Topia’s technology has been designed to help companies automate key aspects of their distributed work programs. In this blog, we explore why this matters, how to get started and when you know automation might be a good fit for your organization.
The global mobility and HR professionals we speak to often tell us that a heavy workload is their main challenge. They are usually balancing all the logistical elements that arise from moving, traveling or remote employees alongside the more people-centered tasks like onboarding or emergency situations.
To help manage their diverse task list, teams have long been exploring ways to better use technology to complete particular work activities. In other words, they've been looking at ways to automate their processes.
The key benefits of automating distributed work processes are:
When organizations are looking to digitize their global mobility or distributed work programs, a good place to start is by identifying the kinds of basic, repetitive tasks that lend themselves most obviously to automation. Repetitious activities can often lead to human error, so automated workflows can help make sure important tasks don’t fall through the cracks. Upgrading to a digital approach can also improve consistency.
Automation doesn’t just make processes more efficient, but it can also save organizations significant time on admin work, meaning that teams can focus on higher-level activities that enhance the employee experience.
Here are some of the distributed work activities that are typically easier or more desirable to automate:
But of course, not everything is a good fit for automation and some activities benefit from a more human touch. These include things like assignee briefings, most aspects of crisis management, assignee selection and repatriation planning.
Any team considering digitization should first start by mapping out their activities and processes and identifying the areas where there might be bottlenecks, delays or inconsistencies.
You might want to automate processes if any of the following scenarios apply at your organization:
Automation of key distributed work processes is at the heart of what we do at Topia. For instance, our technology for workforce mobility management allows you to create automated workflows to help streamline and simplify various global mobility processes and use in-built logic to help you get the answers you need quickly.
As an example of the benefits of embracing digitization, we have worked with many customers to help them automate cost estimate and cost simulation processes. Many companies outsource the creation of cost estimates to third-party providers or use purely manual processes (or a combination of both). Not only can outsourcing incur significant costs of up to $500-$1,500 per estimate, but companies also have to carry out multiple steps to get the third party the relevant data they need. There can also be many further delays as companies wait for external providers to get back to them. Rather than the days and weeks it can take with a third party, using technology for process automation can cut the cost estimate process down to minutes.
If you want to learn more about how automation and digitization can transform your approach to distributed work, you can find out more in our recent ebook or watch our on-demand webinar. And if you’d like to see how we can help automate your workforce mobility management processes, you can book time with one of our specialists by requesting a demo here.