-
5 Ways Using Business Process Automation Technology Can Help Grow Your Business
High operating costs stifle business growth. In contrast, if you’re able to cut back on operating costs and streamline business processes, you’ll be in a better position for your company to thrive and grow.
A survey of CFOs in November last year revealed that their top priorities for 2023 involve “significant strategic change” in finance (“Gartner Survey Identifies the Top 10 Priorities for CFOs in 2023”). These changes include overseeing the implementation of improved technology, leading change initiatives in the business, and improving the strategic role of finance.
CFOs in 2023 are also dealing with high inflation and the possibility of a recession. Given their top priorities and the current economic climate, strategically growing a business is going to require careful financial strategy, budgeting, and planning.
Many CFOs agree that “the incorporation of digital technology [is] a key route to improving profitability in volatile times” (“Gartner Survey”). Implementing budgeting, CapEx management, purchasing, accounts payable, and payments software solutions can support CFOs in achieving their goals for finance in 2023 and beyond.
Improve Operational Efficiency
Business process automation (BPA) software excels at improving efficiency. Routine tasks like data entry, invoice and purchase order reconciliation, and filing records eat up a lot of employee time if they’re doing everything by hand. It’s time-consuming whether the system is paper-based or uses a software program like Excel.
BPA speeds up these routine tasks tremendously. In AP departments, for example, automation takes the average time to process a vendor payment from 8.6 days down to 5.4 days. The software handles invoices associated with a PO even faster; they’re typically processed and paid within 12 hours.
Using cloud-based BPA software means that your software supplier provides regular updates and improvements. One of the new features NextProcess is offering will automate purchase order acknowledgments, thereby improving operational efficiency for the procurement department.
Streamline End-To-End Process
Improved efficiency isn’t isolated to single departments. You can use BPA software to create a streamlined end-to-end solution for financial processing. This works best when you can automate all the departments with software from a single provider. Mixing and matching software can lead to frustration and stress for everyone involved. Getting all your software in one place makes automation simple.
NextProcess offers the only true end-to-end solution that covers capital project management, procurement & purchase orders, accounts payable, travel & expense, and payment disbursements. Our software is also fully compatible with ERPs including NetSuite, SAP, MS Business Central, and more.
Take Advantage of Savings Opportunities
BPA software helps you cut back on operational expenses in financial departments. Many of these savings come from streamlining processes and making them more efficient. Across the board, NextProcess clients typically break even in 9-12 months. They also see additional reductions in processing costs over time.
In addition to cutting back on operation expenses, automation also makes it easier to take advantage of savings opportunities. Early pay discounts are one example. Because your company can track invoices and payments so closely, you can take advantage of early payment discounts offered by suppliers. AP and purchasing might also find that they can work together to negotiate additional savings by offering solutions that benefit vendors and your company.
For payments, you can implement a payments-as-a-service (PaaS) solution to streamline the payment process. This software solution makes it easy to use charge cards with cashback incentives when making business payments.
Enhance Control and Visibility
Another way that BPA software supports a company is through increased control and visibility. In addition to streamlining financial processes and improving efficiency, BPA software supports best practices and policy enforcement. Compliance and control tailored to your organization’s needs are built into the software.
NextProcess’s software is highly configurable. During implementation, we’ll work closely with your company to customize the setup to your exact needs. You’ll be able to enforce many company policies automatically. For example, you can set up custom catalogs in the purchase order software to ensure companies only purchase pre-approved items from the correct vendors. The punch-out and item catalogs are also user-friendly, making compliance simple.
Since the software is cloud-based, you can log in to your secure BPA system from any internet-enabled device. The software updates in real time, meaning you can always view the most up-to-date information for ongoing and past financial transactions. This feature also makes collaboration simpler since everyone involved in a project or transaction can log in to the same platform and see real-time status information.
Centralize and Digitize Record Keeping
Digitizing record keeping in a central database is a best practice in the modern business world. It’s a good idea for several reasons. First, digital records are more secure. You don’t have to worry about them being lost, damaged, or destroyed as easily as paper. Second, digital records are easier to store. Hard drives and servers take up much less room than paper filing cabinets. Since they take up less room, you’ll also be able to back up important records in multiple places more easily. And if you’re using cloud-based storage, your company doesn’t have to maintain any of the servers.
Secure digital storage solutions also make it easier to find and use data. With BPA software automatically logging information related to every financial process, you’ll have a wealth of data right at your fingertips. NextProcess software makes it easy to search for specific information and run reports.
Accurate and accessible data makes audits go much more smoothly. You’ll also need this type of data to support useful budgets and accurate forecasting. It’s another way that BPA software supports CFO priorities and helps enable business growth.
The NextProcess Difference
As you work to grow your business and meet financial goals for this year and beyond, BPA software can help. By using automated software to improve efficiency, streamline the end-to-end financial process, save money, enhance control and visibility, and centralize data storage you’ll be setting your company up for success.
NextProcess is a reliable BPA software provider with 20 years of experience in the industry. As a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, we develop our software in-house with ongoing input from our clients and our staff. Each module is configurable to work with all major ERP systems and can stand alone or work together with other NextProcess modules to provide the scalable solutions your organization needs. Contact us today to learn more and schedule a free demo.