By Renato Cudicio, MBA – President of TechNuCom
According to the latest CFIB–Investissement Québec report (PDF 4.3 MB in French), a trend is becoming clear: productivity gains achieved through automation are more visible in small businesses, and their return on investment (ROI) is faster.
Excluding the manufacturing sector, which invests primarily in industrial robots, organizations are rightly focusing first on automating administrative processes (66%), followed much further behind by automating marketing, sales, purchasing, and customer service. But all sectors can reap results in a short time through targeted automation where the benefits are easily identifiable.
Fast ROI: small scope, big impact.
According to the study, 47% of SMEs see a return on investment within one to three years, while 42% of large companies must wait more than three years. The reasons are simple. Small businesses start by automating simpler, energy-intensive tasks and applying Pareto’s law to avoid trying to solve every specific case. The elimination of administrative bottlenecks (e.g., billing, approvals, and data entry) in small teams immediately reallocates saved hours to value-added activities, increasing measured productivity. This dynamic is also part of a provincial context in which labor productivity in Quebec increased slightly in 2024, indicating that investments are paying off.
The three obstacles that are (still) holding back automation
That said, it is clear that the barriers to automation—including robotic process automation (RPA)—are very much “on the ground”:
- Finding the right solution: 30% of SMEs struggle to identify the right tool for their processes and budget.
- Lack of internal skills: 24% lack the personnel to deploy and maintain it.
- Implicit Prioritization: We know that “automation is necessary,” but where should we start to achieve a quick ROI?
These findings are detailed in the CFIB–IQ report and included in Investissement Québec‘s official communications (in French).
Concrete and realistic solutions to implement:
- Target a micro-administrative process (accounts payable, reconciliations, purchase order creation, periodic reports). A timeframe of 4 to 8 weeks allows for quick delivery and measurement of initial ROI.
The report confirms that administration and production are the areas with “quick wins,” so start there. - Choose the tool based on complexity:
- RPA to automate repetitive multi-application tasks (copy/paste, extractions, mailings).
- ERP to centralize data (inventory, production, finances) and avoid double entries.
- CRM to secure the sales cycle (prospecting→quotes→follow-ups).
- Get around the talent shortage: outsource design and commissioning, then train an SME “process owner” (1–2 hours/week) to manage developments.
- Switch to OPEX mode: RPA in Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) mode spreads the cost over time, reduces the initial risk, and facilitates ramp-up.
- Light but strict governance: a registry of automations, before/after indicators (hours, errors, delays), and security/data rules from the outset. The results are more credible… and fundable.
Where TechNuCom simplifies your life
TechNuCom supports SMEs that want results in months, not years:
- Express diagnosis: task mapping, calculation of recoverable time, and design of an automation prototype.
- Implementation by qualified developers based in Quebec (RPA, ERP/CRM integrations, API) who tailor the solution to your needs.
- Skills transfer: simple documentation, operational coaching, and a RaaS model for predictable monthly costs.
👉 Tell us about your most frustrating process, and we will provide you a “ROI < 90 days” scenario.
Or write to us for a prioritization workshop (1 hour, remote).
To see how we structure these projects, take a look at our recent posts on ERP, CRM, RPA, and AI—summary and use cases—on the TechNuCom blog.
