What Is Business Process Automation? Complete Guide to Its Benefits, Drawbacks, and Implementation Steps

Due to labor shortages and the push for work style reform, many companies are being driven to improve operational efficiency. One approach that has been gaining attention is business process automation. By delegating tasks previously handled by humans to IT tools, significant efficiency improvements can be expected. However, many people may hesitate to take the first step because they are unsure of what business automation entails.

"What are the advantages and disadvantages of business process automation?"

"Which tasks should we automate?"

"I'm not sure if we can implement automation in our company."

Many companies have these kinds of doubts and concerns. This article is aimed at those looking to implement business process automation. It provides a detailed explanation from the basics of automation to the implementation process and specific automation tools. You're sure to find tips to help make your automation efforts a success.

Akira Shimazoe

CEO of Solashi Japan LLC. Engaged in the development and operation of internal systems at Suntory. Founded Yper Inc., serving as CTO and CPO, contributing to product launch and growth.

What is Business Process Automation?

Business process automation refers to improving operational efficiency and boosting productivity by leveraging IT. Simple clerical tasks such as data entry and spreadsheet creation can be handled by IT tools, streamlining operations.

There are two main reasons why business process automation is gaining attention. One is preventing human error through automation, and the other is improving productivity through increased efficiency. By introducing IT tools, both benefits can be achieved simultaneously, which is the major strength of automation.

Two Reasons Why Business Automation Is Gaining Attention

There are two major reasons why business automation is attracting attention.

1. Declining labor force due to a decreasing birthrate
2. Promotion of work style reform

Since these issues will continue to impact Japanese society, companies are increasingly being urged to implement business process automation. Let's take a closer look at each reason.

1. Declining Labor Force Due to a Decreasing Birthrate

One of the biggest issues facing modern Japanese society is the aging population and declining birthrate. This trend is causing a reduction in the labor force, which poses a serious challenge for business operations.

This is where business process automation using AI and IT comes into play. By introducing automation tools, it becomes possible to operate efficiently even with limited human resources.

For example, companies operating with a small but skilled workforce can delegate routine tasks to automation tools, allowing them to allocate resources to core operations.

2. Promotion of Work Style Reform

Business process automation is closely tied to the promotion of work style reform. By utilizing AI and IT technologies to automate routine tasks, employees can focus on their core duties. As a result, working hours can be shortened, leading to improved work-life balance.

Automation is also effective in reducing long working hours and overtime, helping to maintain employees’ mental and physical health and reduce early resignations. In promoting work style reform, automation is an indispensable tool.

Three Benefits of Business Process Automation

Business process automation offers the following benefits:

1. Improved operational efficiency and optimized human resources
2. Cost reduction and resolution of labor shortages
3. Reduced human error and improved quality of work

Let’s take a closer look at each benefit.

1. Improved Operational Efficiency and Optimized Human Resources

Business process automation can greatly improve operational efficiency and optimize human resource usage. For example, in the sales department, simple tasks like managing business cards and entering customer information often consume a lot of time. By automating these tasks, salespeople can dedicate more time to core activities such as sales negotiations and strategy development.

Furthermore, automating routine and standardized tasks allows for more efficient and accurate processing compared to human execution. This enables employees to focus on higher-priority tasks, leading to increased productivity.

2. Cost Reduction and Resolution of Labor Shortages

Business process automation is also effective in reducing costs and addressing labor shortages. By implementing automation tools, routine and repetitive tasks can be delegated to these tools. As a result, labor costs can be significantly reduced.

Additionally, by improving operational efficiency through automation, even a small team can handle an equal or greater workload. This is a major advantage for companies struggling with labor shortages.

3. Reducing Human Error and Improving Work Quality

Business process automation reduces human error and enhances work quality. Human mistakes are difficult to eliminate completely, no matter how cautious one may be. According to one study, 25% of incidents are related to human error. The breakdown is as follows:

• Unintentional acts: 22%
• Mistakes: 54%
• Rule violations: 14%
• Unclassified (insufficient information): 10%

(Reference: J-STAGE｜A Study on the Occurrence of Human Errors Based on Incident Data)

Notably, over half are classified as mistakes, which are comparable to careless errors. By utilizing AI and IT tools, business process automation significantly reduces such human errors and stabilizes and improves the quality of operations. Automated systems can process tasks quickly while maintaining high quality.

Points to Consider in Business Process Automation

While business process automation offers many advantages, there are also several important considerations. Here, we’ll discuss three key points to keep in mind when pursuing automation.

