Guide to Productizing Services With Technology and Automation

Businesses across diverse sectors, from small startups to established enterprises, often struggle to maintain consistent revenue. Additionally, they encounter challenges in increasing valuations, scaling operations, and differentiating themselves in a competitive market. 

Let’s delve into the realm of service productization, using HR firms as an illustrative example to address the complexities of regulatory changes, the demand for customized solutions, and the need for efficient and scalable processes. 

The constant pressure to maintain profitability while facing complexities like ever-changing regulations has HR firms asking the crucial question: How to streamline HR processes?

The productization of services—transforming customized services into standardized, marketable products—offers a compelling solution. By productizing their offerings, companies can ensure consistent delivery, streamlined processes, and the creation of scalable solutions. 

By transforming bespoke services into standardized, market-ready offerings, businesses of all kinds can enhance their competitiveness and unlock new avenues for growth.

In this article, we’ll explore the transformative potential of service productization, examining its role in reshaping business strategies, driving efficiency gains, and positioning organizations for long-term success in today’s dynamic market landscape.

An Overview of Productization of Services Strategy

Productization generally involves packaging internally used services into a product that can easily be sold as recurring or one-time services, communicate the immediate value of the service, and be largely automated.

Productization can be applied to a firm’s capabilities, intellectual capital, or knowledge and transform it into a product or service that is offered at a fixed price. 

In this strategy, high-end professional service firms operate in a product-first mindset that allows them to implement automatization in their clients’ workflows. Productization particularly targets high-volume, repetitive tasks that can be automated. 

As firms begin to think about opportunities for productization and subsequent non-linear growth, they must prioritize customization to attract a variety of clients. However, the product must be offered as a standardized and marketable solution to enhance profits. 

The productization process ensures that products are created with less resource utilization, allowing professionals within the firm to concentrate on high-level tasks. As a result, these increases in productivity and efficiency can maximize non-linear growth.

By transforming your services into tangible products, you are not only building an asset that can appreciate in value but also creating additional sources of revenue for your business. 

The Stages of the Productization Process

Successful product development in service firms involves:

1. The discovery of potential products by identifying opportunities for automation.
2. The development of products that can self-improve based on data analysis.
3. The monetization of these products through a revenue model that synthesizes the benefits of automation. 

Productization can only occur if there is the potential for automation of a particular successful service and if customers are willing to pay for a recurring service. 

Observing patterns in services and evaluating the level of frequency and sophistication in certain tasks can provide insight into profitable services that can benefit from automation. 

The development of products involves converting existing services into products that adapt to their users and self-improve by harnessing technology. These services can be embedded into products such as a data-driven platform that can enhance the overall value proposition offered by the service. 

To determine whether the product is worth developing, firms must decide how to derive a pricing model that captures its value. This model must consider the increased quantity of the service offering from automation technology as well as the increased quality of the service offering from analytics. 

An Example of Productization: Templatized Compliance Forms in HR

HR companies provide a common service of building compliance documents tailored to their clients’ needs. While this process requires significant resources such as skilled professionals and continuous regulatory monitoring to ensure accuracy, it limits efficiency and stability.

As demand grows, the resource-intensive nature of customization within these documents leads to higher costs and longer turnaround times. 

To address these operational hurdles and unlock opportunities for efficiency, Bitcot examined how HR compliance firms could productize their document generation services by leveraging automation and data analysis. 

Using a no-code document-building platform, users can automate document generation by using document templates for different types of compliance documents and implementing changes according to their needs. Automating document generation for HR compliance enhances efficiency, ensures consistency, and reduces the risk of errors.

After these documents are created and edited, users can utilize survey templates to collect relevant data points necessary for completing the compliance document. This data is then collected, stored, and auto-populated into the compliance document. 

By breaking down the compliance services into modular components, such as document generation, the process of creating compliance documents becomes more user-friendly, efficient, and scalable. 

This solution focused on:

• Cost Efficiency and Speed: Utilizing a no-code document builder with modular components and pre-built templates allows for rapid customization and streamlined workflows. This results in significant cost savings, improved operational efficiency, and faster time-to-market for business solutions.
• Improved Productivity: The platform collects data from survey templates, stores it as a dataset, and imports it into compliance documents. Rapid data collection for compliance requirements reduces the overall turnaround time for filling out a document and centralizes this process on a single platform. 
• Improved Compliance: Admin-created pre-built templates with guided workflows ensure that all necessary information is included in documents. This reduces errors, ensures consistency, and minimizes the need for rework, thereby enhancing document quality, ensuring compliance, and saving time and resources.

