Your agency’s office has done the same thing for years. The manual processes involve a lot of time, shuffling around of paperwork and busy work performed by employees. There are often inefficiencies, leading to errors and more unnecessary work. Does this scenario sound familiar?
In a 2018 survey of over 280 companies in the U.S., 62 percent of respondents reported three or more process inefficiencies that could be resolved with automation. The survey found that managers spend at least 8 hours a week on an average in manual data tasks. In fact, 25 percent reported spending 20 hours a week on manual data tasks! (Source: kissflow.com)
And in many cases, government agencies fall behind the private sector as far as efficient, automated processes are concerned. But how do you know when is really the right time to change a manual process to an automated process?
When Manual Processes Are Too Inefficient
Manual processes require a human to push it through every step of the way. Humans have to set and follow up with reminders and send messages to others to determine where information or documents are. There is also more face-to-face contact and hand-holding of customers walking through the door and going through a payment or check-in process, for example. With automated processes, the system is programmed to auto-assigns tasks to employees, send emails and mobile notifications, keep a log of the status of every item, and is easily accessible for all who have permission to view certain data and download reports from one central place. The automation allows for a simplified flow of work. When manual processes become too cumbersome, it’s time to move to an automated process. After a slight learning curve during the transition period between manual and automated, and with the right software and third-party systems in place, things will be more smooth sailing.
Benefits of Automated Processes
The benefits of automated processes can include a better customer and employee experience. With higher efficiency, errors are minimized. Since busywork tasks are taken care of, employees can instead focus on high-value work. Automated processes also make it easier to scale up in response to an increase in demand and offers ways to gain deeper insights into processes with analytics. Plus, keeping stakeholders in the loop increases transparency and status reports generated by the automation keeps everyone accountable.
FivePoint Payments offers automated payment and lobby check-in solutions for government agencies. All of our time-saving solutions facilitate cost savings as well, and maintain compliance with regulations.
Find out more about our helpful automated solutions for government agencies.