• Initial implementation costs
• Loss of skilled personnel in automated tasks
• Need for troubleshooting when problems occur

Recognizing these potential downsides and implementing appropriate countermeasures is key to successful automation. It’s important to choose the right approach based on your company’s specific circumstances.

Initial Implementation Costs

Introducing business process automation tools requires upfront investment. Especially when using advanced technologies such as AI or RPA, development and implementation costs can be significant. Furthermore, ongoing costs for maintenance and operation will continue after deployment.

However, from a long-term perspective, the improved efficiency and savings in human resources brought by automation often generate returns that exceed the initial investment. It is essential to carefully assess cost-effectiveness.

Loss of Skilled Personnel in Automated Tasks

Automation can lead to the loss of specific knowledge and expertise related to certain tasks. Relying too heavily on IT tools may reduce the number of employees who possess the practical skills needed to perform the work. There is a concern that fewer people will be able to handle the tasks manually if needed. Automation might result in situations where human intervention is no longer possible.

However, these risks can be mitigated by taking appropriate measures. As you implement business automation, it is important to visualize workflow processes and create well-documented manuals.

Need for Troubleshooting When Issues Arise

When business processes are automated, system malfunctions can significantly impact operations. If your company lacks personnel to handle system maintenance and operations, troubleshooting issues may become a time-consuming challenge.

To minimize such risks, it is essential to work with a reliable system development company and establish a strong support structure that includes thorough post-deployment support.

4 Methods to Achieve Business Automation

Here are four practical methods for achieving business process automation.

1. Implementing RPA tools
2. Implementing AI tools
3. Creating automation programs
4. Using Microsoft’s macro functions

Since the optimal approach varies by company, choose the automation method that best fits your business.

Implementing RPA Tools

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) automates tasks by teaching software-based robots the workflow (scenarios). RPA tools are well-suited for the following situations:

• You need to handle a large volume of tasks that occur regularly and follow clear rules
• You want to automate tasks that have clear procedures and rules with few exceptions
• You want operations to run 24/7 without breaks

On the other hand, caution is needed in the following cases:

• The tasks involve many exceptions
• The tasks are complex and require human judgment
• The business rules change frequently
• The tasks cannot be completed entirely on a computer

When used appropriately, RPA can significantly improve efficiency and productivity. Review your company’s operations to identify any tasks that can be delegated to RPA.

Implementing AI Tools

By introducing AI tools, you can automate flexible and complex tasks. Various AI-powered tools, such as voice recognition, data analysis, and chatbots, are already widely used in business. For example, the following tasks can be automated:

• Generating documents based on existing data or transcribing meeting recordings for analysis
• Identifying and transcribing different speakers in a multi-person conversation
• Extracting key points from transcriptions to create meeting minutes
• Handling initial customer inquiries automatically

A key strength of AI tools is their ability to improve performance through machine learning. The more you use them, the more effectively they adapt to your business needs. Implementing AI tools is especially effective in the following cases:

• You want to leverage advanced recognition technologies like speech recognition, image recognition, or natural language processing in your operations
• You want to extract features and trends from large volumes of data to support decision-making
• You want to use chatbots to automatically respond to customer inquiries
• You want to apply AI’s learning capabilities to tasks such as anomaly detection or predictive analysis

However, since implementing AI tools involves costs, it’s important to evaluate the return on investment from a long-term perspective.

Creating Automation Programs

Developing your own tools, such as RPA systems, allows for finely-tuned automation tailored to your company’s specific operations. You can incorporate features that are difficult to achieve with off-the-shelf tools and even integrate AI capabilities. The greatest advantage is being able to build an automation system optimized for your company. In-house tool development is ideal in the following scenarios:

• You need to define highly specific features tailored to your internal processes
• You want to include functions that are difficult to implement with ready-made tools
• You want to build a system that combines RPA tools with AI

However, in-house development requires access to engineers with specialized knowledge and the necessary IT infrastructure. If internal resources are insufficient, consider outsourcing to a development company.

Utilizing Microsoft Macros

By using Microsoft’s macros (VBA), you can easily automate operations in Excel and Word. The appeal lies in being able to achieve automation at low cost without the need for dedicated tools. Microsoft macros (VBA) are useful in the following scenarios:

• You want to automate tasks in Excel or Word
• You want to create simple automation tools quickly
• You want to automate processes at low cost without needing dedicated servers or tools

However, since macros are primarily designed for use within Excel, they are not suitable for complex or large-scale processing. Additionally, macro viruses are a potential risk, so appropriate security measures are essential.

