The future of the E-Commerce world lies in one word: Automation. Sellers and Vendors manage multiple systems, products, spreadsheets, processes, employees and marketplaces. The one common tool that has driven these connections for years has been the simple “Copy and Paste,” but this system is dying.The Copy and Paste madness is unreliable!Automation seems to be the number one buzzword among E-commerce sellers these days. Everyone wants it and everyone seems to know somebody who does it. However, no one knows where to start. The best way to discover automatable processes is to ask yourself 6 questions:

  • What is the Data?
  • Where is the Data now?
  • Where does the Data need to go?
  • What happens to the Data in between?
  • How often does this process happen?
  • How much time am I spending doing this?

DataAutomation has recently been developing dropshipping automations, so let’s use that as an example to ask these 6 questions:

    1. What is the Data? Tracking info.
    2. Where is the Data now? In an inbox from an email sent by a Dropshipper.
    3. Where does the Data need to go? Amazon to update your customer.
    4. What happens to the Data in between? First it goes to my ERP then to my Channel.
    5. How often does this process happen? 30 times per day.
    6. How much time am I spending doing this? 2 mins per email.

With this logic we have come to understand that this process is taking one person 1 hour per day. If we could automate this process, you would save around 5 hours a week, almost 20 hours a month, and 260 hours a year. That is 6.5 whole work weeks a year spent copying and pasting tracking info between email, your ERP and Amazon. If that employee is making $10 an hour, you are wasting $2,600 a year on copying and pasting. None of this includes the mistakes that can be made from human error.

How Do I Automate?

Look at the processes that you can automate, and find and/or create tools to accomplish these automations. These tools take the form of:

  • Native Integrations: Tracking info received marks it as sent then updates customer via Amazon.
    • When looking to automate, it is often useful to select a software that has high “integrability.”
      • How many integrations does it currently have?
      • Does it have a robust API?
  • Zapier: “When a new email with Dropship tracking info is received, I want the order to be marked as shipped in my ERP.”
    • Zapier breaks down workflows into Triggers, Actions, and Searches.
    • It has 1000+ integrations.
  • Custom Robot: When my client places an order, send a Fax to my dropshipper with the order information.
    • Automations can be as custom as needed.

Where does this fit into your business:

This is where automation comes in! When you ask yourself these questions for each process you then have to decide:

  • “Is this wasting time?”
  • “How risky is the human error?”
  • “Do we want to automate this?”
    • (Some things will thrive and bolster your business when they are automated, others may need human interaction.)

Where does DataAutomation fit in:DataAutomation customizes a business process for you to eliminate waste – whether it’s time, labor, or paper. We work to streamline your current business processes so you can focus on your business’s growth. Our automation services focus on ridding your business of cumbersome manual processes. Our team can streamline a variety of processes to improve your business, including but not limited to inventory, dropshipping, new client onboarding, invoices, copying and pasting, and financial statements.When wondering whether or not you should automate, ask yourself:

  • “Do I want to save time and money?”
  • “Do I want to reduce human error?”
  • “Do I want to focus on business growth?”

If the answers to those questions are “Yes”, then you’ve officially been initiated into the world of Automation! Get started at: https://dataautomation.com   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you enjoyed this content, consider joining us at PROSPER Show, March 13-14, 2018 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. newButton