Today, IT businesses are expanding at the most remarkable rate as IT consulting services are needed more than ever before. Technology progresses quickly, and companies should adapt to stay competitive. However, managing these changes is not always easy. Businesses often face challenges like updating outdated systems, protecting against cybersecurity threats, and implementing advanced tools. Without expert guidance, these tasks can lead to higher costs, wasted resources, and missed opportunities for growth. IT consulting services provide the expertise needed to overcome these challenges. A well-chosen IT consulting partner helps businesses in optimizing their operational processes and leveraging technology more efficiently. They can identify areas for improvement, introduce smarter solutions, and ensure everything runs smoothly. Beyond fixing immediate problems, they help build strategies for future success. By aligning technology with business goals, these consultants empower companies to stay ahead of competitors, reduce risks, and create long-term value in an increasingly digital workplace.

Understanding the Different Types of IT Consulting Services

Understanding the various types of IT consulting services is vital for choosing the right partner to drive your business forward. Each category offers unique strengths, addressing specific organizational needs and helping to maintain an optimal technology stack.

Strategic IT Consulting

Strategic IT Consulting businesses focus on long-term success by aligning technology decisions with broader business goals. Consultants analyze strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to guide digital transformation and future-proof operations.

IT Implementation and Project-Based Consulting

IT Implementation and Project-Based Consulting are designed for specific initiatives like deploying new software or upgrading systems. Consultants bring specialized skills to ensure smooth, timely, and budget-friendly execution without requiring a long-term commitment.

Managed IT Services

Managed IT Services businesses provide continuous support for IT infrastructure, including system monitoring and maintenance. Ensures stability, security, and up-to-date systems while freeing internal teams to focus on core business activities.

Cybersecurity Consulting

Cybersecurity Consultants help businesses create strong defense strategies to protect sensitive workplace data and ensure compliance with regulations. Services include vulnerability assessments and designing security protocols to prevent breaches and safeguard operations.

With these diverse IT consulting options, businesses can find targeted solutions that address their distinct requirements, whether they’re focused on long-term strategy, immediate project needs, ongoing maintenance, or security. Each type of IT consulting offers valuable support, adapted to enable efficiency and protect business continuity.

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing an IT Consulting Provider

Selecting the right IT consulting company is a critical decision that can greatly impact the success of your business initiatives. Here are key factors to consider to ensure you partner with a provider that aligns with your needs and goals:

Assess Industry Expertise and Relevant Experience

Choose an IT consulting company that understands the specific challenges of your industry. Look for providers with a proven track record in similar projects. Their expertise will allow them to anticipate potential issues and offer customized software development solutions, leading to smoother collaboration and faster results.

Understand Pricing Models and Ensure Budget Alignment

Evaluate the company’s pricing structures, such as hourly rates, fixed fees, or retainer-based models. Make sure their pricing fits within your budget to avoid unexpected costs. A clear understanding of costs ensures that the consulting services deliver value for your investment.

Evaluate Reputation and Client Satisfaction

Research the firm’s reputation by reviewing case studies, client testimonials, and industry reviews. If possible, speak directly with past clients to gain insights into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, and reliability. This helps you gauge their effectiveness and problem-solving capabilities.

Prioritize Communication and Responsiveness

Effective communication is vital for a successful partnership. Select a company that values transparency, responds promptly, and sets clear expectations. Open dialogue encourages collaboration, ensuring your team and the consultants work smoothly toward shared goals.

Ensure Alignment with Your Needs

Focus on finding a consulting partner that aligns with your goals and understands your business vision. The right fit enhances the likelihood of success and maximizes the value of your IT investments.

Considering these factors ensures you select an IT consulting company that is well-equipped to meet your specific needs, making it more likely that your technology investments will produce the desired outcomes.

The Benefits of Partnering with the Right IT Consulting Firm

One of the primary benefits of partnering with the right IT consulting firm is access to specialized knowledge and skills. An experienced company brings experts with deep technical know-how and industry-specific insights, equipping your organization with the tools required to tackle complex challenges. This expertise helps optimize operations and systems and integrate cutting-edge technology solutions effectively. A McKinsey research indicates that 70% of businesses that partner with IT consultants report improved operational efficiency, highlighting the value of customized advice in optimizing workflows and adopting best practices.

Another major benefit is cost savings achieved through efficiency improvements and smart IT investments. The right consultants can pinpoint inefficiencies in your existing systems, recommend cost-effective technologies, and implement optimized processes, ultimately reducing operational costs. By making informed IT investments, businesses can avoid unnecessary expenses and allocate resources more effectively.

Partnering with an IT consulting firm helps your business stay competitive and keep up with industry changes. As technology develops quickly, staying updated gives companies a strong advantage. Consultants assist in adopting new tools, upgrading outdated systems, and aligning IT strategies with current market trends. This ensures your business is ready to seize new opportunities and tackle challenges effectively.

Choosing the right IT consulting firm provides not only technical advantages but also a strategic edge, helping businesses remain agile and well-prepared for future growth.