5 Steps to Implement Business Automation

When implementing business automation, it’s helpful to follow a clear process. Here are 5 steps to guide you through the transition.

1. Selecting tasks to automate
2. Selecting automation tools
3. Fostering internal understanding
4. Testing in a staging environment
5. Full-scale implementation

1. Selecting Tasks to Automate

The first step in business automation is to identify the tasks to be automated. Here are three key points to help you select tasks suitable for automation:

• Tasks that occur regularly
• Tasks that can be standardized or documented in manuals
• Tasks that involve large volumes of work or data

Begin by listing in detail all routine tasks performed in each department. Then identify tasks that meet the criteria above and consider them as potential candidates for automation. Proceeding step by step like this helps you efficiently narrow down which processes to automate.

2. Selecting Automation Tools

Once you've determined which tasks to automate, the next step is to decide which tool to use. The main options, as mentioned earlier, include the following four:

• Implementing RPA tools
• Implementing AI tools
• Creating custom automation programs
• Utilizing Microsoft macros

Each tool has its own characteristics, and the cost, time, and effort required for implementation will vary. It’s important to select the most suitable tool by comprehensively considering your company’s operations, internal resources, and the desired level of automation.

3. Fostering Internal Understanding

When starting business automation, it is essential to explain the benefits and expected changes to employees and gain their understanding. Employee feedback and cooperation are crucial for successful automation. Focus on the following points to promote internal understanding:

• The benefits employees will gain from automation
• Specific actions or cooperation expected from employees during automation implementation

It is important to ease employee concerns and build a company-wide structure for implementing business automation. In addition, collecting issues and improvement suggestions from frontline employees and reflecting them in automation initiatives is also an effective approach.

4. Verification in a Test Environment

Once a business automation tool is introduced, thorough verification should be conducted in a test environment before full-scale deployment. At this stage, it is crucial to measure the effects of automation and identify any issues. During verification, listen to feedback not only from administrators but also from employees who actually perform the work. Seemingly minor comments may contain critical points for improvement.

Improving the system based on employee feedback requires knowledge and experience in system development. By working with a system development company that has strong technical capabilities, you can make adjustments and improvements that lead to significant success.

5. Full-scale Implementation

After testing, it is finally time to begin full-scale operation of the business automation tool. Until the operation becomes stable, continuous improvements should be made while measuring the effectiveness. Immediately after deployment, errors may occur due to unfamiliarity with the system. It is important to share error patterns within the company and build a system in which employees support one another in using the business automation tool.

While optimizing both the automation tool and the business processes, provide support to help employees adapt to the new work style. Implementing business automation is not something that can be completed overnight. Steady progress is the key to success.

Background on Why Business Automation Stagnates

Although business automation is gaining attention in many companies, actual implementation often faces various challenges. Below are four major reasons that hinder the advancement of business automation.

• Understanding the current business operations requires tremendous effort
• It is difficult to determine which tasks are suitable for automation
• Measuring the effectiveness of automation is difficult
• There is a shortage of personnel to implement automation

1. Understanding the Current Business Operations Requires Tremendous Effort

To start business automation, it is essential to accurately understand the current state of business operations. However, this process requires a tremendous amount of effort. It is necessary to clearly define what to automate and what can be automated. Tasks that lack manuals or have outdated documentation must be thoroughly investigated and organized through interviews and other means. Furthermore, this is followed by the process of selecting which tasks should be automated.

If it is difficult to handle this internally, consider outsourcing the investigation and organization to a consulting firm or system development company. By analyzing and organizing tasks from the perspective of external experts, you can more smoothly prepare for automation. Additionally, this process can lead not only to automation but also to overall business process improvements.

2. It Is Difficult to Determine Which Tasks Are Suitable for Automation

While business automation is effective in many areas, it cannot be applied to all tasks. Some tasks require human judgment, and attempting to automate them could complicate management. Selecting tasks for automation requires not only business knowledge but also system design skills. It is not easy to handle this using only internal resources.

In such cases, leveraging the expertise of external professionals with extensive knowledge and experience is effective. For example, a system development company with rich experience in business process improvement can offer the optimal solution based on their accumulated know-how.

