7 Things Your Business Is Still Doing Manually That Should Be Automated
Running a small business involves plenty of work that needs a human.
Copying the same customer details into three different systems probably isn’t one of them.
Neither is downloading a spreadsheet just to upload it somewhere else. Or manually creating an invoice from an order that already contains all the information the invoice needs.
On the surface it’s fine because the little jobs take 5 minutes here, and two minutes there… but repeat them every day, across several people, and they start costing your business real time and money.
More importantly, they’re usually a sign that your processes and systems aren’t working together as well as they could.
Below, are seven things you might still be doing manually, that are worth taking a closer look!
1. Copying website enquiries into your CRM
Someone fills in the contact form on your website.
Then an email arrives into a generic inbox.
Then somebody opens it, and they copy the name, email address and phone number.
Then they open the CRM, creates a new contact and pastes everything in.
Perhaps they also create an lead /opportunity, assign it to someone and set a reminder to follow up…
None of that should really need to happen manually.
Your website can send that information directly to your CRM, create the right records and even trigger the next step automatically.
How to know?
If someone in your business regularly copies information from an email into another system, there is a better way.
2. Creating invoices from information you already have
This happens surprisingly often.
A customer places an order, books a service or accepts a quote.
All the information needed to create the invoice already exists somewhere — but somebody still has to type it into the accounting system.
That creates work and another opportunity for mistakes.
Depending on how your business operates, your website, ecommerce platform, CRM, booking system and accounting software can often be connected so information flows between them automatically.
For example, a Shopify order can be passed into Xero without somebody manually recreating the transaction.
The data already exists.
Your team shouldn’t have to type it twice.
3. Updating the same customer in multiple places
Where does your customer information live?
If the answer is something like:
*”Well… some of it is in the CRM, some is in Xero, some is in Shopify and there’s also a spreadsheet…”*
you’re definitely not alone.
But it creates a bigger problem than a bit of extra admin.
Which system has the correct address?
Which one has their current email?
Has somebody updated one system but forgotten the others?
Good integrations can keep information synchronised between the systems that need it, reducing both manual work and conflicting data.
4. Sending the same follow-up emails
Think about the emails your business sends repeatedly.
“Thanks for your enquiry.”
“Here’s your quote.”
“Just checking whether you had a chance to look at this.”
“Your order is ready.”
“Your invoice is overdue.”
Some of these should absolutely remain personal.
Others are simply part of a predictable process.
Those predictable steps can often be automated while still keeping the communication human.
For example, an enquiry could automatically create a CRM record, notify the right person and send an acknowledgement to the customer.
Your team can then spend their time on the conversation that actually requires them.
5. Moving orders between your ecommerce and accounting systems
If you run an ecommerce business, this can become a significant source of admin.
Orders happen in one system.
Payments happen somewhere else.
Accounting happens somewhere else again.
Then someone gets the enjoyable job of trying to make everything match.
Connecting systems such as Shopify and Xero can remove a large amount of repetitive work and make reconciliation considerably easier.
We’ve written a separate guide on how to connect Shopify to Xero if this is something you’re currently doing manually.
6. Building reports by copying numbers into spreadsheets
We like spreadsheets.
They’re incredibly useful.
But there is a particular kind of spreadsheet that should make you suspicious: the one somebody has to rebuild every week.
If Monday morning involves opening several systems, finding last week’s numbers and copying them into Excel or Google Sheets to create a report, there may be an opportunity to automate it.
Data can often be pulled directly from the systems that generate it and brought together into a dashboard or automated report.
Instead of spending an hour creating the report, you can spend that hour understanding what it’s telling you.
7. Chasing payments manually
Cash flow matters.
But chasing overdue invoices is awkward, repetitive and easy to put off when you’re busy.
If someone is regularly checking which invoices are overdue, looking up contact details and manually sending essentially the same reminder, much of that process can often be automated.
Your accounting software may already have functionality you’re not using.
And where the standard functionality isn’t enough, it may be possible to connect it with other systems in your business.
The important part is that people only need to step in when a situation actually needs human attention.
A simple way to find what you should automate
You don’t need a huge “digital transformation project”.
Start much smaller.
For one working day, notice every time you or someone on your team:
- copies information from one system to another
- enters information that already exists somewhere else
- downloads something just to upload it elsewhere
- sends the same type of email repeatedly
- updates the same information in several places
- manually creates the same report
- checks something simply to see whether action is required
Write them down.
You may be surprised by how long the list becomes.
Then ask one question:
Why are we still doing this manually?
Sometimes there will be a perfectly good reason.
But sometimes the answer is simply:
“Because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
And those are often the easiest processes to improve.
Automation doesn't have to mean replacing everything
One of the biggest misconceptions about automation is that you need to replace all your existing software.
Usually, you don’t.
You may already have perfectly good systems.
They just don’t talk to each other.
A relatively simple integration between your website, CRM, ecommerce platform, accounting software or other tools can sometimes remove hours of repetitive work without changing the systems your team already knows.
The goal isn’t to automate everything.
It’s to stop talented people spending their time acting as the connection between pieces of software.
How much is your manual work actually costing you?
Five minutes doesn’t sound like much.
But five minutes, repeated 20 times a day, is more than eight hours a week.
That’s effectively an entire working day spent moving information around.
And that’s before you account for mistakes, duplicated work and the time it takes to fix them.
If you want to dig into that side of the problem, read our guide: How Much Is Manual Data Entry Costing Your Business?
Could your systems be doing more of the work?
If your business relies on spreadsheets, manual data entry or people moving information between systems, there may be a simpler way to run it.
At Retina, we look at how your website, software and business systems work together — and where unnecessary manual work can be removed.
Sometimes the answer is automation.
Sometimes it’s an integration.
And sometimes it’s simply changing a process that became unnecessarily complicated over time.
**Not sure where to start?**
Spend one day writing down every task your team does that involves copying, retyping, downloading, uploading or chasing information.
Then send us the list.
We’ll help you work out what actually makes sense to automate and what doesn’t.