How to Measure the Success of Your IT Consulting Partnership

Measuring the success of your IT consulting solution requires clear metrics and ongoing evaluation to ensure alignment with your business goals. Key metrics for tracking IT project success and ROI include project completion times, budget adherence, and measurable outcomes such as increased efficiency, reduced downtime, and cost savings. Monitoring these indicators helps determine whether the consulting solution delivers the desired value.

Gathering feedback from internal teams is also essential for continuous improvement. Engage employees who interact with the new systems or processes to assess their experiences and identify any pain points or further needs. This input not only highlights areas for adjustment but also encourages a collaborative environment that strengthens the overall IT strategy.

Lastly, planning for future IT goals and ongoing growth ensures that the consulting partnership remains valuable. As business needs grow, regular reviews with your IT consulting provider can help set new steps, adopt developing technologies, and refine strategies to meet changing demands. Given that 70% of IT budgets are now allocated to maintaining existing systems, forward planning can significantly boost cost efficiency and innovation. A forward-looking approach strengthens the impact of your IT consulting solution, providing a strong foundation for long-term success and innovation.

Conclusion

Choosing the right IT consulting provider is key to successfully managing your digital transformation. A reliable consultant acts as a trusted partner, helping you adapt to new technologies, improve your IT infrastructure, and stay ahead in your industry.

When evaluating providers, focus on their understanding of your specific needs and their ability to align with your goals. Look for proven expertise, a solid track record, and a commitment to ongoing support. With the right partner, you can build a future-ready IT strategy that drives progress and ensures lasting success.

Constant optimization of processes is always on the agenda for businesses. Especially if it’s an eCommerce company, which requires managing multiple aspects, from keeping a Magento 2 PageSpeed score high to delivering the goods on time.  

Naturally, poor workflow management creates issues and requires more money, time, and resources to keep a store on track. What if you could make your store run smoothly by itself with less investment and staff employed? This is precisely what eCommerce companies are striving to achieve with automation.  

Read on to find out how automation works and how you can benefit from using it. We’ll also cover some of the most practical methods you can utilize to automate processes for e-commerce success.

What Is Ecommerce Automation

Automation generally involves simplifying corporate processes, like creation, distribution, and automation of human functions in an organization. The fundamental idea is to identify repetitive tasks and manual processes that can be automated and performed more effectively by workflow automation software.  

In eCommerce, some manual operations such as approving purchase orders, catalog listings, processing refund claims, and resolving customer complaints, may be automated up to a certain point. 

Benefits of Ecommerce Automation

The entire automation process may initially appear difficult and perplexing. However, if you turn to the right software and the proper process management methodologies, you will discover that it is a major deal-breaker for your company. 

• Saves Time 

Employees frequently perform repetitive duties throughout the day, wasting many hours and decreasing output. By streamlining workflows for your eCommerce company, you may move as many procedures and jobs as you can to automatic mode, giving your staff more time to work on more vital, urgent, and, most importantly, exciting activities.  

For example, welcome letters are sent automatically to every user who has just finished registration. Can you imagine how much time it would take to do this manually? Luckily, there’s no need to spend time on such mundane activities since automation will handle this without requiring your participation every time. 

• Eliminates mistakes 

Even with the most skilled team at your disposal, human error is one thing that no organization can avoid. Automation decreases the number of mistakes made during eCommerce processes like data entry since it eliminates the need for you to input data manually.  

 Additionally, the system will automatically prompt the subsequent action, such as requesting permission from the person in charge. It ensures that no step is missed or forgotten along the process. 

• Gathers Real Data 

Most automation tools provide extensive business performance metrics and analytics. It gives a better understanding of how your business functions. You can learn how long it currently takes to process an order, how many mistakes are produced by your existing purchase order, or at which point visitors leave the website. 

• Reduces Costs 

By introducing automation, you’re not only making the process simpler for yourself, but you’re also saving money by not hiring extra staff to complete jobs that could be done automatically. 

What Can Be Automated in an eCommerce company?

To determine what processes can be automated, think about the customer journey and additional aspects your team needs to deal with outside the platform, such as marketing activities, accounting, HR processes, payroll, and lead generation. 

1. Orders Management 

Every eCommerce company depends on the items’ delivery. In the long run, missed deliveries might be quite expensive. Shipping issues are usually the result of errors made along the road. An employee may have entered the wrong address on a shipping label, and an order may have been mistakenly marked as complete in your system.  

This area of your business can be streamlined through workflow process automation. Printing shipping labels and changing the order status are included in this. It may also involve giving delivery tracking numbers. 

2. Abandoned Cart Recovery 

An Independent Web UX Research Institute Baymard estimates that nearly 70% of shopping carts get abandoned. With proper automation, follow-up emails or push notifications will be automatically sent to entice the consumer back when they leave their cart on your website. In the case of emails, they can be personalized and mention the items the user added and justify why they would still want to purchase them. eCommerce data analytics can help identify patterns in cart abandonment and optimize the timing and content of these follow-ups.

