8 Wastes to Eliminate Before 2026 Using CRM & Automation

In 2026, the fastest-growing businesses will not be those that work harder, but those that waste less. Much of this waste is hidden within the daily operations of marketing, sales, and customer service teams.

According to Process Improvement Success Stories, organizations that digitize and improve their workflows can reduce operational time by 30–50% across multiple departments, while significantly improving data quality and decision-making accuracy.

At the same time, the combined use of HubSpot CRM, CDP, API integrations, and Automation has proven to reduce data duplication, increase efficiency, and lower operational costs across industries such as Healthcare, Education, and B2B. Real-world cases show up to a 70% improvement in email performance and nearly 99% growth in inbound leads within just a few months.

8 Types of Waste Businesses Must Eliminate Before 2026—and How CRM & Automation Help

1) Duplicated Data — The Most Costly Waste

Duplicate data is one of the most common issues across CRM systems, Excel files, lead forms, and advertising platforms. It creates hidden costs such as:

Serving ads repeatedly to the same audience
Sending emails to the wrong segments
Inaccurate reports due to duplicated metrics

By connecting CRM and CDP through APIs, businesses can create a Single Customer View, eliminating duplicates at a structural level and significantly reducing repetitive data cleanup for marketing teams.

Tools to reduce this waste

CRM + CDP
API Integration
Deduplication Workflows

2) Waiting Time — Instantly Reduced with Automation

Waiting Time refers to delays such as:

Customer data handoffs from front-end systems to sales
Document approvals
Waiting for responses from other teams

Automated workflows dramatically reduce waiting time in customer service and sales processes, minimize backlogs, and lower SLA breaches by significant margins.

Tools to reduce this waste

HubSpot Automation
Automated Task Assignment
Ticket Routing

3) Overprocessing — Doing More Work Than Necessary

Common examples include:

Creating multiple dashboards across Google Data Studio, Excel, and CRM
Reanalyzing the same data repeatedly

A centralized dashboard connected via APIs can reduce reporting time by over 40% and provide executives with real-time visibility without waiting for manual analysis.

Tools to reduce this waste

CRM Dashboards
AI Analytics
Data Sync APIs

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4) Overinventory — Storing More Data Than Necessary Across Too Many Platforms

Many businesses store customer data across multiple systems, such as:

Excel
POS systems
Membership platforms
LINE Official Accounts
E-commerce platforms

Using a unified Customer Platform that consolidates data via APIs prevents redundant storage, reduces management complexity, and significantly cuts time and operational costs.

Tools to reduce this waste

CDP
CRM Integrations
API Consolidation

5) Transportation Waste — Unnecessary Movement of Data and Tasks

Common examples include:

Manually transferring leads from Google Sheets to CRM
Sales teams copying data from emails into CRM
Customers re-entering the same information due to disconnected systems

CRM combined with Automation eliminates this waste by automatically syncing data across channels. For example, e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop can be connected to HubSpot instantly via Ourgreenfish’s Connectio integration.

6) Defects — Data Errors That Damage Customer Experience

Inaccurate data—such as incorrect names, phone numbers, or incomplete records—often leads to lost deals and poor customer experiences.

Automation helps prevent defects by:

Automatically validating data
Triggering alerts for missing information
Requiring critical fields to be completed before handoff to sales

Both process improvement frameworks and the HubSpot platform confirm that reducing data defects directly improves conversion rates across multiple industries.

7) Motion Waste — Constantly Switching Between Systems

Many organizations operate across 8–12 different tools daily—CRM, LINE OA, Mailchimp, POS, ERP, Ad Managers, and more—creating significant motion waste.

The HubSpot Customer Platform is designed to reduce this waste by unifying Marketing, Sales, and Service in a single system, minimizing context switching and enabling teams to work faster immediately.

8) Talent Waste — Using Skilled People on Low-Value Tasks

Common examples include:

Account Executives spending time on reports
Marketing teams cleaning duplicate data
Support teams repeatedly entering data manually

Reducing manual work allows teams to focus on high-value activities such as strategy, customer analysis, and deal closing—driving measurable productivity gains at the organizational level.