Software Automation

Do you do things in your software and think “why do I need to do this, surely I have already completed a similar task in another piece of software? or how about “why am I clicking here, surely the software knows I want to send the email?

There are many frustrating issues when using software and even more so when your business depends on various programs from different suppliers. You have the constant worry of ensuring all the software is up to date and synchronised. The data needs to be consistent over the different applications and staff need to be trained on many different products and procedures. There are probably other issues too that you have found, but I will not be going into those today.

With software, it is possible to use features to save repetitive keystrokes and mouse clicks. Think about how autocorrect changes text as you type and this will give you an idea of what automation can do, but even better. You may even use macro’s in MS Excel, this is also automation.

With automation you could do many different tasks all in one action such as inputting data into one system, the software could then use certain fields to then populate other programs in your practice saving you the manual work of setting up new clients. This not only saves time but also ensures that all data is consistent across the platforms.

Automation can be used to extract key dates to create a workflow process for completing a set of accounts for example. The data can be imported from a truth source such as Companies House and the software will calculate when the process for the accounts needs to be started. With well thought out automation the system can automatically send an email to the company contact at a predefined time to instruct them to get records to your office for preparatory work. The system could then be programmed to send a text message if nothing has been received within a week.

You can also build safety checks into your system that check to see if data is correct or that a bill has been paid or invoiced. This safety check could also include checking the Companies House website to ensure that due dates for filing of accounts are correct. With the checks, you can then have alerts to warn you of inconsistencies and even have a report emailed to you daily to keep you up to date.

With email tracking the software can even track emails and file them against the contact name in your database so that you are not looking at different email accounts to find that important email. You can also set up automatic alerts to monitor client interactions and alert you if a client hasn’t be contacted in a specified timeframe.

With open API (Application Program Interface) you could tap into the packages to extract or import data straight into your main package. This saves time, ensures data is always correct and reduces error. A good software company will make their API open so that we can do clever things such as pull data from multiple locations to build easy to read dashboards to give you valuable management information at your fingertips.

With an automated system in your practice, your staff will spend less time on administration and be able to spend more time giving real life business advice to your clients. Your staff will be happy and your clients, loyal.