The Benefits of our Templatized HR Compliance Forms Solution

• Efficiency: No code development eliminates reliance on specialized IT staff and developers for coding expertise, streamlining the overall process of generating compliance documents. 
• Scalability: Users can easily scale document generation processes to handle increased workloads and adapt or expand flexible modules to meet growing compliance needs.
• Consistency and Accuracy: Modular components reduce the risk of inconsistencies and errors in document creation, and standardized templates ensure that all documents comply with current regulations and standards. 
• User Empowerment: Intuitive interfaces and drag-and-drop functionality make it easy for non-technical staff to build and modify compliance documents, empowering HR professionals to manage documentation independently. 
• Agility: Templatized documents allow users to make quick updates in response to regulatory changes, resulting in faster response times and continuous compliance. 
• Personalization: A modular approach allows users to easily customize documents to fit specific client or organizational needs without the need for extensive reworking of documents.  
• Centralization: Integration capabilities with survey data enable centralized document creation, completion, and management to enhance overall hr workflow process efficiency. 

HR compliance solutions are essential for any organization. They ensure adherence to regulations and protect both employers and employees. The benefits of no-code software for compliance are numerous, making it a valuable investment for companies of all sizes.

An Overview of the Implemented Design Features and Workflows

Creating compliance documents requires HR employees to have a deep understanding of regulatory requirements, meticulous attention to detail, and the ability to customize documents to fit each client’s specific needs. 

While this process is time-consuming and repetitive, it demands a high level of expertise to ensure accuracy and compliance. 

To maintain the quality of these documents while conserving labor costs, we designed a no-code document builder platform that allows admin users to create master templates using modular components and drag-and-drop functionality. 

In these workflows, admin users can work on a centralized platform to customize their surveys and document templates. The no-code platform features an intuitive interface that guides users through the process of creating and managing their saved templates.

When building surveys, admin users have the ability to:

• Add specific survey components: Users can find common survey components on the left side panel which includes text, questions, images, embedded videos, dividers, and content layouts. 

• View real-time progress of their survey builder: A dynamic view of the user’s survey is displayed at the center of their screen, allowing them to add blocks and select components for editing.

• Customize page themes including text and color: On the right panel, users can find customization options for page themes and components. They can also view, add, and modify their pages by clicking on the “Settings” icon next to each page.

• Choose unique customizations for components: By selecting a particular component such as a question, users can change layouts and question types to reflect the type of information they want to collect for the compliance document. 

• Preview surveys as an employee: After adding the content, users can click the “Eye” icon to preview and ensure the survey looks complete before saving it as a template.

• Save created surveys as templates: By clicking the “Save as Template” button, users can name their templates and access their templates within the platform. Under “Templates”, users can view recently saved templates along with the creation date and the number of questions required. 

After creating the survey that will provide the data for their document, admin users can now proceed to build their document. In this workflow, users aim to create a standardized template for a specific type of compliance document.

To begin, admin users can click the “Create Template” button and choose to create a document template from a list of dropdown items. 

Users can use the following features to create their documents: 

• Use document-specific components: Users can work within the same interface but choose document-specific components including headings, page headers, document instructions, tables, field entries, text, page footers, table of contents, and e-signatures. 
• Personalize component styles and settings: Each component has various settings and designs. For instance, users can create a block with a fillable personal information field and then select and adjust individual field settings like field type and name.

• Access advanced settings for document components: Users can create more complex documents that require specific components such as tables. Advanced settings provide users the ability to change subheadings and size ratios and implement text wrapping to fit document specifications. 

• Modify designs of components: In the design section of components, users can make changes to colors, font type and size, and spacing. As seen in the table of contents component, users can make these design adjustments to both the title and subtitle typography. 

• Preview and save templates: After creating a compliance document that meets regulatory requirements, users can preview and save their template. Admin users can now view their saved survey templates and document templates in one place. 

After these master templates are created by admin users, they become available to users from different organizations who desire to adjust them to meet their needs. To edit master templates created by super-admin users, new users must add their organizations and create a workspace to house customized compliance documents. Users have the ability to:

• Create a new organization: Users can create a new organization by clicking “Add Organization” and selecting the type of organization with specified permissions. Organizations can be public, private, or org-wide. 

• Create and edit an organization’s profile: Users can then create a profile for their organization and add a name, image, and brief description. The newly-created organization will be visible under “Organizations” where users can manage users or edit their profiles.

• Add and manage users: Under “User Management”, a list of users and their roles in the organization is displayed. Users can modify roles or remove individuals. 

• Create new workspaces: By clicking into the organization, users can view their existing workspaces and create a new workspace by clicking the “Create a New Workspace” button. After naming their workspace, the new workspace displays the number of active users and the number of pending invites.

• Access organization documents and surveys: Under “Documents and Forms” in the organization’s workspaces, users can click “View All Templates” to select from the master templates and edit them according to their client needs. 

• Copy and edit templates: After previewing a template, users can make a copy and edit these templates in their own document-builder workspace. 

In the final workflow, users can import data from surveys into their personalized compliance documents. This streamlines the process of completing these forms by eliminating the step in which the client receives and inputs the relevant information in the compliance document. 