3. Customer Support

Give your clients updates on their orders’ shipment status, transit time, and courier deliveries. Provide up-to-date contact information upfront so that clients can get in touch with your team.

Besides that, consider integrating chatbot solutions powered with cognitive automation capabilities into the store so that you can instantly communicate with customers. For example, if you set up your Business WhatsApp for online customers, you may send automatic messages to start a conversation or find out what their main worry is. 

4. Social Media Management

According to a WordPress hosting Kinsta, 74% of customers rely on their social networks to make purchasing decisions. Hence, it comes as no surprise that online stores devote so much time and effort to promoting their business on social networks. Social media marketing requires consistent production and distribution of engaging content for your audience. Design teams can speed up that creative work by building reusable promos with flyer design apps that plug into their automation stack.

If this process is automated, your company may benefit from a social media presence without investing much employee time in it. Using social media management tools, you may create a lot of content at once and plan how and when to share each post. Apart from that, such tools usually provide extensive analytics, which is crucial for building an efficient marketing strategy.

5. Inventory Management 

When you sell through one channel, managing inventory doesn’t seem like much of a burden. However, with time you increase the number of sales channels. Your responsibility to control inventories across all channels expands as a result. Inventory automation tools conduct regular counts, help to track inventory across channels, and set reorder points to avoid overstocking and understocking. Thanks to inventory management and automation you’ll be able to keep your business growing with a better understanding of the goods in stock and the threshold inventory. 

6. Accounting 

The finances and accounts of your eCommerce business should be well-organized. You may use accounting and bookkeeping software solutions to automate the financial management process. They can give you a complete idea of finances and allow you to plan investments according to cash flow. You will also be able to handle your tax claims and predict your company’s financial needs. 

Final Word

When preparing your business for automation, identify the repetitive tasks affecting your company’s productivity. Once you’ve determined where your operations are weak, you may consider ways to strengthen them. Consider how it will change the workload and what tasks your employees can take up instead of those automated.   

After that, you need to find the right workflow automation tools. Study your options, and pay attention to the functions, interface, and price. Remember that you need to train your employees to work with these tools. After the automation is set, you need to constantly analyze the results, assess the impact, and make changes if necessary. 

Author bio:

Alex Husar is a chief technology officer at Onilab. Working at the company for almost a decade, Alex has gained proficiency in web development, creating progressive web apps (PWAs), and team management. Alex constantly deepens his knowledge in various technological areas and shares it in his articles. He helps programmers overcome common challenges and stay updated with the latest web development trends. 

Authors Carl Frey and Michael Osborne estimated the probability of computerization of over 700 different occupations.  The study found that among the roles least threatened by automation was the one of a Sales Manager. Researchers explain sales’ slim 1.3% chance of automation thanks to the job heavily relying on workers’ high degree of social intelligence.  But, while sales undoubtedly depend on effective and honest communication, one cannot diminish the importance of Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning in sales automation.  

As an experienced Sales Manager reading this, you may wonder how Artificial Intelligence can assist you with all the communication, proposal writing, process monitoring, and customer management tasks you’re currently laboring. Intelligent Automation technologies can help salespeople work more efficiently, make smarter and data-based decisions, and deliver a personalized customer experience.  

Read on to discover just how beneficial AI can be in automating your sales processes. 

What is Sales Automation? 

An average salesperson’s day consists of mostly manual tasks, such as back-to-back communication with prospects and clients, order and inventory management, task assignments, post-conversion client support, and much more. 

Sales automation tools aim to, well, automate these tasks – partially or entirely. Therefore, sales automation represents the application of software, algorithms, and other digital devices in conducting and streamlining sales tasks.  

Automation in sales aims to make all processes, from planning to closing the deal, more efficient, straightforward, and personalized. From generating engagement and nurturing leads to establishing proposal details and writing follow-ups, sales automation tools help businesses increase efficiency and reduce cost. 

How Sales Processes Benefit from Artificial Intelligence- presented by facts

According to a Harvard Business Review survey, 30% of early AI adopters experienced an increase in revenue.  In addition, Salesforce’s data suggest that over 80% of sales leaders who use automation tools report witnessing benefits in customer retention and nurturing and increasing sales reps’ productivity. 

Yet, adoption of the right automation tools means that sales professionals will yield more profit but will do so more efficiently while at the same time ensuring a seamless experience for clients. Luckily, AI-based sales automation tools aren’t reserved for the best IT companies out there alone – nowadays, sales automation is a necessary feature of small and medium businesses alike. 

Here’s how AI-based automation tools help your sales teams:

1. AI-powered Sales Automation Personalizes the Customer Experience

Personalization lays the foundation of client trust, conversion, and retention. Customers seek human interaction when interacting with brands – not AI bots – but such a scenario is barely possible for most businesses.  

Sales and personalization intertwine throughout the customer journey. For example, intelligent automation tools can assist in setting up the first contact with a lead through website chatbots or self-service customer support systems.   

Conversely, AI tools can allow sales departments to perform in-depth behavioral or firmographic segmentation of business prospects based on an individual’s or company traits. Your client research process will yield high-value, conversion-ready customers by leveraging these specific, actionable data.  

