide whether the email would be categorised as “sales”, “marketing” or “support”. If the email is a sales email, a notification would then be sent to the sales team, a support request would automatically open a support ticket, and a marketing email would be moved to a different folder.

Step 5: Monitor and measure

Business process automation shouldn’t be a “set and forget” experience. You will need to monitor the outcome of the automations, especially at the beginning when the automations are first implemented.

If you monitor and measure your automations, you will be able to identify any issues and optimise our steps accordingly.

Popular workflows to automate in your business

Accounts payable invoice processing

Scan, capture and process invoices automatically. ThinkAutomation can capture invoice data from emails, PDFs and other digital files, processing the data to create new invoices in your accounting system.

Auto-translate incoming messages from customers

ThinkAutomation can detect the language of any incoming message and automatically translate the text to and from any language. The software can then send a response in the same language.

Create a PDF file for an online quote

Using ThinkAutomation’s ‘Create Spreadsheet’ action, you can automatically turn a filled in web form from a customer on your website into a PDF file of the quotation. This PDF quote can then be displayed to the customer on your webpage and emailed to their inbox.

Why you should be using business process automation tools

There are many reasons why you should be using business process automation tools, but here are just a few:

1 - They save you time

Routine repetitive tasks take time for an employee to complete. By automating these tasks, your employees can concentrate on higher priority tasks that add value for your customers.

2 - They save you money

Saving time on routine processes means your business doesn’t have to worry about hiring extra staff during busy periods. Automations take care of tasks no matter how busy or quiet business is.

3 - Errors are minimised

Removing human input from a process means mistakes are kept to a minimum.

4 - Processes are standardised

Because an automated process is always handled by the same programme, the process will be run exactly the same way, no matter if it’s run 100 times or 1,000,000 times. The same process flow executed by multiple different employees will introduce variables where the

5 - They scale with your business

Whether you’re a small business or a huge corporation, business process automation software will scale up to handle huge amounts of data without creating any bottlenecks.