Using automation in daily life

Think about it. How do we manage to wake up every morning? Who sets the coffee machine so it starts to brew 10 minutes before you get up? Have you also made arrangements to pay for your phone plan by preauthorized debit from your bank account? Who hasn’t dreamt of being behind the wheel of one of those self-parking vehicles?

If, like me, your outdoor lights turn on and off as the brightness of the day turns into night, you’ve figured it all out! We all have better things to do than to repeat these monotonous and regular tasks day after day.

By freeing ourselves of these recurring tasks, we have more time for ourselves and we avoid banal oversights. We realize savings by optimizing our morning routine, by reducing the electricity consumed unnecessarily during the day and by paying our bills on time. All that, because we have decided to use automation in our daily life.

Now, let’s step out of our homes and see what automation can do for us in a professional setting.

Automation in the workplace

We must admit it, we spend the majority of our day at work. So why not automatize some of our tasks at work as we do at home?

Keeping in mind that what we want to do here is to simplify our life, to avoid costly mistakes and to save time, well, some application developers have developed software that does just that. As a matter of fact, these automated systems can help us fulfill our administrative responsibilities, such as

• Pre-fill forms to avoid input errors;
• Access files online from various departments;
• Sort data to accelerate the hiring selection process;
• Share files to facilitate a layoff process;
• Synchronize working hours with an agenda;
• Send requests for time off and give approval;
• Manage payroll and determine eligibility for benefits;
• Prepare tax receipts.

In an article on Elon Musk’s recipe for efficiency, published in the French Canadian newspaper Les Affaires in September 2021, entitled La recette d’Elon Musk pour gagner en efficacité, automation is indeed part of the equation. According to the cofounder of Tesla, it is the very last step used to improve one’s performance in the workplace.

An automated system pays off

Furthermore, with a system where everything is done digitally, we avoid printing costs, unnecessary handling and using up physical space for storage. Cloud computing allows us to easily find the information that is requested or needed. Let’s face it, this is much faster than to have to stand in front of a filing cabinet and sort through a bunch of folders one by one!

By devolving certain tasks to an automated software system, employees can focus their energy on what is most important. Human beings are irreplaceable when it comes to performing complex and creative tasks. So no, robots cannot completely serve as substitutes for employees. However, they can facilitate their lives and allow them to invest their time where it counts.