Operations & Systems
Automate the boring task you understand, not the confusing one you do not
Every business has work that is repeated every day: sending reminders, copying figures between sheets, typing the same replies, preparing the same invoice. Some of it is worth automating and some of it is not. This session gives owners a plain way to decide, and a safe first step that does not need a developer or a large budget.
Explore this page6 sections
Automation makes a good process faster and a bad process faster too.
Owners hear that everything can be automated and that competitors already have. Some are told to buy a system before anybody has written down what the system should do. The result is often a tool that is used for one week and then abandoned, or one that quietly repeats an old mistake a hundred times a day.
The useful question is narrower: which specific task, done the same way again and again, is costing us enough time or errors to be worth changing? Most small businesses find three or four such tasks, and at least one can be improved with tools they already own.
This session is about choosing well, starting small and staying in control. It does not recommend any particular product.
What the session works through
38 topics across 7 areas. Seven steps from noticing a repeated task to running it safely.
Spotting Repetitive WorkLook for tasks that follow the same steps every time.6
- Typing the same information in more than one place
- Sending the same reminder or confirmation by hand
- Answering the same customer questions repeatedly
- Copying figures from one sheet or message into another
- Creating similar documents from scratch each time
- Chasing people for information that always arrives late
Is It Worth Automating?A short test, done on paper.6
For illustration only, with made-up numbers: a task that takes ten minutes, twenty times a month, is about three hours of work. If setting up an automation takes a full day, it pays back in months, not weeks. If the task also causes costly errors, the case may be stronger. If the steps change every month, it may never pay back.
- How often the task happens in a month
- How long it takes each time, and who does it
- How often it goes wrong and what a mistake costs
- How stable the steps are: do they keep changing?
- What setting it up will cost in time and money
- Whether a clearer process or a checklist would solve it without software
Fix the Process FirstAutomating confusion produces fast confusion.5
- Write the steps as they happen today
- Remove steps nobody can justify
- Decide what happens in the exceptional case
- Agree who owns the task and its result
- Only then decide what a tool should do
Start With Tools You Already HaveMany gains need no new purchase.6
- Saved replies and message templates in your messaging app
- Reminders and recurring tasks in a calendar or task list
- Forms that collect information in a fixed format
- Formulas and templates in a spreadsheet
- Invoice and payment reminders in your accounting software, if it has them
- Scheduled reports and email rules
Check what your existing software can already do before buying anything. Features are often present and unused.
Keeping a Person in ChargeAutomation moves work. It does not move responsibility.5
- Who looks at the output, and how often
- What happens when the automation fails or stops
- A manual way to do the task if the tool is unavailable
- A record of what the automation is doing, in plain words
- Review after the first month and then each quarter
Customer Data, Consent and HonestyAutomated messages still go to real people.5
- Whether customers agreed to receive messages from you
- What personal information is stored in which tool, and who can see it
- Not pasting customer details into tools your business has not checked
- Making it easy for a customer to reach a person
- Reading the current rules on data protection and messaging, and asking an adviser if unsure
India's data protection and messaging rules continue to develop. Check the current position before automating customer communication.
Starting With One TaskProve it once before doing it everywhere.5
- Choose the task with the clearest steps and the least risk
- Set it up for a small part of the work first
- Compare time and errors before and after
- Ask the people involved what changed for them
- Decide whether to extend, adjust or stop
Bring to the session
- A list of tasks you or your team repeat every week
- A rough note of how long each takes
- Examples of mistakes in those tasks
- A list of the software and apps you already pay for
- Any customer messages you send regularly
What the session does not do
- Recommend or sell any particular product
- Promise that a tool will save a certain amount of time or money
- Build the automation for you
- Replace advice from an adviser on data protection for your business
How the session runs
A practitioner walks through a worked example of choosing, simplifying and automating one task, using made-up numbers. Participants then list their own repeated tasks, apply the short worth-it test, and choose one task and one existing tool to try. The group discusses what could go wrong, and each participant writes a plain fallback for when the automation fails.
What your students leave with
- A list of repetitive tasks in your own business, with how often and how long each takes
- A simple way to rank them by time saved, error risk and ease
- One task chosen for a first, low-cost automation
- A clear view of what to fix in the process before automating it
- Rules for keeping a person responsible for the result
- A check on customer data and consent before anything is automated
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Automate the task you understand. Keep a person responsible for the result.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.