Bots for Business: 5 Smart Ways to Automate Workflows

A lot of people do not realize that bots can make a real difference for a business, big or small. Everyone knows about chatbots and using them to communicate with clients. And that is good, this is a great way to use bots for automation! But it is far, far from the only one method, even for chatbots. We want to consider 5 examples of automating your business processes without talking about support teams. Let’s begin!

Alerting Yourself for Restocking 

Bots can manage your inventory. They can send you messages, for example, to Slack or your email, when your stock is running out. Unlike human employees, a bot will not make errors and will always alert you when necessary. An advanced AI system can even automatically place orders to make sure that you never run out of your items. But for a smaller business with less opportunity to splurge on a bot, alerting can help a lot.  

Using Bots to Check Leads

A chatbot can do more than just provide your clients with support. For instance, you can make your chatbot screen potential leads. Any chatbot can do that. Just make sure that they know how to ask your website visitors screening questions about their needs and budget. The bot can automatically input the information in your customer relationship management (CRM) system if integrated with it. 

Nowadays chatbots often appear as widgets on a company’s website. This is a perfect location for your lead-scoring chatbot. And if it has more features than that, all the better.

An example of successful integration of a bot for lead checking is Waiver Group. Using Waiverlyn solution, the healthcare company achieved a 25% growth in leads. Waiverlyn also managed to become profitable (through booking enough consultations) in 3 weeks! It was probably not cheap but clearly worth it. 

Sometimes talking to someone can be a bit intimidating. Talking to a chatbot makes that a lot easier!

Petter Bae Brandtzaeg, Asbjørn Følstad, “Why People Use Chatbots”

Screen Potential Recruits with a Bot

A company named HireVue offers, among other things, a bot that is meant specifically for recruiting. It can help to pre-screen potential new hires before the interview. You do not have to use HireVue, though. Create your own bot, which will collect all the information you want and deliver it to you organized. You can make this bot even more powerful by integrating it with an Applicant Tracking System. Recruiting is made easier through a bot!

Processing Invoices with a Bot

A robotic process automation (RPA) bot usually uses AI to automate processes. An example is invoice management. For instance, RPA tools by UiPath or Automation Anywhere extract information from invoices, enter relevant data and process payments. With an RPA, there is less chance of error than with manual processing. 

For example, UiPath reports a successful case of Canon USA. Among other things, the company improved its methods of invoice processing with the help of UiPath. They used UiPath Document Understanding and it resulted in 6000 hours of employee work being saved every year. The company has also eliminated its backlog of invoices. As Document Understanding continues to learn, it will become more and more useful to the company. 

Scheduling Appointments with Bots

Bots can be created with scheduling as a part of their functionality. Notably, Botpress recommends ensuring all the proper integrations for scheduling chatbots. That means calendars for accurate scheduling and CRMs for data management. Payment systems can also be integrated for customers’ convenience. A scheduling chatbot can be created with the help of a bot development platform like Botpress or IBM watsonx Assistant. When it is well-integrated, such a bot can reduce the time spent on scheduling. Scheduling errors should also become less frequent. In addition, such a bot sends reminders, which can help with no-show issues. 

Benefits of Bot Automation

These are only a few examples, but they come with a few clear benefits. 

• Automation saves time. At least for employees and business owners. 
• Improved accuracy. Repetitive tasks are error-prone. But not with automation! Bots are less likely to cause errors regardless of how often they work on a task.
• Greater efficiency. It is very efficient to have bots perform and automate repetitive tasks. Freed from those, employees can focus on activities that actually require human intervention. 
• Reduced costs. A bot does come with costs, but they pay off by saving resources and time for employees. As you do not have to pay bots, you are saving money by using them to automate processes. 

Potential Issues of Using Bots for Automation 

There are issues to take into account when implementing bot automation. 

• Data security. A bot has to manage a lot of data, which is why it needs to be kept secure. It is crucial to comply with all the regulations on data security in your location. 
• Data privacy. Aside from security, make sure that you comply with all the regulations related to data privacy. Protect your customers!
• Costs. Bots are not very cheap, and there is an upfront cost that you need to take into account. 

As long as you are aware of these concerns, you can address them.

In Conclusion

As you can see, bots, including chatbots, can do way more than just customer support. Use these examples as inspiration. There is so much potential in bots! Think outside of the box, and you will make your business better with bot automation.