A sprouting growth of tech has driven considerable changes to the workplace. Automation has created new opportunities for offices, allowing employees to save time and improve the efficiency of their day-to-day routine (there are other ways to outsource business processes – check over here).
Despite misconceptions that automation is expensive and takes too much time to implement, there are cheap or free tools to digitize your workflow. This post is a detailed analysis of the top 7 tools for office work automation.
Workplace Automation Benefits
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No wasted time on repetitive tasks
Statistics provided by the ‘Automation in the Workplace’ report prove that employees waste over 40% of productive time on performing mundane tasks. Thanks to automation, all repetitive operations will be handled by dedicated tools – meanwhile, an employee can dedicate his time to work on business ideas that require skill and superior intelligence.
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Consistency and human error reduction
Maintaining concentration for a long while can lead to errors even during performing simple tasks. Humans are unreliable when forced to work long hours – to this end, technology is a safer move.
Simple tasks like data entry or basic calculations can lead to bottlenecks and inefficiency when handled by a human. That’s why it’s automating mundane operations is one of the best practices for businesses in the age of digital transformation.
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Increased engagement levels
In order to stay at his peak efficiency, an employee has to be motivated at work. Whether you’re a smart business owner who wants to achieve utmost productivity on an employer, eager for a team to succeed, automation gives a way to increase interest in work-related tasks.
The time, saved by automation, can be used for learning sessions, reskilling, or improving the efficiency of more complex and demanding tasks.
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24/7 activity
Technological automation allows team members and business management to run selected processes 24/7. For instance, automation tools will be able of real-time monitoring and updates where a human employee would be constrained by fatigue and lower concentration level.
This way, the productivity of work will increase along with potential opportunities provided by 24/7 automation.
7 Best Tools For Work Automation
In order to get the most out of automation, it’s best to be picky in choosing a fit tool. The good news is, the modern tech market provides businesses with a wide range of automation tools used for various purposes. Here’s a review of top automation tools used to boost the efficiency of day-to-day work and help figure out how to start a business.
Zapier is a widely used automation platform for small businesses and BPO outsourcing companies. It allows users to automated most frequently used scenarios – you’ll be able to write a series of actions a program will take at a scheduled time. No human supervision whatsoever is needed.
Main features:
- Automate workflow creation;
- A full history of zaps;
- Integration with Google Drive and widely used business tools;
- Shared access;
Pricing: Zapier has a free version with a limited range of features. There are two premium subscription models:
- For work – $20 per month;
- For teams – $250 per month.
Active Campaign is a tool for marketing automation. It allows business owners to create automated sales funnels, design custom email marketing campaigns and run them automatically. The tool has a built-in CRM system to manage customer communication and maintain a steady connection with clients.
Main features:
- Marketing campaign automation;
- Over 200 integrations with popular tools;
- Smart auto-responder;
- Data-driven campaign builder;
- Free email template;
- 24/7 social media monitoring.
Pricing:
- Lite – starts with $15 per month (up to 500 users);
- Plus – from $55/per month;
- Professional – from $129 per month;
- Enterprise – from $229 per month.
Buffer is another marketing automation tool dedicated to social media campaign management. It offers flexible scheduling options paired with a flexible interface. It doesn’t take too much time to get the hang of Buffer thanks to its straightforward and simplistic navigation.
Main features:
- Automated group and profile management;
- Business campaign planning;
- Analytics and reporting system;
- Team access;
- Multi-factor account security protection;
- RSS feed support.
Pricing:
- Buffer Publish – from $15 per month;
- Buffer Reply – from $50 per month;
- Buffer Analyze – $50 per month.
Calendly is a tool that automates scheduling. Instead of sending back-and-forth email to finalize an appointment, you’ll be able to book a meeting in a few clicks. Calendly is widely used among teams and is well-known for its minimalistic interface and non-invasiveness.
Main features:
- Team availability tracking;
- Event and meeting scheduling;
- Automatic email notification system;
- System calendar integration;
- Mobile alerts;
- Tools for reporting and analysis.
Pricing;
Calendly offers a 14-day free trial. Here are the subscription models to choose from:
- Premium – $8 per user per month (annual billing), $10 per user per month (monthly billing);
- Pro – $12 per user per month (annual billing), $15 per user per month (monthly billing).
Grammarly is an AI-driven automated spell-checker. The tool will check your emails, social media posts, or other forms of content for grammar and spelling issues by examining each word as a part of the context. The tool can come in handy for handling any type of professional communication.
Main features:
- Spelling and grammar-checker;
- Punctuation issues detection;
- Plagiarism checker;
- Microsoft Office and Google Docs integration;
- Personalized stats and reports;
- Synonyms dictionary.
Pricing:
There’s a free version of Grammarly that detects basic writing issues. Grammarly Premium costs $19.98 per month.
This one is a platform for lead tracking automation. LeadFormly helps business managers fully automate the sales process – all incoming leads will be automatically segmented. A business manager will be alerted as soon as a visitor has converted into a lead. Paired with Active Campaign, Lead Formly creates a powerful system for sales automation that helps companies meet the goals listed in a business plan.
Main features:
- Bulk user management;
- Dozens of customizable form templates;
- Tools for form analytics;
- Spam blockers;
- Improved conditional logic.
Pricing:
250 leads per month – $37/month;
1,000 leads per month – $74/month;
25,000 leads per month – $149/month.
Slack is an all-time favorite among teams thanks to its all-in-one interface – that’s why this list couldn’t have missed it. Also, the platform allows to automate and streamline corporate communications.
Main features:
- Access to tools and services used by a team;
- Bots for communication automation;
- Secure workplace;
- Group channels and direct communication support.
Pricing: there’s a free plan that allows teams to use up to 10 integrations. Apart from that, there are 3 premium plans for companies depending on wanted use cases and smart goal:
- Standard: – $6 per user/month (annual billing), $8 (monthly billing);
- Plus – $12.50 per user/month (annual billing), $15 (monthly billing).
Conclusion
Thanks to a wide selection of automation tools available in the market, it’s possible to improve all aspects of workplace efficiency. Communication, marketing, and task management can now be performed by technology – humans, instead, will be able to put more effort into solving challenging problems, education, and upskilling.
Automation tools allow team managers and employees to get more expertise on how to build a business, increase their presence, cut feedback loops and operation costs. It takes some time to adapt to using new instruments at work – at the end of the day, this effort will pay off to the fullest extent.