As with his famous quote, “Automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency”, Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, believes that automation alone isn’t enough to solve inefficiency concerns at work.

Streamlining enterprise operations to minimise costs is crucial. The first step is to optimise workflows with workflow management frameworks, before tapping on automation; these include Six Sigma, Total Quality Management and Lean Systems.

Automation can then be tapped on for automating repetitive tasks. A company can configure software or a “robot” to complete these tasks in a rules-based manner. In other words, you can set the rules and deploy the software to automate these actions. This can range from automatic responses to emails, such as “out of office” messages, to complex tasks such collecting and analysing data. All these should allow employees to devote more efforts to higher value work.

Ensuring that productivity goals are met