Is there really a demand for business automation?

[Cobalt Beach]

So here's a conversation starter for you all...

I set up an IT consulting business in February (great timing!!) and one of the services I offer is process automation / getting rid of paper and moving process online (aka digital transformation - except I know that's not always a well understood term so I am trying to wean myself off it!)

So many friends have said that this must be a great time to be setting up such a business, but the overwhelming response I see from other businesses is "interesting idea, but we can't afford to do it right now"

I can understand both views - on the one hand Covid has forced different ways of working upon us all, but on the other hand for many businesses their income has dried up which limits available investment

So my question is, which of these competing forces do you all think is strongest. Do you feel there will be appetite for this any time soon?

My personal view is that there will have to be and that maybe I'm just picking the wrong businesses to ask / market to, but I'm starting to wonder whether if we go into a prolonged recession this type of investment will simply have to fall away.

The small number of clients I've done work for are happy but I'm finding I'm spending a great deal of time and effort talking to businesses but without generating many interested leads so either I'm in the wrong business, or I'm doing it wrong. If it's the latter I can learn how to fix it, but if it's the former I guess I need a new business plan!

 

[fisicx]

People don't want business automation. What they want is more bang for their buck.

If you can show them a £5K investment now will generate an extra £20K in profit by Christmas then you may get more interest.

 

[Mr D]

Show me how you can increase my profits / cut my costs.
Show me how I can spend less time doing something.


Forget selling what you do - that doesn't interest me as a business owner. Increased profits or reduced time on stuff - those are of far more interest.

Oh and not wanting your services at the moment, nothing personal we just started rejigging last week.

 

[mattk]

You should be able to show a clear return on investment of any process automation. Simply getting rid of paper doesn't save money if the systems and processes replacing it are not streamlined and user friendly.

In my experience there is a huge demand to automate, replace manual processes and remove cottage industries of copy/paste, paper, Excel and so on.

For me, the biggest challenge is taking a holistic approach. For example, by simply introducing an RPA tool you often give away with one hand what you gain with the other. Your processes are "automated" but you now have the overhead of licencing, supporting and maintaining another product. Similarly, I worked with a company which had three different chatbots each built on their own separate technology stack.

 

[Mark T Jones]

As above. Business automation is a big yawn

what people want is savings, improved delivery, consistency etc etc

some way down the line they like environmental benefits too, but only if it doesn’t cost or take effort

also bear in mind, there are currently a lot of businesses who are seriously unsure whether they will exist next year. Try to focus on those sectors with a better chance of survival.

 

[Cobalt Beach]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I really appreciate you taking the time to provide it, and the clarity from all of you

I completely agree that automation for the sake of it is uninteresting. I think my key take-away for these comments is that I'm just not focusing properly on the benefits and have fallen into the trap of selling "features" instead

"If you can show them a £5K investment now will generate an extra £20K in profit by Christmas then you may get more interest." particularly hit the spot for me - that's what I need to get far better at articulating, because this is exactly what my business is about. The automation (or process improvement etc) is just the "how" of that, not the purpose

I think my website will need a rewrite through that lens too!!

 

[mattk]

Have you read "Million Dollar Consulting" by Alan Weiss?

If not, then I would highly recommend it, however the chapter about pricing is particularly pertinent. He says that charging by the hour, day, week should be illegal and that you should charge as a percentage of the realised tangible benefits.

 

[dotcomdude]

the chapter about pricing is particularly pertinent. He says that charging by the hour, day, week should be illegal and that you should charge as a percentage of the realised tangible benefits.

If you listen to the 'I Love Marketing' podcast, they often say on there that when setting up a business you should only count on getting paid after the client has seen the benefits of what you've done for them.

This makes you really think deep about whether the service you're providing is for your benefit or that of your clients.

 

[fisicx]

I think my website will need a rewrite through that lens too!!

Yup.

I looked at your site and it's very confusing. It's not at all clear what you actually do or the benefits to me.

As a full member you can get a website review which may help.

 

[Carl Nixon]

I have spent the last year evaluating the RPA packages Automation Anywhere and UiPath, and I was far from impressed.

Packages like Automation Anywhere or UiPath are too expensive for most companies. Not only are you looking at tens of thousands in licensing fees each year (just for the RPA software), you need a dedicated development team to program and maintain the bots. Then you have to add in the work needed to develop the bots in the first place (identifying processes suitable for RPA, building the bots, testing etc). On a fair-sized business you could be easily talking a year plus of development time (all with zero ROI). The point of financial ROI is much further out than it sounds in most cases and most businesses can see this.

Most SMEs have flexible processes that develop as the business goes (especially growing businesses). They can change suppliers at the drop of a hat or introduce new products as quickly. This means you constantly need redevelop bots or build new bots, which can slow down the changes the business needs.

If you are a large company and your processes never change or your process changes take years to plan, then RPA becomes a lot more viable.