In the world of digital everything, businesses using manual processes and workflows are destined to fall behind the competition. Automation is the present and future for businesses. It’s the only way they can stay agile without spending too much on resources and time.
Automation isn’t just a buzzword. It can truly help your business reduce errors, minimize operational costs, improve productivity and deliver better customer experiences - all of which are pertinent and the need of the hour.
There are several tools and technologies that can help optimize processes through automation and make workflow smart. We will discuss one such tool, Business process automation (BPA) in this blog and learn how you can implement Google Cloud Platform (GCP) powered BPA and its benefits for your business.
Business process automation (BPA) technology automates and streamlines business processes. The tasks can range from repetitive to complex workflows that involve multiple legacy systems, external platforms, in-house software and stakeholders. But the question here is why go through all this hassle? Well, BPA can help businesses reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Enter Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It offers a range of tools and services for businesses that want to automate their processes. GCP provides secure and scalable infrastructure, advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities with a range of integrations, making it an ideal BPA platform. Let’s have a look at the benefits that GCP for BPA offers.
The Benefits of Google Cloud Platform for BPA
It’s Cost-Effective
GCP provides cost-effective solutions to businesses looking to automate their processes. It reduces operational costs through its pay-as-you-go pricing model.
Get Better at What you do with Scalability
It offers a scalable infrastructure that’s elastic enough to accommodate the needs of businesses, especially those on a growth trajectory. GCP allows businesses to scale up or down based on needs, so they always have the resources they need to support automation initiatives.
Security: You are in Safe Hands with GCP
GCP provides robust security features that help businesses protect their data and applications. The platform offers advanced security features such as data encryption, identity and access management, and DDoS protection, ensuring that businesses can implement BPA without compromising their security.
Get Started Fast: Implementation Speed
GCP offers rapid deployment options that can help businesses implement BPA quickly and efficiently. The platform provides a range of pre-built templates and APIs, enabling businesses to accelerate their automation initiatives.
Works the way you want: Flexible BPA
GCP offers a plethora of tools and services that can be tailored to meet the niche requirements of businesses. It provides numerous integrations so businesses can seamlessly stitch their existing platforms together.
Business Process Automation with the Right Tools
Let's take a closer look at some of the Google Cloud Platform-specific tools used for business process automation:
Compute Engine
Compute Engine is ideal for businesses looking to automate and require custom software. It is a flexible solution that can easily meet the unique computing needs of a business with customizable VM instances, automatic scaling, and 100s of pre-configured images.
Cloud Functions
Cloud Functions is a serverless compute platform. It enables businesses to run code in response to events. These can be changes in data or user actions. With Cloud Functions, businesses can automate processes that involve event-driven workflows such as order processing or inventory management. It scales automatically and charges are incurred only for the compute time used, making it a cost-effective solution.
Cloud Dataflow
For executing data processing pipelines, Cloud Dataflow is great. It’s a fully-managed service and is ideal for organizations that need to automate processes that involve large-scale data processing, such as data warehousing or machine learning workloads. It includes a flexible programming model, automatic scaling, and support for both batch and streaming data processing. This is what makes it such a powerful solution for big data needs.
Cloud Pub/Sub
Cloud Pub/Sub is a messaging service. It enables businesses to send and receive messages between applications. Cloud Pub/Sub automates processes that involve messaging, such as real-time notifications or chatbots using this service. It provides reliable message delivery, automatic scaling, and support for both push and pull messaging. It is an effective way of implementing messaging automation.
Now, What can you Automate?
Google Cloud Platform is flexible. Businesses can automate processes across departments and functions. Here are some examples of what you can accomplish:
Human Resources Management
GCP can be used to automate HR processes such as candidate screening, employee onboarding, and performance management are just a few of them. For instance, a company could use Google Cloud Machine Learning to analyze resumes and identify qualified candidates. Google Cloud Identity can help automate the provisioning and deprovisioning of employee accounts. All this makes work easier while helping manage access to company resources.
Accounting and Finance
It can be used to automate finance and accounting processes. Accounts payable and receivable, invoice processing, financial reporting and more - the possibilities are endless. For instance, businesses can use Google Cloud Dataflow to process large volumes of financial data. The analyzed data can then be used to generate reports. Another pertinent feature is Google Cloud BigQuery. It enables businesses to store and crunch data at scale to identify trends and insights easily.
