12 signs a process should run itself
Read down the list. If three or more apply to one process in your team, it is almost certainly worth automating, and a discovery call will tell you exactly what it would take.
- 1
Someone copies data from one tool into another
Anything a person retypes between systems can be moved by a connector, usually in a day of work.
- 2
It happens every day, week or month on a schedule
Scheduled work is the easiest kind to automate: there is no judgement in when it runs.
- 3
The steps are the same every time
If you could write the steps on a card for a new starter, a computer can follow the card.
- 4
It only works when one particular person is in
Single-person dependencies are a continuity risk, and usually a sign the process lives in someone's head rather than a system.
- 5
A spreadsheet is the system of record
Spreadsheets used as databases break silently. The fix is often a small app plus the automation that feeds it.
- 6
People chase each other for approvals
Approvals with a clear owner and a deadline can be routed, reminded and escalated automatically.
- 7
Errors are found downstream, not at the point of entry
Validation at the moment data arrives prevents the rework that shows up weeks later.
- 8
Nobody knows if it ran last night
A process without a status is a process someone has to check. Automations report success and shout on failure.
- 9
The same report is assembled by hand each week
Pulling numbers from three tools into one page is repetitive by definition, and the numbers are already in APIs.
- 10
Customers wait on something that is not a decision
Confirmations, status updates and document requests can go out the moment their trigger happens.
- 11
Releases are tested by clicking through the app
A manual test plan gets skipped when time is short. An automated suite runs on every change, every time.
- 12
It costs more than a month of someone's time each year
Ten hours a week is roughly 500 hours a year. That is the budget line an automation replaces.
Have something that should run itself?
Tell us what keeps eating your team’s week. We’ll say honestly whether it’s worth fixing and what it would take.
Or email hello@zerotouchlabs.com. We reply within one business day.