Comparison
Hire staff or automate product maintenance?
Automate the typing work: everything that repeats and always runs the same way. An additional employee is the better choice if the work consists mainly of customer contact or the tasks change constantly. Often both together is the best solution.
Samuel Welte, Software developer
Last updated:
Staff and automation compared
| Criterion | Staff | Automation |
|---|---|---|
| Fits for | Work that needs judgement, taste or a delicate touch | Work that repeats and always runs the same way |
| Examples | Advising customers, resolving complaints, negotiating with suppliers | Typing in product data, syncing prices and stock levels, cutting out photos |
| The better choice if | the work consists mainly of customer contact, the tasks change constantly or the business needs more hands | it is about less typing work |
| Both together | The staff have time for customers | The automation takes over the routine |
Which work should a person continue to do?
Everything that needs judgement, taste or a delicate touch:
- Advising customers and resolving complaints
- Deciding on range and purchasing
- Negotiating with suppliers
- Checking and approving results
Which work can be automated well?
Everything that repeats and always runs the same way:
- Typing in product data
- Syncing prices and stock levels
- Cutting out photos
- Translating texts
- Creating invoices and shipping labels
- Transferring data from one system to another
When is an additional employee the better choice?
When the work consists mainly of customer contact. When the tasks change constantly. And when the business is growing and needs more hands — not just less typing work.
Often the best solution is both: the automation takes over the routine, and the staff have time for customers.
What can automation not do?
AlpenApps from Feldkirch in Vorarlberg automates the routine in the online shop. That does not replace a person: advising, negotiating and deciding remain the job of your staff. The result, too, is still checked and approved by a person.
Our advice in one sentence
Automate the typing work and keep the people for everything where judgement and customer contact matter.
Frequently asked questions
Good to know
- Do I stay in control, or does something change without my knowledge?
- You stay in control. Every change is proposed to you. Only what you have approved is applied.
- Do I have to switch my shop system or inventory management?
- No. We work with the system you already have.