How to increase operational efficiency in 2025? Key strategies and tools

Increasing operational efficiency is one of the biggest challenges for companies in 2025. Rising labor costs, the need for fast access to data and changing customer expectations mean that organizations must look for new ways to optimize processes.
How do you leverage modern technologies such as the cloud, low-code platforms and bots to improve operational efficiency?

Cloud – low entry threshold, “high” benefits

Using cloud technologies is the right step towards efficiency. “In the past, companies had to invest in expensive server rooms and IT infrastructure. Today, it’s enough to subscribe to the right services in a pay-as-you-go model,” notes Maksymilian Kowalczyk. There are indeed many solutions available in this area. Some of them are free, so if you are thinking about cloud services, we suggest a few worth checking out:

• Create Your Azure Free Account Or Pay As You Go | Microsoft Azure – free Azure subscription offer for new customers, summary of free services
• Create Your Azure Free Account Or Pay As You Go | Microsoft Azure – you can create a virtual machine, a bot, a DNS server to manage your domains, automation of Logic Apps in the pay-as-you-go model, without spending your own money at the stage of building and testing the solution
• Google Cloud Free Program – free subscription offer of Google services, in addition to the well-known Google Analytics services; you can use, among others. Among other things, you can use a micro virtual machine, DNS server, bot or workflow automation
• Free Cloud Computing Services – AWS Free Tier – a free offer of Amazon Web Services allows you to run a small virtual machine for 12 months and many AWS services, including databases, speech recognition services, text-to-speech conversion and serverless features
• Oracle Cloud Free Tier | Oracle – a free offer includes, among other things, a virtual machine, database services and disk space

Using SaaS services, you will also solve many of the standard challenges for any organization, such as invoice workflow and handling employee vacations. For example:

• sales and purchase invoice workflow – check out the possibilities offered by Taxxo
• CRM – here you can choose from a number of cloud services, including a free Feature-wise comparison of Zoho CRM Editions | Zoho CRM
• handling vacations and business trips – test Calamari

Even in the free version, these services will allow you to organize without your own server room a company website, launch a CRM system or automate contact handling from the website to the CRM system.

Process automation – the key to efficiency

“Process automation in IT has been a well-known topic for years, but only now have we reached the point where we can do it quickly and without a lot of money.” – Maksymilian Kowalczyk says. Low-code platforms, which allow applications to be created with minimal coding, are becoming available even to people without advanced technical knowledge. “This is a breakthrough, because it allows business departments to design customized solutions on their own.” – Kowalczyk adds.

Employees can therefore quickly build applications to support their daily work, such as document management systems or project monitoring tools. This not only saves time and money, but also increases flexibility. Companies can respond more quickly to market changes by implementing new functionality in their systems without the need to engage external vendors.

What activities are worth automating first?

• In marketing, it will certainly be handling contact forms (e.g., for downloading materials, signing up for events) – this allows you to verify contacts of potential customers in real time and provides quick feedback.
• In sales – generating orders, minutes and invoices – this reduces order processing time and reduces the risk of orders being forgotten.
• In the area of purchasing, it is worthwhile to switch to cost e-invoicing with verification of invoice amounts with order values, missing orders or documents – it reduces the labor intensity of handling, the risk of missing deliveries and payment problems.
• In HR, automations allow efficient management of the employee development path, as well as onboarding and offboarding processes, including access to IT systems, equipment, etc. Assistive bots facilitate self-service for ordering office supplies and services.
• In IT, automations help relieve administrators of the burden of verifying incidents and problems that can be self-service clarified with employees, such as non-standard logins causing security system alerts, instances of opening potentially harmful messages.

Bots and AI – new ways of working

One of the most groundbreaking developments is AI-assisted bots, which enable routine tasks to be performed in seconds. “An employee can ask a question in natural language and the bot will provide the answer or guide them through the process, eliminating the need for lengthy training and manual steps,” – Kowalczyk emphasizes.

For example, the process of submitting a vacation request can take just tens of seconds. The bot asks for the date, generates the appropriate form and sends it for approval. Similarly, ordering office supplies or reporting technical defects can be handled in real time, without involving additional human resources.

What’s more, modern bots are able to monitor the organization’s KPIs, inform managers of key changes and recommend next steps based on data analysis. Microsoft Copilot or Google AI allow automatic summarization of meetings, suggesting next actions and processing large data sets in real time.

See how the bot supports employees in HR processes

Why invest in operational efficiency?

Increasing operational efficiency is first and foremost an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. As Maksymilian Kowalczyk points out, companies that consciously plan to invest in these areas and build a culture open to change and innovation will be able to respond faster to market needs, reduce costs and improve customer service.

The key to success in 2025 is not only to invest in new technologies, but above all to change the organizational mindset. Companies need to build a culture of continuous improvement, where technology acts as a catalyst and is not just an add-on to existing processes.

Therefore, investments in cloud solutions, process automation or AI should not be considered in terms of costs but strategic assets that allow reducing project duration by up to 50%, minimizing employee errors and freeing up employee potential for tasks that require creativity and strategic thinking.

With this combination of business and technology, 2025 will be a very developmental year.