Besides the meet-and-greet phase, AI helps personalize ongoing project communication and post-conversion retention.  

Sales automation software with AI capabilities can help you do the little things to make customers feel special – remind you to send a follow-up email, prevent you from communicating inaccurate information or allow you to stay in the loop with all project details. 

Last but not least, intelligent automation tools can store abundant data on leads, project details, conversations, and notes. So, in case of a necessity to swap between salespersons, the replacement sales agent can review all information and pick up the client effortlessly and seamlessly. 

2. AI Endows Data-Based Decision-Making 

Sales automation software relies on accurate, actionable – and foremost – historical data. For example, AI-based sales automation tools can be invaluable in lead scoring, i.e., the process of determining the worthiness of leads. Lead scoring via AI entails measuring prospects’ likelihood of converting into a customer based on different cues.  For example, these sales automation tools can use signals from social media or search queries related to yours to assess how likely is the lead to convert.  

In addition, sales tools can collect and store data from every interaction with a prospect, whether by email, text, chatbot, or phone call. These AI-powered tools can be used to map large datasets and extract detailed insights from all the collected data using advanced computer science techniques. They really make sales reps’ jobs easier when it comes to analyzing huge amounts of information. This knowledge doesn’t only help the sales representatives prioritize the most promising accounts, but they also help them make predictions and forecast future results. Sales automation tools continuously reanalyze these customer data and build them into comprehensive user personas that continually evolve.

With AI automation tools, sales departments can now leverage the granularity of ideal customers’ practical, actionable traits. Besides fine-tuning the lead sampling process, AI sales automation software assists in analyzing the hurdles in your customer journey. By importing the prospect communication details into your sales tool, you can assess the most significant hindrances of your sales funnel.

3. AI Tools Provide Insight into Lead Generation Pitfalls 

Once you understand why your prospects don’t turn into customers – whether it be a high price, prolonged deadline, or differed project requests – you can craft a business deal that strikes the perfect balance between your and your client’s needs. 

Every interaction between a sales team and potential customers harbors invaluable data on how you can improve your lead gen processes.

Every stage in your sales funnel is managed and driven with the help of data. AI can help you create measurable outcomes and also improve effectiveness at each stage. Integrate the data into AI automation tools and identify the most common issues your leads face, which responses they value the most, and how you can improve your churn rate with these findings. 

AI Cuts Back on Repetitive & Time-Consuming Tasks 

As a salesperson, you are well aware of how time-consuming many sales tasks like sales data input, response to emails, and proposal/contract-writing process can be.  So why not automate these tedious tasks?  

From project pitches and initial project proposals to follow-up emails and final contracts, much of the day-to-day sales reps’ communication can be automated – giving them the time to focus on tasks that actually matter. Certain sales software can utilize library or analytics data to help managers further personalize and tweak their proposals and emails. In addition, these tools allow salespeople to automate client communication by scheduling emails or meetings. 

Overall, AI can help sales representatives:

• automate end-to-end daily tasks and streamline sales processes
• make faster and smarter decisions thanks to predictive forecasting and next action suggestions
• provide sales reps with data-driven insights and customer patterns to help them prioritize effectively and focus on the right prospects
• save salespeople time and money, and at the same time increase productivity and efficiency

To Sum Up 

The foundation of sales lies in expansive personalization and effective communication. The profound importance of the human touch may appear counterintuitive to the increased demand for automation and integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into the industry. 

However, sales automation tools – especially those backed by AI – offer massive opportunities to managers to make more informed decisions and target valuable and inclined prospects. In addition, automation takes on repetitive, manual tasks, allowing sales reps to focus on establishing personal relationships with leads.  

Sales automation software will not make sales reps obsolete in any foreseeable future; rather, AI and salespeople should work hand in hand to boost sales performance and profits.  

Author bio 
Travis Dillard is a business consultant and an organizational psychologist based in Arlington, Texas. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for SEO Turnover. 

Marketing automation is the future of marketing. It enables marketers to handle their social media, email campaigns, and other daily marketing activities in a more automated and convenient way. For instance, you can set up an auto-responder to send discounts to people who buy during that time frame if you’re making a sale on your website. It will save you so much time because it’s all done automatically. Marketing automation is also great for small businesses because they don’t have time or money to hire someone just for these things. 

 In this article, we aim to walk you through the top 11 marketing automation workflow examples to give you an overview of how workflow automation can benefit your marketing activities. 

1. Automate Greeting Messages 

A welcome email is a must for subscribers who sign up for your content, and it creates the foundation of a lasting relationship with your subscribers. Moreover, it lays out some ground rules from day one – which means you should make sure it’s perfect. This workflow example shows how easily these emails can be automated, with fewer variables involved than other examples in this guide. Additionally, as part of the onboarding process, it’s essential to set up DMARC to enhance email deliverability and security, ensuring that your welcome emails reach subscribers’ inboxes reliably

2. Automate Gated Content Offering 

Lead generation is a two-way street. You need to give your prospective customers more than just information, and you also have to ask what they think. Curious about one of the most efficient ways to go with? Gated content – whereby providing something valuable in exchange (like downloadable e-books or webinars) users will provide their contact details and other helpful data such as company name, phone, etc. 

