How to automate business processes without special knowledge and skills
Introduction of automation
Business processes are a set of actions and efforts aimed at achieving the company's goals (ensuring internal communication, improving the quality of service, expanding the customer base, etc.). Some activities require the mandatory involvement of a human resource. But there is a whole list of tasks for which automation can and should be implemented. Usually this concerns data manipulation.
Automation of routine operations allows to improve the quality of work processes, and employees get the opportunity to focus on more important tasks. The range of tasks for which automation can be implemented is quite wide — updating databases, organizing external and internal communication, synchronizing information in different services, etc. Welcome emails or messages to clients, notifications to managers about new leads, adding contacts to mailing lists are just some of the things that can be automated.
No-code automation tools
Workflow automation is often based on the transfer of data from one system to another, as well as the initiation of certain actions. To ensure the transfer of information from application A to application B, it is necessary to set up a connection between them and specify the rules of interaction. To do this, you can use special technologies (for example, API), but this approach requires knowledge in programming.
Online connectors are no-code services that allow you to create integrations and implement automation without programming skills. With systems such as ApiX-Drive and SaveMyLeads, you can bring together different services and platforms through a web interface. Online connectors work on a simple principle - “monitoring the data source - processing information - initiating an action in the receiver”. You can also connect multiple receiving systems at once to set up more complex automated processes.
How to create an integration
No-code services for creating integrations usually have a simple interface and a clear setup process. That is why users with almost any level of technical training can work effectively with online connectors.
Let's look at an example of how to create an integration using the ApiX-Drive system. Our task is to set up an automated process for transferring new leads from the Facebook advertising account to the Google Sheets file.
Select Facebook as the data source.
We need to receive all new leads, so we select the action “Get Leads (new)”.
We connect the Facebook account to the ApiX-Drive system, select the advertising page and the lead form, according to which new leads will be uploaded.
In general, these are all the basic steps for setting up a data source. If necessary, you can add filtering conditions to receive leads by a specific attribute.
The process of setting up the receiving system is also extremely simple. We select the Google Sheets service as the receiver. The action is “Add row”.
We connect the Google Sheets account to the ApiX-Drive system, select the file and sheet of the spreadsheet where new leads from Facebook will be added.
Now we need to determine the contents of the cells using variables received from Facebook. If necessary, you can enter text manually.
Sending test data to a Google Sheets file. A new record has appeared in the table — the connection works correctly.
To run the integration, you must enable auto-update. This is done in one click.
So, it only took us a few minutes to set up the integration. The result is that each new lead that appears in the Facebook advertising account will be automatically added to the Google Sheets file.
Examples of using integrations
By combining services and actions, you can automate various business processes:
Facebook → Email services (Mailchimp, MailerLite, Sendinblue, etc).
Add contacts from Facebook lead forms to mailing lists.
Facebook → SMS services (ClickSend, BulkSMS, Omnicell, etc).
Sending messages to customers who have filled out a lead form on Facebook or Instagram.
CMS-systems → Google Sheets.
Adding new orders received through the site to a spreadsheet.
CMS-systems → CRM-systems (HubSpot, Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, etc).
Converting new orders on the site into deals, contacts or tasks in the CRM system.
Facebook/CRM/CMS → Telegram/Slack/Viber.
Setting up automatic notifications in the messenger about the appearance of a new lead/order/request.
There are many options for using integrations. It all depends on the set of services that you use, as well as on the list of routine tasks that need to be automated.
Conclusions
The introduction of automation helps to improve the efficiency of business processes. It is not necessary to have programming knowledge or hire IT specialists to create integrations. Special no-code services allow you to combine different platforms and systems through a web interface without coding. Review your list of daily tasks. If you work with data, you are more likely to find repetitive operations. Spending a few minutes creating an integration will allow you to get rid of routine work and concentrate on more important tasks.