Influence Of Automation On The International Operations Of Iqplus (k) Limited

Abstract

Automation has proved to be very critical in increasing the efficiency in most business processes leading to an increase in sales, profits and relative growth in market share of most companies. The objective of the study was to identify to determine the influence of automation on international operations of IQPlus (K) limited and the challenges of automation of business processes. IQPlus is a private company in Kenya have overseen full automation of all key processes in the organization. As much as IQPlus (Kenya) Limited has fully automated its systems, a lot still needs to be done to seal the gaps on all key business operations that needs to be automated to manage international operations. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Data was collected from the use of an interview guide with the respondents being from the managerial positions. Analysis of data collected was compared with the theoretical approaches and documentations cited in the literature review. Results from the study shows that automation of business process helps IQPlus in gaining a competitive advantage internationally as the decision makers track the market trends together with the marketing activities of rivals both local and at the international level. Further results indicate that automation leads to improvement IQPlus improving their sales performance internationally. Findings also show that automating manual process as indicated by the respondents helps in lowering management costs, increases quality and controls access to very important and confidential data. Automation can be a solution to companies desiring to gain a competitive advantage through increased productivity and profitability. Respondents highlighted major challenges that they face in IQPlus Kenya when automating its business processes are high resistance by staff and lack of adequate resources.