Simple example: people who want to study French can give your CRM an email and get a PDF file with the most commonly used words. This kind of automation is simple and easy to be implemented. 

3. Automate Lead Management 

Marketing automation can make nurturing new leads more accessible and more effective. Lead nurturing aims to guide potential customers toward a conversion, which starts at the earliest possible point in their sales funnel. Your marketing workflow should start with subscriptions or requests for demos from subscribing users – this way, you can inform them about what products will best suit their needs and provide incentives that motivate people into taking action! 

4. Automate Getting Feedback 

Client feedback is a valuable tool for improving customer service and building trust. With an automated workflow that collects customer satisfaction data, you can gather information much more efficiently. First, decide what touchpoint should trigger the request to provide feedback- maybe it’s when someone purchases something from you? Perhaps they have some other interactions that led them here today to look into how we work. Whatever their reason might be, telling us about themselves will help tailor our communication accordingly. This helps avoid gaps between what we say after hearing from them vs. reading social media posts where people leave comments. 

5. Automate Onboarding 

It’s essential to onboard new employees or customers with automated emails that will help them use your site or product. You could send these follow-ups after they create an account or purchase from you, depending on when best for their needs concerning signing up and making purchases with other companies’ services/products rather than having everything come at once. It might be overwhelming if too much information was given all at once instead of gradually introducing people into what you do or offer. Hence, they know step by step how things work before going any further! 

6. Automate Offers 

Personalized campaigns are a great way to build loyalty and keep top-of-mind with clients, especially if you offer rewards that they might find motivating, such as discounts on future purchases! 

7. Automate User Acquisition (UA) 

A re-engagement marketing workflow will help boost engagement with your content and products. The first step is to define an inactive user who may have been subscribed for a while without opening any emails or buying anything from you in that period – they could be on vacation or busy being productive elsewhere! 

Reach out sooner rather than later by defining how long it has been since someone last responded before entering their contact details into this system so we can get back into touch again soon. 

8. Automate Marketing Campaigns 

With the right strategy, you can successfully deliver new marketing campaigns. It requires the appropriate planning and management of the work that should be done before the campaign execution. Another important factor is the effective collaboration among the team members that participate in the project. An automated workflow helps Sales, Marketing, Advertising, and Communication teams to manage efficiently their time, meet deadlines, optimize marketing processes and achieve remarkable results. Moreover, managers are able to approve marketing material and take fast decisions, while the whole team is kept updated on the marketing campaign progress. 

9. Automate After-sales with Ticket routing automation

All customer service automation relies on a well-organized and well-thought-out knowledge base. Connect your resource center to your current customer service channels, such as chatbot support. Modern internet platforms for assisting individuals are frequently combined with information sources in order to provide even more support in less time. 

Chatbots are rapidly advancing, but they are still confined to dealing with basic customer request tickets. More complex issues should still be handled by your staff, but intelligent automation is an important component of building a ticket routing system that can accommodate your growing customer base.  

10. Automate Lead Scoring  

 You always want to know which contacts are the most promising leads and how close they are to purchasing. You can quickly identify these prospects with just one small data point with lead scoring! It is assigning points based on prospective customers’ behavior – this helps better target marketing efforts to be more effective at converting them into sales or other actions that will generate revenue.  

11. Automate Video Creation  

 The act of employing a video editing tool to automatically produce short, engaging films you can use for marketing and promoting your content is known as automated video creation. Sifting through hours of long-form material to discover highlights and memorable moments may rapidly become time-consuming if you’re producing many pieces of long-form content each week.

You can consistently produce unique, high-quality videos by automating that process. As a result, you can swiftly test novel marketing methods while adding diversity to your content. You may quickly A/B test several format types or compare two highlights to discover which connects most with your audience. For instance, modern-day video editing websites allow users to convert text to video. This helps to automate the creation of videos from blogs.

Achieving Marketing Automation with Comidor 

 If you are ready to build your own marketing automation workflows, look no further than Comidor. Comidor has all the tools you need to achieve the ultimate marketing automation, from lead generation and management to customer journey automation and campaign planning, execution & monitoring. Contact Comidor today to learn more about the tools that can help you accelerate marketing automation! 

Summary 

The tips we have mentioned in this article should help you to create a marketing strategy that works. You can use these principles for automation and data-driven decision-making, which will lead to more sales and less wasted time on ineffective strategies.  

Author bio:
Ryan is a passionate blogger and writer who likes sharing his thoughts and. Now he works as a content editor and internet researcher, you can check his website. He likes to travel and explore new countries.

What would you rather do: spending your work hours entering data for potential customers into a spreadsheet or taking the time to connect with the people who actually are your customers?

Instead of working on the computer, it’s time you have the computer work for you. This way,  you can focus on the aspects of sales that matter most. Taking your business to the next level involves exploring the available options for workflow automation for sales. 