Customer Relationship Management
Are you looking to automate aspects of your customer relationship management, such as lead generation and customer service? Google Cloud has you covered. Sales Reps can use Google Cloud Pub/Sub to manage customer communications across different channels, such as email, social media, and chatbots. In addition, Google Cloud Machine Learning can help analyze customer data, identify patterns and personalize customer interactions for better CX.
Supply Chain Management
Automate supply chain processes, such as inventory management, order fulfillment, and logistics optimization. Google Cloud Functions can automate order processing and shipping notifications. Further, Google Cloud Dataflow can be used to analyze supply chain data and identify inefficiencies, almost in real-time. Finally, Google Cloud IoT Core can connect and manage IoT devices across their supply chain for easy tracking and optimization.
Marketing and Sales
Marketing and sales processes, such as lead scoring, customer segmentation, and email marketing are tedious. Google Cloud Machine Learning can help analyze customer behavior and score leads based on conversion likelihood. Additionally, Google Cloud Storage can store and manage marketing assets - offering hassle-free collaboration and resource sharing across teams.
How Businesses are leveraging GCP for Automation
Google Cloud Platform has been instrumental in helping businesses across a variety of industries. Here are some industry use cases that demonstrate the power and potential of business process automation on GCP.
Healthcare
Healthcare providers are facing inexorable pressure to enhance patient outcomes while reducing costs. A data analytics company that helps physicians improve patient care successfully leveraged Google Cloud Platform for automation. They use Google Cloud to collect and analyze large amounts of medical data from electronic health records and claims data among a variety of other sources. Google Cloud Machine Learning helped the company identify patterns in the data. This allowed them to make personalized treatment recommendations to physicians helping them deliver better patient care at reduced costs.
eCommerce
It’s no secret, the eCommerce industry is highly competitive. To stay ahead, businesses need to process orders quickly and efficiently. One company that has successfully leveraged Google Cloud for automation is Shopify. They process millions of orders each day, using tools like Google Cloud Functions - automating tasks like order processing, shipping notifications, and inventory management. Automating processes enables Shopify to provide a seamless and efficient experience for both merchants and customers. This is helping them drive growth and revenue at a rapid pace.
Manufacturing
The manufacturing industry is undergoing digital transformation. Industries want to automate their processes and increase efficiency. Working toward the same goal, a global manufacturer of home appliances leveraged Google Cloud for automation. The company uses the platform to collect and analyze data from IoT devices in their factories. This is helping them identify inefficiencies to optimize production processes across the factory. Dataflow helps process large amounts of data. It enables data-driven decisions and increased efficiency helping organizations reduce costs, improve quality, and increase CX.
Business Process Automation on GCP: Best Practices
While Google Cloud Platform offers powerful tools and services for business process automation, implementing automation requires careful planning and execution. Here are some best practices:
Identifying the right processes for automation
It's important to identify the right processes to automate. Look for repetitive, time-consuming and error-prone tasks. Eventually, automating these things will free up time to focus on strategic objectives.
Ensuring data privacy and security
With automation comes the need to manage data consistent with data privacy laws and regulations. Ensure that data privacy and security are maintained throughout. This is the reason why GCP provides security features such as encryption and access controls.
Encouraging cross-functional collaboration
Collaboration is the golden key to success in any endeavor. Encourage cross-functional teams to work together. Each team and department needs to work towards this objective. Another big hurdle may rear its ugly head; involve all stakeholders at the get-go to ensure that everyone's needs are being addressed.
Creating a roadmap for automation
Create a roadmap that outlines the automation process and identifies key milestones to ensure successful automation. It should include a plan for testing and validation of the automation process beforehand.
Choosing the Right Implementation Partner
Automation initiatives can be complex. Work with an implementation partner, with experience in your industry. The partner should also have a proven track record of successful automation implementation of Google Cloud Platform to showcase their expertise.
Get started with GCP Powered BPA with Cloud4C
In today's business environment, automation is essential. Increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving CX are all within your grasp with GCP-powered BPA.
Business process automation powered by Google Cloud Platform presents an enormous potential for businesses. Streamline your operations, reduce costs, and improve customer experiences by embracing automation and positioning yourselves for success in the digital age. At Cloud4C, we are here to help you realize your dreams. Just get in touch, today!