3. Measuring the Effectiveness of Automation Is Difficult

Internal understanding and cooperation are essential for implementing business automation, but visualizing its effectiveness is not easy. Especially when trying to quantify the reduction in work or labor hours, it requires considerable effort.

To address this challenge, it is important to set specific, measurable goals for business automation. For example, setting a goal like "reduce 1,000 hours of work time annually through automation" is clear and easy to measure.

By defining success metrics quantitatively and regularly reviewing the progress, you can more easily visualize the effects of automation. Additionally, quantifiable goals can be persuasive in gaining internal support and cooperation.

4. There Is a Shortage of Personnel to Implement Automation

Business automation requires personnel with expertise in IT and AI. However, many companies lack such talent in-house. Although developing automation systems internally can lead to highly tailored systems, the risk of delays due to resource shortages is high.

Moreover, for companies without dedicated development teams, full-fledged system development may not be realistic. In such cases, consider outsourcing development to specialized companies. By utilizing highly skilled external resources, you can build an automation system that is best suited to your company’s needs.

At Solashi Co., Ltd, we have a large number of engineers with advanced technical skills and expertise in cutting-edge technologies. A dedicated development team for each client is available to deliver optimal solutions. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us.

Common Misconceptions About Business Automation

While understanding of business automation is advancing, some misconceptions still persist. Here, we’ll address three common misconceptions and explain the truth behind them.

• Does business automation take away human jobs?
• Does business automation increase costs?
• Does business automation require advanced knowledge or skills?

Does business automation take away human jobs?

Some people may worry that advancing business automation will eliminate human jobs or lead to layoffs. Indeed, with rapid progress in AI technology, the scope of work that can be automated is expanding.

It is true that some jobs may become unnecessary through automation. However, the primary goal for most companies introducing automation is not to reduce staff but to improve operational efficiency and productivity. By redirecting limited human resources to more valuable tasks, companies aim to enhance overall performance.

Surplus personnel created through automation can be reassigned to higher-value tasks. By entrusting routine work to AI and IT tools, humans can focus on work that requires creativity and communication skills.

Does business automation increase costs?

Some may believe that automation increases costs due to the initial investment required to implement automation tools. While it's true that upfront costs are involved, maintenance costs can be managed once the system is up and running.

Moreover, automation can lead to shorter work hours, prevent errors, and improve productivity. These improvements contribute to reducing labor costs and increasing profits. As a result, business automation can provide cost benefits in the mid to long term.

Does business automation require advanced knowledge or skills?

Some companies may abandon automation, thinking it requires expertise in IT and AI. However, it's not always necessary to handle everything in-house.

If you outsource to a system development company, you can receive optimal system proposals by simply conveying your needs. By working together with developers, you can build automation tools with functions tailored to your company. Additionally, you can rely on expert support for operations and troubleshooting, enabling a smooth and secure implementation.

Leave Business Automation to Solashi

This article has provided a detailed look into business automation. Automating business processes can greatly improve efficiency. By reallocating resources from routine tasks to more creative and critical ones, you can foster business growth.

To successfully automate operations, you'll need to identify tasks, determine which to automate, and choose the most suitable method — all of which require specialized knowledge and expertise. That’s why partnering with a skilled and experienced team is the key to success.

Based in Vietnam, the offshore development company Solashi Co., Ltd offers one-stop services from system development to IT consulting. With several Japanese PMs experienced in launching and running startups, we’re able to provide precise proposals based on a deep understanding of your challenges.

We also have a team of talented engineers, many of whom are graduates from top universities in Vietnam. With deep expertise in AI, we can flexibly respond to a wide range of needs.

“We want to start automating, but don’t know where to begin.”

“We tried in-house development, but ran into too many obstacles.”

If any of these concerns sound familiar, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Solashi Co., Ltd. We’ll be your partner every step of the way, helping you achieve your goals with strong proposal capabilities.

Akira Shimazoe

Representative of Solashi Japan LLC. Born in April 1989 in Fukuoka Prefecture. Graduated from the Graduate School of Information and Mathematical Sciences at Osaka Prefecture University. Joined Suntory System Technology Co., Ltd., an IT subsidiary of Suntory Holdings, in 2014. Broadly responsible for the development, operation, and implementation of vending machine delivery management, efficiency improvements, and sales management systems. Founded Yper Inc. in 2017, serving as CTO and CPO. Contributed to the launch and growth of the app-linked delivery bag "OKIPPA." Selected for Toyo Keizai's prestigious "Amazing Venture 100" and Forbes' "Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2019."