Why automate processes in my gas plant?

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Nowadays, automated systems can be a significant reason to increase the arrival of new customers. In addition, in the face of a competitive market, they are considered a compelling reason to make organizations more profitable and efficient.

The automation of processes in the enterprise drives efficiency and standardization of operations and in turn, provides many benefits to companies, including increased productivity, lower costs, higher revenues and improved customer service.

Process automation is a way to increase the productivity of the tasks to be performed. But not only that, it is a mechanism that helps the company to save time in their functions, in addition to promoting positive results in the medium to long term and the generation of a good return on investment and cost reduction. Imagine all these benefits for your gas station, with the simple fact of automating some processes that are performed every day, such as gas orders.

Process automation is the operationalization of a process that was previously executed manually, using technology and the integration of systems and data. This is an important step in business management, capable of generating competitiveness, efficiency and customer value. Therefore, today you will understand how it works and what is the purpose of process automation and what are its advantages for your organization.

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What is process automation?

Process automation is the use of technology to execute recurring tasks or processes of a company where manual effort can be replaced. It is part of the digital transformation powers of companies to minimize costs, increase efficiency and optimize processes.

It is also a method to replace manual repetitive tasks that are better handled by technology, as it saves time and reduces error rates. Provided that the process steps are well defined, subject to limited interpretation and exceptions are communicated to the appropriate people by a process automation system for timely resolution.

To make it easier to understand, we will transfer process automation to our daily routine. For example, we use technology to our advantage several times, saving time and effort: using a food delivery app or having a smart home, where you control the temperature of the air conditioning by cell phone.

It is a simple analogy, but process automation could be compared to something similar, but applied to business reality.

Following this example, we can take it to our gas station by automating the purchasing process, or the ordering process. In this way we can accelerate and improve the effectiveness of a process that is an everyday process in the company.

Nowadays, automation has become more and more common in the gas industry, due to its great contribution to efficiency and productivity. In general, it adapts to the specific line of processes that the companies have, helping the collaborators of the different areas to achieve an optimal level of production, so that everything flows in a faster way and the results are better.

It should be noted that, according to the activity carried out by the company, the parts that will be automated will be defined. However, always thinking in good practices that help to obtain the balance of the processes. For this, it is necessary to know very well the organization, the processes that can take more time and that part of these processes can be carried out by collaborators.

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What are the 3 types of process automation?

There are several different types of business process automation, however, we can say that there are three essential types of automation that are also connected to each other. Here we describe each of these:

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Basic task automation.

Basic automation focuses on simple and rudimentary tasks, it seeks to digitize work tasks by using tools to optimize and centralize routine tasks. For example, we can mention the automation of e-mail marketing campaigns, the sales process or orders and even payroll.

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2. Automation of business processes.

This type of automation manages business processes to achieve consistency and transparency, increase productivity and efficiency within the company. Unlike basic automation, business process automation focuses on generating an organization-wide workflow, rather than individual tasks.

Automating business processes enables organizations to deliver their products or services effectively to their customers and facilitate the work of their staff. It can also offer new insights into business challenges and suggest solution paths. It is usually achieved through the use of appropriate software and applications.

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3. Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

RPA is a form of business process automation that allows defining a set of instructions to be carried out by a robot or bot, capable of mimicking most human-computer interactions to perform various tasks without errors, high volume and speed.

Thanks to the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence or bots, this type of automation can process a transaction, manipulate data, generate automatic responses and communicate with other digital systems. With this, companies get their staff to increase productivity.

RPA technology makes it possible, for example, to respond to customer requests received through a call center or to process customer orders in order to reduce errors.

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What are the advantages of process automation in a company?

By automating processes, using an automation system, it is possible to achieve several essential results for business growth. Here are some of the benefits:

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Cost reduction.

Cost reduction is one of the main benefits of process automation in companies. This is because it is possible to identify unnecessary expenses in each activity and eliminate them. Automation saves money in different ways, even considering the investment made in implementation and maintenance. By reducing manual labor and using fewer resources, it can reduce labor costs.

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Standardization of operations.

By standardizing processes, the company can ensure higher quality deliveries, following all business rules. The rules can also be automated, making the processes to be carried out according to the guidelines of those in charge. For example, by standardizing the model in your gas station, you can have more control over gas refueling, its procedures and the correct follow-up of the same. ****

In the case of companies that belong to industries where certain quality or regulatory standards must be maintained, automation helps to develop, supervise and follow up on programs, compliance and process control.

Process automation can be used in a significant number of functions, so, we can say, the benefits of automation are numerous for companies that choose to implement it in their daily operations.

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Performance control.

Performance indicators can also be set and automatically configured to facilitate compliance. At the end of the process, it is possible to generate consolidated reports that will inform objectives and results, facilitating restructuring, if necessary, and other management decisions. In addition, decision making can be done in real time and in a more assertive way, since you have access to real data.

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Greater operational agility.

Process automation can speed up all processes, shorten production cycles, eliminate unnecessary repetition and time between activities.

This optimization is ideal for those who want to increase speed and efficiency, since time is one of the main productivity indicators. By taking care of repetitive tasks, automation reduces work times, reducing the "dead" times that occur when a human performs the functions, which raises the level of productivity.

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Multiple forms of interaction.

Process automation allows you to connect many means of interaction, such as mobile devices, the company portal, corporate email and others. This gives agility to the process and facilitates its progress. Automating processes allows you to respond quickly and efficiently to customer requests, which positively impacts the customer experience and their satisfaction with the company.

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Tasks accessible to the entire team.

All professionals involved in the processes, whether the executor or the manager, will have easy access to the activities, being able to know the progress of the tasks in real time. With an automation system it is possible to distribute the tasks automatically, defining who is responsible for the process.

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Ease of prioritization.

Process managers can determine which activities are most important to perform first, making them invisible to professionals and even blocking low-priority activities. This way, you focus on the essentials, avoiding wasted time and effort.

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Traceability of the process.

Automated processes become easier to monitor and track. Every time a process is executed, all data will be available and documented, such as who executed the process, what it did, when, with what resources, etc.

In addition to management control, the processes are also easily auditable, generating transparency for the organization.

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Increased efficiency.

Automated processes have a great impact on the overall efficiency of the organization, as it avoids errors by maintaining consistency and providing accurate and reliable results. This efficiency greatly increases the rate of productivity, leading to growth and higher profits.

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Increased customer satisfaction and better customer experience.

Automating processes allows you to respond quickly and efficiently to customer requests, which positively impacts the customer experience and their satisfaction with the company.

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Examples of automated processes.

Process automation can be used to improve almost any process in the company. To give an idea of which processes can be optimized, here are some examples:

Purchase orders:

It is possible to simplify this process by eliminating the requirement for traditional paper purchase orders, and manage the orders digitally, for approval and then automatically forward them to the supplier. In this way, you can streamline the purchasing process and make it more direct with the customer.

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Inventory management.

Inventory management can be made more efficient with data automation, which can become a reality with the use of a centralized system that manages operations, reduces workload and streamlines daily tasks.

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Financial accounting.

Accounting and financial operations can also be automated, reducing the potential for human error while maintaining data quality and integrity.

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Customer service.

While personal interaction is still essential to serve the customer, there is also great value in proactively resolving customer questions and issues through automation in contact centers, with chatbot and other artificial intelligence systems.

As we have seen, process automation offers the potential to improve overall business effectiveness and productivity, but also to mitigate various risk factors. By integrating automation into your company, you can see significant results that will be reflected in your business results.

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How do I know if my company needs automation?

If we had to answer that question quickly, the answer would be that it is always needed. After all, what company wouldn't benefit from speeding up its processes, eliminating errors or gaining quality?

But there are some symptoms that show that your company needs to automate its processes, such as:

Communication noise: If purchasing sent a request for budget approval and did not receive a response, this is a sign that some step in the process got lost along the way. However, if we automate a process, this does not happen, as it is an error that is anticipated and can be seen in the results.

Actions out of alignment with the overall business strategy: the company has to have a main objective, and the idea of automating processes is to make the whole organization operate in line with strategic objectives. Therefore, processes are always modeled with a focus on this guideline.

Non-standard processes: the lack of standardization in processes opens the door to failures, waste and rework, so it is important to define rules to follow and automate all this in the system. If a task is performed in a non-standard way, the system can prevent it from continuing, for example.

Difficulty finding problems: if productivity is decreasing, but you don't understand why, I know that process automation helps you identify exactly where in the workflow there was an error.

Unfounded decision making: if your management makes decisions based on hunches or strategies without data, you are losing a competitive advantage. With an automated system it is possible to extract data and graphs for deeper analysis, expanding the company's business intelligence.

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