What Does “Sales Automation” Mean? 

First of all, let’s establish a definition for the broad phrase of “sales automation.” Utilizing a sales automation process involves relying on tools to achieve the sales goal of your company. These tools can range anywhere from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to AI-powered platforms. The benefit of workflow automation in your sales department is that it frees your workers from rote responsibilities without making their jobs irrelevant. The tools you use allow your sales representatives to give more attention to qualified leads or potential customers. Your automation through the sales cycle can assist you through the steps from lead generation to opportunity creation and finally customer acquisition. 

Workflow Automation for sales can be completely taken care of with a Business Process Management (BPM) Software, with built-in CRM functionalities. This software “aligns the delivery of business objectives in terms of organizational goals, services, or products that customers need, through the process management and improvement.” Comidor Low-Code automation platform is easy-to-use, accessible, and elastic. It supports your sales department and provides all the necessary tools like lead and opportunity management, and customer journey, to streamline sales processes, and complete repetitive sales cycles successfully.

Examples of Workflow Automations for Sales 

There’s a multitude of ways for you to automate your workflows in the sales pipeline. You can experiment with different methods to figure out which works best for your team. We’ll give you a few examples here, but there are many more features than we have time to cover today. 

 1. Sales Guidance 

You can set up automatic reminders or nudges for your sales representatives, so they know exactly who to connect with and when. Your automation should match your leads to the representatives that will be the best at helping them get what they need. Certain software programs are able to automatically set up appointments with clients that fit into your reps’ schedules. 

 2. Lead Management 

There’s only so much you can do on your own when trying to generate leads for your business. Automating that process allows your team to focus on the leads you have. Whether you’re looking for B2B lead generation, or a B2C one, an automation tool may be the best way to go. An automation tool can generate a list of potential leads that is curated to keep your team away from spending a majority of their time hunting down customers. An automated system can also track your potential customers’ engagement with your website and alert your representatives when it’s the right time to make a sales pitch.  A Low-Code Automation Platform enables your business to manage all the leads obtained in an automated manner. This means that a tool like Comidor provides a dedicated area to your leads for exploiting your chances to convert them into valuable clients. Through workflow automation, you can monitor and filter leads based on various criteria and receive automated e-mail and SMS notifications to be notified immediately as soon as a lead is generated from your website or any other source. 

Here is an example of a lead management workflow that incorporates smart notifications, and automated tasks assigned to the sales team members.

Explore more sales and marketing workflow examples here.

3. Customer Connection

You can use sales automation tools and systems to take care of customer outreach through automated emails and automated voicemails. Your reps can craft different email drafts that can be sent to potential customers at various points in your sales pipeline. Even though the copy will be the same, the automation personalizes it to the customer and reaches out to them at the ideal moment. Your reps can also use a tool that allows them to craft different voicemails to leave when a customer doesn’t answer the phone. This way, your reps aren’t scrambling to go through their sales pitch and instead can leave a message that will make your customers want to return the call.

4. Research and Data Logging

An automated system should be able to filter the overwhelming amount of information into a list your team can tackle. You’ll know exactly what social media hubs, forums, and more to target for potential leads. As you connect with these customers, your system will also track the outcome of your marketing efforts in real-time. Your reps won’t need to take extensive notes and load them into a system, the system does all the tedious work for them. With all that extra time, your reps can spend their newfound hours nurturing relationships and closing sales so you can grow your business.

The Benefits of Sales Automations for Your Team 

Automating your sales process benefits everyone in your organization. Your sales representatives will be able to focus on meaningful connections instead of tedious data entry. Your managers will have a more clear picture of the sales pipeline and will be able to lead their teams more efficiently.  What’s more, your customers will be happier because they received exactly what they needed at the time they needed it. Everybody wins. Additionally, sales automation systems have been proven to save time, increase efficiency, and reduce human error. 

Automating Your Sales Process 

Automating your sales process shouldn’t be a daunting task any longer. Let’s examine the steps to get started. Comidor Low-Code Automation Platform will guide you through the process. With Comidor, you can visualize all aspects of the sales process with drag-n-drop functionality. You’ll have access to all of the tools you need to collaborate with your team and your customers.  Data streams available over the full sale processes, pipeline and sales funnel charts, event metrics dashboard, ticket creation, and campaign management are only some of the features offered by Comidor built-in CRM functionality. 

Are you ready to accelerate your sales cycle? Book a call with a Comidor expert and explore your sales automation options.

It’s time to stop wasting your time with manual tasks when you could be building better relationships; closing more sales; and producing more revenue for your business. Explore the options for automating your sales process and put yourself ahead of your competitors. 

Author’s bio: John Dubay is the Managing Partner at Leads at Scale, an outsourced sales support company that helps B2B companies generate well-qualified leads at scale, ready to be closed.  

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the world economies, businesses are highly affected, too. Many entrepreneurs are trying their best to keep their businesses afloat, while others are discovering opportunities to stand out and evolve. For businesses that are still surviving, data analytics is a great way to obtain and use data to plan and make strategies on how to survive. 

