Automation is the performance of repetitive tasks that a human might perform automatically by systems and tools designed for it. In the context of entrepreneurship and the modern technology sector, by automation we mean simply the use of available technical tools to do long, repetitive, unthinking tasks rather than being done by a human being.
In this article, we will talk about the benefits of automation and its famous services available in the arena, and we will also talk about the benefits of relying on it for entrepreneurs and companies in their business.
What can automation do?
Any repetitive task that a human performs, and does not require a decision by a human being in the process, so it is a task that can be automated and eliminates the need to do it manually.
Automation, for example, can help corporate social media managers manage company accounts. Instead of manually posting the same post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks, automation can do so automatically — posting in one place to find the same post across all networks. the social you want.
And if, say, you have a Google Forms form to collect surveys from users, then instead of manually copying the data from there and pasting it into your database or content management system (Airtable, WordPress, etc.), you can use automation to do it automatically.
And if you want to add all new subscribers to your WordPress site to a Google Docs file, you can do that automatically once someone subscribes to your site.
And if you want to send a newsletter to a subscriber as soon as they perform a certain action on your website, you can do that as well.
There are no limits to the possibilities of automation; As long as you are using online tools and software that are supported by the automation tool you are using, then you can automate all your routine activities instead of doing them manually.
What are the benefits of using automation for businesses?
The above has many obvious benefits, most notably saving costs, time and effort.
Instead of having a human being to do these repetitive tasks, you can use automation to do them and thus save costs for your company or organization. The cost of using these tools and services is not comparable to the salaries of the employees you would need to do the same tasks; Even the most expensive automation service will only cost a few dollars per month.
Automation also allows companies and organizations with limited resources to achieve higher productivity in less time; What in the past required hundreds and thousands of hours to complete, today it does not need any of that. Thus, employees in your company or organization have more time to devote themselves to the real tasks required of them instead of those repetitive routines, which is beneficial to the project, company or organization as a whole.
The most important benefit of automation is simply that it keeps you and your employees away from boredom, fatigue and effort while doing those repetitive tasks that you could simply have outsourced to an automation tool to do it for you, which will increase your productivity.
Does automation replace employees and freelancers?
But note that the above does not replace the employees or freelancers in the company, as automation is not able to write a professional article or translate it from a different language, or design a logo or practice e-marketing, programming a program or the like.
Automation is not a substitute for employees, as some think, and it will end their careers at work and they will no longer be needed; Creative work can never be done by automation, and will still need a human to do it.
All automation can simply do is get rid of only routine, repetitive tasks; That is, those tasks that do not require making specific decisions when performed by a human being. Automation is actually an aid to employees and freelancers, not the other way around, and is not here to replace them entirely.
Automation services available
There are many automation services available in the arena that you can subscribe to for a monthly amount based on your usage volume and the features you need.
Integromat
One of the best automation services on the platform, it has the advantage of supporting a large number of services and applications (supporting about +1500 different services to connect between them), and it has an attractive and modern interface to handle the service, create scenarios and manage it.
It is, after all, one of the cheapest automation services in the field; It only costs $9 per month for the first plan and will allow you to do 10,000 Tasks per month and an endless number of scenarios.
Also, the free plan is better than the other alternatives; The free plan allows you to perform 1,000 executions per month and create two different scenarios, while there are more restrictions on other tools, so you can get started in the world of automation easily with Integromat.
The service also has the advantage that it supports web APIs via HTTP requests, so even if the service you want isn’t officially supported by Integromat, you can use it via the API and HTTP requests.
Zapier
Zapier is perhaps the most famous automation tool known; It is one of the oldest and most widely used in the field. The downside is that it only allows you on the free plan with one scenario and 75 executions per month, and it is also expensive compared to others, even the plan where you pay $20 per month allows you only 20 scenarios and 750 executions per month.
Its main advantage is that it has the largest number of supported services of any automation tool; That is, 3000 services are supported. That’s why you’ll find that everything is up and running right after you sign up for it.
There is also a group of experts you can hire from the same service to create or help you with the automations you want.
IFTTT
IFTTT is a simpler automation tool than its predecessors; It only allows users on the free plan to use pre-made ready-made scenarios for each service it supports, and is limited in the number of possible options and settings.
But what distinguishes it is that it is easy to use for new beginners, the graphical interface does not contain a lot of things for experimentation or testing, but just easy-to-use buttons to activate the scenario and link services with each other.
On the paid plan, of course, you can have more options and create the scenarios you want, but they are not as professional as Integromat and Zapier, and are used by fewer users and companies.
How do you hire an automation expert to work on your project?
After you explore the previous services or others, you will notice that the field needs a little learning and practice; It is not enough to register with the service to be able to immediately automate all the tasks in your company or organization, but you will need to read the official documentation of these tools to understand how to link the different services that you want, and how to do such and such through them.
Some problems may appear in the process, such as some errors or bugs that were not taken into account.
You may also need to try more than one automation tool to find the perfect model you want; Some tools may be more limited than others or contain features that are not found in others, which will increase the amount of time you have to spend on testing these services in order to benefit from them.
Alternatively, you can search for a freelancer on the Khamsat website to advise you on the repetitive tasks you want to automate, and which tool would be best for that, either in the existing ready-made services or through the Freelancers community in the requests section. You can also employ them to create the entire required scenarios for you if you wish. You can also search for professional freelancers on the freelance websites.
Thus, you benefit from the principles of automation in your company and your organization without the need to reach your hand in it.
Conclusion
Automation is a wide field that allows companies and organizations to move to a larger size, increase productivity and reduce costs if used correctly. It may have some complexity at first glance, but once you get used to it and use the right tool, that complexity disappears and becomes very easy.
Feel free to research this area and subscribe to the tools available in the market; Just a few dollars a month will bring you more productivity and save thousands of hours that you and your employees would have spent on boring, repetitive tasks.
