When it comes to running a business, there are never enough hours in the day or resources to get them done. That’s just part and parcel of a company. However, not everyone needs to be overrun with a never-ending to-do list of manual work. 

In today’s businesses, many areas can be handled and improved by automation, leaving you and your employees to concentrate on tasks that really benefit you. 

Here are five areas of your business you should be automating.

Contracts

Gone are the days that you needed to post or fax contracts to a client or supplier. You can now create, send and store all of your official and legal contracts online. You can even collect a legally binding signature online and store it safely. 

Marketing

There are many great marketing automation platforms that can massively improve your entire marketing function. Many of these have free or low-cost entry points for when you first get started. 

Social media

Save time and schedule your social media posts in advance. There are a number of programs to look at including Hootsuite, Postoplan, Content Studio, and Sprout Social. 

Email

Email is still one of the most popular ways to communicate with and market your company. Whether you’re sending out a weekly newsletter, or are going for something more sophisticated such as abandoned shopping cart emails, or sales sequences. The email marketing software market is filled with fantastic platforms for you to choose from including Mailchimp, Active Campaign and Send In Blue. 

Blogging

A company blog is a great marketing tool to build your brand and drive traffic to your website. The most popular platform for blogs is WordPress, which is what most websites are built on. There are also other options including Medium and Blogger. You can write these posts in advance and automate them to publish in line with your marketing calendar. 

Events 

If you run corporate events then there is a lot of work to be done behind the scenes navigating the logistics of coordinating invites, emailing attendees, and gathering important information. If you run large-scale events, then an event management platform is key to ensuring this runs smoothly. If you are running a smaller, less complex event, then a platform such as Eventbrite is perfect for you. 

Research 

Keeping up to date on your market, customers, and competitors is an important aspect of a business. But the effort that goes into it can be hugely time-consuming. There are a number of ways to automate this. First, set up a Google Alert to track any mentions of competitors and keywords. You will then receive an email alert 

Similarly, you can use whichever social media software you prefer to track their accounts and hashtags all in one place, rather than manually having to search through each platform individually. 

HR

There are a lot of repetitive but important tasks that need need to be done by an HR team. By automating this system, you can handle recruitment, onboarding, contracts, shift management, employee appraisals and absence requests. 

Finance & Accounting

Handling the finances of your business could benefit from automation in a number of ways. Tracking all of your income and outgoings through your finance software will be able to show you your financial situation at a glance. You can also provide your employees with the ability to log and track their expenses digitally, snapping photos of receipts rather than having to keep pieces of paper to submit at the end of the month. 

Payroll and tax is another function that you can move to automation. 

When it comes to preparing your annual accounts and submitting your taxes, these can all be done through your finance software. 

Task management

A never ending to-do list can be a little too complicated to leave to post-it notes and notebooks. Task management software the ideal way to keep your own projects in line and collaborate with others. Using task management can give you an instant overview of where you are with each project and what tasks you have coming up. Popular task management software includes Asana, ClickUp, Basecamp and Monday. 

Key points

Automation is becoming an important part of an efficient business. It can free up important resources and save you a lot of money. In many instances, it can also perform functions much better than if it were being done manually. 

There are many automation platforms out there for you to try. Ensure that you choose the one that is right for your business needs. 

Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash