Technology has progressed to the point that bots are becoming your team’s new digital co-workers. Do you recall those repetitive tasks and problems that sap your employees’ productivity and cost your company money? Bots are a simple solution to make your various tasks easier and help with your workflows. But what are bots? And how can they help?
In this blog, we’ll take a look at what bots are, and explore five great ways that you can use bots to make your job easier.
In this blog you will find:
🌟 The Multifaceted Benefits of Bots
🔧 5 Ways Bots Can Make Your Job Easier
👥 #1: Bots Help Organizations Onboard New Employees
📂 #2: Accessing the Right Information
📅 #3: Efficient Meeting Management
📊 #5: Engaging Employee Surveys
What are Bots?
Bots are computer programs that imitate human actions to complete specific tasks. Despite being referred to as "software," bots are much more than that. They combine different technologies, with a primary focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms.
So, what sets bots apart? Unlike traditional software, which requires explicit instructions for every action, bots leverage AI to "learn" from data and interactions. This ability to adapt and evolve makes them incredibly versatile. They've been around for a while, but with the recent surge in AI capabilities, bots are not just responding to our commands; they're anticipating our needs.
The Multifaceted Benefits of Bots
The integration of bots in the workplace offers a plethora of benefits:
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Productivity Boost: Remember those repetitive tasks that seemed to consume large chunks of your day? Bots can handle them with ease, allowing employees to focus on more strategic initiatives.
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Financial Efficiency: While there's an initial investment in bot technology, the long-term ROI is undeniable. Reduced labor costs, increased efficiency, and the ability to operate around the clock translate to significant savings.
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Employee Morale: No one enjoys mundane, repetitive tasks. By offloading these to bots, employees can engage in more meaningful work, leading to increased job satisfaction.
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24/7 Availability: Unlike humans, bots don't need breaks, vacations, or sleep. They're always available, ensuring continuous operations and instant responses, regardless of the hour.
5 Ways Bots Can Make Your Job Easier
The integration of bots into the business ecosystem isn't just a fleeting trend; it's a transformative shift that's reshaping how we approach work. Below, we’ll explore five ways that you can use bots to boost productivity, take back your time, and make your job a bit easier.
#1: Bots Help Organizations Onboard New Employees
Cast your mind back to the day you started your current job. There were people’s names and titles to learn, passwords to set up for your various technologies, questions to ask - from where to get office supplies to where the bathroom is, and a great deal more information to try and digest.
As an employer that’s onboarding a new employee, you need to assign someone to answer frequently asked questions. While it does add a personal touch to the new person’s day, it does tie up another employee’s time.
Bots, like the ones found in Workplace from Meta or the custom solutions that LineZero can develop, can help augment your HR team by answering frequently asked questions, automatically scheduling the new employee for training or meetings with key people in your organization, providing insight into necessary HR information, and help the new employee get acclimatized to their new position.
#2: Accessing the Right Information – Integrate Microsoft SharePoint and Workplace
Similar to how bots can onboard new employees, bots can also help people access important HR information whenever they need it.
Your HR people can’t be available every minute of every day to answer every question that your employees have.
Want to know how much vacation time you’ve got left? Or what the WIFI password is for the meeting room you’re using? Or how many sick days you’ve used so far this year? Or where your current harassment policy resides? Or what to do to submit your timesheets? There’s a bot for that!
In fact, by automating this process with a bot and creating a database of frequently asked questions, you’d be cutting down on the number of emails or calls your HR team must field and improving your overall employee experience. With the bot’s ability to provide an instant response, your employees will have all the most pertinent information right at their fingertips.
LineZero’s SharePoint Resource Bot can help your employees do exactly that – your employees can search Workplace for SharePoint documents, allowing them to access content stored across multiple SharePoint sites easily, then use Workplace to open and edit documents. Without leaving Workplace, your team can easily search for the document or file they are looking for, see a preview, and open the latest version to collaborate together.
#3: Efficient Automation Management
Let’s face it – nobody really likes having to find and book a time for meetings or events. It’s time-consuming, requires searching through several people’s calendars, and can be just downright painful.
But, with Workplace’s automation bots, you can create one that can help automate the task of searching through everyone’s calendars to find time slots when everyone is available. All you need to do is request a new meeting and select the people you want to attend, and the bot does the rest!
Want to make sure those who need to attend are actually there? Not a problem! This bot can also send automatic reminders to attendees and notify people nearer to the date and time of the meeting. And, if you’re having the meetings off-site, the bot will even direct attendees to it.
#4: IT Support Reinvented
“My printer won’t print.”
“I can’t remember my password.”
“Why isn’t my computer connecting to the Internet?”
It’s probably safe to say that service requests often inundate your IT department. But what if you could get some help for them and automate some of the non-urgent processes? Think about what they could do for your organization if those non-urgent processes, like helping people to troubleshoot printer problems, or resetting their passwords, could be offloaded.
With a bot that’s been designed to help your IT department, you no longer need to think about what you could do… you can make it a reality.
Workplace chatbots can create a new service ticket directly from a Workplace post and then reply to the employee with a ticket number that helps them track where the service team is with their request. These bots are also able to manage basic support tasks, like resetting an employee’s password.
#5: Engaging Employee surveys
Sometimes, leaders need to take a pulse of what others in the organization think. Now, you could create a post or even a poll on Workplace, but as a leader, you’re probably quite busy analyzing the results. But, a bot, like Surveybot, can conduct surveys through Workplace Chat and instantly analyze your employees’ responses in real time.
As the digital workplace continues to evolve, bots are becoming indispensable components intricately woven into the fabric of efficiency, innovation, and growth. They are not just mere tools; they are the future collaborators we never knew we needed.
Conclusion:
In the dynamic realm of the digital workplace, bots have emerged as more than just tools; they're revolutionizing the way we work, communicate, and grow. From streamlining mundane tasks to offering round-the-clock support, bots are the silent champions of enhancing efficiency and productivity. As technology continues to evolve, embracing these digital allies is not just an option; it's a necessity for businesses aiming to stay ahead in this competitive landscape.
Are you struggling with time-consuming, repetitive tasks?
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