Having the right data in the right place has many benefits especially in future planning and dealing with challenges. The next-generation data analytics leverage Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Adding these technologies into data analytics is the most impactful way to speed up data insight.

Distribution of Resources

Data analysts are assigned with the tasks of managing and distributing resources in a business during this crucial time. First, they critically analyse the data concerning customer buying trends using relevant analytics tools. Then,  they create reports on how resources such as time, human resources, inventory, and technology are distributed.

This assists in responding to the current constraints caused by the pandemic, which has indeed changed how customers purchase goods and services and how businesses operate.

Future Planning 

Well, the COVID-19 crisis has changed many things in business like customer habits, profit margins, and business operations. These changes have significantly affected business models. While entrepreneurs must quickly respond to these immediate challenges, they also need to plan how to adapt to future changes.

The current data acts as a major guide on what future business models will look like and which solutions will work or not. A top priority of data analysts is to develop a logical economic model for the future.

Supply Chain Distribution

COVID-19 has significantly changed how customers buy products. Many customers want to order online and have their products delivered. Some companies may do this directly or use third parties to sell their products to customers. But they need the right data analytics techniques to know how this will be the most effective way especially now that there is an increased need to deliver products.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been in use in supply chain management for a while now. But its timely implementation during this time of crisis helps to increase the capability of third-party sellers to deal with the current crisis. Over 75% of companies in the world have now reported supply chain challenges according to the Institute for Supply Chain Management, and data analytics will help them navigate through this in the future.

Location

Many businesses are moving from one location to another due to the impact of coronavirus. As we all know, the coronavirus pandemic has hit some regions harder than others. But to know where to relocate their businesses, business owners must conduct market analysis and understand that specific market segment. None can achieve this in an ideal way without the right data analytics strategies.

The availability of data is revealing that customers are no longer going to shopping malls as they used to, or eating out in restaurants as frequently as in the past. In fact, most locations that used to have booming in-person sales are no longer that active. But where should businesses relocate to? Well, they need data to understand this by determining the areas where businesses would run better.

Marketing

Marketing is fundamental to business whether there is a coronavirus pandemic or not. Currently, both small and large businesses must adopt marketing strategies that deal with pandemic impacts. Customers want to have products that will make their lives easier and more convenient during the pandemic.

Data analytics provides insights on how to carry out digital marketing activities. For instance, where most potential customers spend time online, which apps and channels to advertise on, and what message to communicate to potential customers.

Data-oriented businesses have managed to remain afloat even during the hard times caused by the pandemic since they have adopted the best strategies to deal with the pandemic.

Communication with Customers

Keeping in touch with customers is very crucial during this pandemic. They need to be engaged with the right information that will guide them on what to buy online. Data reveals what the customers want to hear.

More than 50% of buyers are more likely to change their product brands if the business is not making any efforts to convey personalised communication. Hence, data analytics will help you know about the channels that potential buyers of your products use frequently and the information you should share with them. Quick and effective communication entices more customers to buy your products as opposed to those of competitors.

Conclusion

As you can see, data analytics is essential in helping businesses deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and drive digital transformation. If you are in business, you now know. It is time to put it into action and measure the benefits of data analytics.

To get an executive buy-in, starts by never talking to an executive about Low-Code BPM. Instead, talk about what they care about : Results. Outcomes. Impact. Value.

Middle ranks managers and organizations’ prosperity

Organizations adapt slowly to change, unless managers in the middle ranks, like a project manager, business analyst or an operational manager, identify and promote the need for change.

People at that level gather valuable business intelligence from direct contact with customers, suppliers, colleagues, and even competitors. They’re in a position to foresee when the business falls behind the market. Moreover, they can detect early signs that a partnership with existing legacy system vendor won’t work out (see our article on Legacy Systems Modernization). According to McKinsey Global Survey on digital transformations (Graph.1), the success rate of the transformation efforts is positively correlated with the management team’s communication of a given change-story element during the transformation.

Emphasize    “What’s in it for the Business”

Graph.1: Unlocking success in digital transformations

Don’t focus on the Low-Code BPM system

While you are researching the market, contacting one solution vendor after the other, doing platform trials and demos, trying to understand what solution could best solve your business pain, you become prone to get excited from the features and technical details of a system. Thus, a conversation with your boss on those features and details is to begin.

Don’t do this. Your senior management team (SMT) really isn’t interested in finding out how any systems work. They don’t attach importance to what new features systems bring to the market or what they can do. Giving them this information will switch them off before they get started. The SMT is interested in business cases for investment in projects and systems which solve a problem. Cost savings, productivity improving, faster app delivery are some problems the SMT wants to solve. They don’t care about the nuts and bolts of how you are proposing to do this, at all. Instead, they do want to know that you will do it, and what resulting benefits you will bring.

Don’t focus on non-strategic benefits

Low-Code BPM, like Comidor, which is one of the best BPM solutions of 2019 according to SoftwareWorld, can deliver plentiful results at a lot of organization’s levels.