To complete each compliance document using data generated from surveys, users can:

• Share created survey templates with recipients: Users can send their surveys to individual or multiple recipients using an auto-generated email template and have the option to edit the subject line. 

• View survey data in workspaces: After the survey is received by the recipient and the necessary information is collected, the data will be stored under the “Surveys” tab in the organization’s workspaces. 

• Import data from surveys into a created document: Under the “Documents” tab in the organization’s workspaces, users can choose to import data into an existing document. After selecting “Import Data” from the document actions, users can choose which survey dataset they want to assign. 

Auto-populate documents with survey data: Users can preview their compliance document with auto-populated data from the selected survey. After saving this document, it will be stored under their workspaces for easy access.

Using these workflows, the document creation, completion, and management process is centralized on a single platform. The productization approach not only improves service delivery but also opens up new business opportunities in HR and enhances client experience. 

Additional Use Cases of Productization in Financial Management

HR is one of the many examples where productization can have a drastic impact on service delivery. In the landscape of financial management, opportunities for productization are vast due to the constant demand for expertise provided by financial advisors. 

Automation and Financial Planning Dashboards

We looked to automation and financial planning dashboards for advisors as tools that could be leveraged to streamline routine tasks, provide real-time insights, and deliver personalized strategies more efficiently. 

These tools not only boost productivity but also enable advisors to package their expertise into accessible, user-friendly products that expand their customer base. 

By focusing on automation for financial efficiency, advisors can maximize their operational effectiveness and provide superior value to their clients.

BudgetBuddy Financial Planning Application

Our financial planning application, BudgetBuddy, enables users to personalize their budget, create goals and spending plans, manage their transactions, and receive guidance on their financial plans from professionals. 

Financial advisors can provide auto-generated reports and insights on users’ investments and portfolios to ensure that their clients are accelerating towards their goals. 

Financial planning applications like this can revolutionize the way people manage their money. 

Workflow for Financial Goals

In one workflow, users are able to select the type of financial goal they want to create and work towards. BudgetBuddy records key information including target amounts and monthly contributions to provide an estimate of when the goal will be reached. 

In addition, these goals can be synced with users’ bank accounts and spending accounts to actively assist them in reaching their goals. 

Professional Recommendations and Advice

BudgetBuddy also provides recommendations and advice generated from professionals to ensure that users are on the right track and are positively contributing to their financial history. If users wish to seek more guidance, they can schedule one-on-one meetings through the platform. 

Personalized User Experience

Users can personalize their experience on BudgetBuddy by selecting their financial priorities and indicating whether they have worked with a financial planner before. 

This allows professionals to gauge the level of experience and knowledge that their clients may have and provide the appropriate resources to assist them.

Personalized user experience in financial management enhances engagement and effectiveness, as it ensures that each user receives tailored advice and tools suited to their unique financial situation and goals. 

Personalized dashboards enable users to have quick and easy access to financial information including their transactions, spending, goals, and budgets. Users can customize their dashboard according to their preferences and needs. 

Creating Saving Goals

Users can create saving goals that align with their goals for their future. To do this, users can click the “Add Goals” button located at the top right of their screen. This will prompt a pop-up in which users can select a card containing their desired goal. 

Users can set their target goal date and quantify their monthly contribution. BudgetBuddy provides suggestions on how users can reach their goals on time to ensure that they are on the right track.

Syncing Planned Contributions with Spending Goals

After inputting their goal information, users can decide to sync their planned monthly contribution with their spending goals. This holds users more accountable for reaching their goals and makes it easy to track their progress. 

Tracking Progress

Users can view their newly created goals and track their progress in a segmented bar chart displaying the amount currently available, the amount spent, and the amount left to save. 

The BudgetBuddy application for financial planning offers users a comprehensive suite of tools to manage their finances, set goals, and track their progress efficiently.

Final Thoughts

Productizing HR and financial management services transforms processes into scalable and client-centric solutions. By adopting productization as a strategy, businesses can enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure consistent service quality.

HR automation solutions and financial management automation tools play a pivotal role in this transformation by streamlining tasks, improving accuracy, and providing real-time insights across industries. Ultimately, the integration of automation and analytics empowers organizations to better meet client needs and maintain a competitive edge in today’s dynamic business environment.

If you’re ready to take your HR and financial management services to the next level, it’s time to embrace productization with no code software development. Start by evaluating your current processes and identifying areas where automation and scalable solutions can make a significant impact. 

By doing so, you’ll not only be improving efficiency and reducing compliance costs with automated solutions but also be enhancing the overall quality of your services. 

Don’t wait—begin your journey towards a more efficient, cost-effective, and client-focused operation today with a HR workflow automation solution.

At Bitcot, we offer expert HR and financial management services. Contact our team to learn more about HR compliance for small businesses and how we can help you transform your services into powerful, scalable products.