If you are an Operational Manager,  installing a new easy-to-use, easy-to-customize Low-Code BPM system, will undoubtedly make your life a great deal easier.  But, explaining this to the SMT will not make them reach for their cheque books (metaphorically). Oddly making your life easier is not at the top of the SMT’s list of concerns. Therefore,  it is better not to include it in your business case. Instead of that, think how a benefit for you, might result in a strategic benefit for the whole organization.

Step #1: Simplicity is key – so be result specific

One of the reasons that low-code BPM systems make our lives easier is the time and cost saving. As well as saving a Quality or Operational Manager’s time, a BPM system also saves the time of all its end users. Now, it is more likely to get the interest of the leadership team. How?  By explaining for example, how each time someone makes a request, they will save at least 15 minutes.  As this is an action repeated 10 times a day, by 1,000 employees – that is 150,000 minutes or 2,500 hours saved each day.  This procedure results to millions of dollars of efficiency savings each day. Also, the quantification of the cost of inactivity and your business opportunity cost is equally important. Consequently, be prepared to have a benefit checklist ready to support your case in your discussions with your boss.

Step #2: Implementation risk – address outcomes and failure fears

Strategic cross-organizational low-code BPM implementations often involve political battles in terms of how the business will operate tomorrow. The fear of the unknown is a powerful and dangerous force. People resist the change because of the fear of complicating old processes (the devil we know) with new technology. New technology may hinder team’s day-to-day tasks or lead to new digital failures (Graph.2). Identify, communicate and commit the team and the resources needed to implement the solution. Finally, set up a decision-making support plan. In this way, the management has full control on approving each targeted milestone.

Graph.2: Gartner “Make Legal Digital-Ready”

Step #3: Target the topics your business executives are invested in

Before approaching a prospective sponsor for your low-code BPM solution need, have an idea about their priorities, and the critical points of importance. Target the topics they are invested in, and the issues they care about more than other execs of the leadership team do.
Your HR director may focus on managing employee on-boarding and spreading teams across offices in different geographic regions. The major concern for your head of operations may be to control risk.  On the other hand, your director of customer success may envisage a platform that standardizes service levels and reduces time to market cycle. A platform that results in happy clients.

Step #4: The power of example – Competition pressure

The management executives identify themselves as business leaders. They assume themselves as the ones who should accept the responsibility and the opportunity to take their business forward and change their business model. Two thirds of surveyed CEO’s in Gartner’s latest insight report “Make Legal Digital-Ready”, said they are constantly adapting to change (Graph.3).
There is no better way to catch their attention than by presenting examples of successful low-code BPM projects in your sector. In other words, demonstrating competitors that are riding the low-code BPM wave and transforming their way of doing business, attracts the management executives’ attention. Connect the dots in their new products, services, client satisfaction and ultimately market share with the role of BPM solution in your competitors’ growth story.

Graph.3: Gartner “Make Legal Digital-Ready”

Step #5: Involve Other believers-build a “coalition”

The more people you get in your corner, supporting your ideas and providing first-hand experiences, the more urgent and legitimate the initiative seems. Your BPM “coalition” should include those professionals with a mix of organizational credibility and executional expertise. This likely means enlisting IT leaders, managers, and some process participants, too. Building a “coalition” generates organizational buy-in more quickly and on a larger scale. This happens because more people contribute their own energy and resources. For instance, one “coalition member” might have access to important data to support your business case. Another might have a good personal relationship with one of the top managers you’re trying to present your low-code BPM pitch to. By recognizing these advantages, you become more successful in supporting your business case.

Step #6: Bring in an Expert

Since we are in the process of doing something for first time in your organization, sometimes you need the support of an outside expert to break through a wall. An outsider, that could be a digital transformation team of consultants, has the independence to challenge traditional thinking and break down paradigms. Use those experts to send a clear message on market awareness and trends and bring executives to their own aha moments regarding change management.

Step #7: Get the Timing Right

It’s very crucial to find the right moment to raise your ideas. That moment might be when organizational priorities shift, when new executives come on board, or when business crisis occurs. Successful project proposals are reported when they are related to greater sensitivity than others to timing. You should notice when more people begin to care about a larger topic or trend, related to your idea to “catch the wave.”

In addition to keeping a close eye on larger trends and events, it’s important to be mindful of deadlines. If an idea relates directly to an imminent product launch or software release, by all means speak up. Now is the time to be heard.
As you support your business leaders in their efforts to transform the business,  you find your business culture becoming more accepting to implementing those necessary systems. This business culture optimizes the business function as a whole. See (Graph.4) McKinsey Global Survey on digital transformations.

Graph.4: Unlocking success in digital transformations

Conclusion

Sell the opportunity to leave a legacy. You will find out that many executives are passionate about what they do. They really care about making a lasting impact on their organization. Implementing a process improvement culture makes a real difference to business teams and to the success of an organization. Execs are about to leave a legacy with the support of engaged teams and professionals, who are executing processes aligned to the business strategy like yourself.