-
Use Automation to Support Scalable Growth
One of the major challenges CFOs currently face is choosing what to prioritize. With limited budgets and issues hiring and retaining talent, it can be tough to find ways to prioritize growth opportunities and strategic investment.
Business process automation (BPA) software allows finance teams to handle higher transaction volumes with the same or smaller staff footprint. Automation does not replace human employees. It does, however, make their jobs easier by taking over repetitive and routine tasks. This feature enables companies to scale financial processes without necessarily increasing headcount.
BPA implementation supports mergers, acquisitions, and rapid expansion by standardizing and automating key financial processes. Automated data entry, financial processing, policy enforcement, and reporting help maintain efficiency as the business scales. And when you choose cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) software as your BPA solution, the software easily scales to your needs without any burden on your IT department.
Automation Saves Time
Implementing BPA software can ease the burden of headcount shortages that plague so many CFOs today. It does this not by replacing your human employees but by making it much easier to manage financial processes. With the software handling tasks like data entry, purchase order (PO) generation, enforcing T&E policies, matching invoices with POs, and sending approval reminder emails, your employees have time to devote to tasks that need a human touch.
Automation streamlines and standardizes financial processes. For example, accounts payable automation dramatically reduces P2P cycle time. By implementing automation, we find that the average number of days to process a vendor payment is reduced by nearly three days. For invoices linked to a PO that’s already in the system, the software can usually process automatic payments within 12 hours or less.
Automation Supports Employee Retention
Automation supports company growth without you necessarily needing to hire additional people. A highly skilled finance team is still vitally important, though. The good news is that implementing BPA software can actually help support employee retention.
User-friendly BPA software makes employees’ jobs easier and more interesting. Automating repetitive tasks means employees can focus on tasks that require their talents and expertise. That makes work more satisfying and engaging. Surveys show that implementing BPA software improves employee satisfaction, and most employees working with BPA automation don’t worry about it replacing their jobs. Automation helps your team work more efficiently while also boosting morale.
Automation Requires New Skills
With software automating routine tasks that once took up the bulk of employees’ time, you will need to prepare your finance team for new roles. After implementing BPA automation, employees can fill a more value-added role that involves data analysis and interdepartmental collaboration.
As you implement automation, also implement a program to prepare your team with the upskilling they need to thrive as your company’s financial processes change. Training in data literacy, working with BPA software, and cross-functional collaboration prepares teams to take on a more analytical role.
SaaS Automation Scales Easily
The most scalable option for BPA automation is a cloud-based SaaS program. One of the major choices you’ll make when planning BPA automation is between a cloud-based and on-premises system. There are pros and cons to both options, but for most businesses, a cloud-based system will be the simplest to implement and use. Cloud-based SaaS programs are cost-effective, faster and easier to implement, user-friendly, customizable, secure, and scalable.
If the number of invoices your company processes doubled tomorrow, the accounts payable SaaS module would scale up to meet the new demand automatically. It works the same way for other software modules as well. With NextProcess’s transaction-based pricing, you don’t need to clear additional transactions with us and we don’t charge extra fees to add new users. You just keep paying for the services you use, no matter how fast or how big your company grows. And if you have a slower month, the software scales back just as easily to help keep costs down.
SaaS Automation is Customizable
Flexible customization options are another way that BPA software supports scalable growth. You get to set up your automated financial workflow in the way that works best for your company. With a process in place that works well, it’s easy to scale up the transaction volume without much (if any) need for employees to rework the system. If you choose NextProcess, this customization includes seamless integration with existing ERPs, even ones that don’t normally support integrations.
You can also update the customization at any time. This is particularly important because you can use the software to automatically enforce best practices and regulations. You can customize the software to match your company’s policies and automatically enforce compliance as your company scales up. Since you can update the custom policies as needed, you’ll be able to quickly implement and enforce new policies to comply with updated regulations that impact your sector.
SaaS is Easy To Implement
While there are steps you need to take to make sure you get business process automation right the first time, implementing a SaaS BPA solution is relatively simple. The software supplier will work with you to roll out the solution across your company and implement the software modules that you choose. This process goes much more quickly than implementing an on-premises software system, and it is much easier on your IT department. You just need internet-enabled computers for your employees to work from, and the software supplier handles the rest.
To support scalable growth in the most efficient way, you need a true end-to-end solution for financial processing automation. NextProcess offers a premium suite of software modules to unify finances end-to-end by automating your capital project management, procurement and purchase orders, accounts payable, travel and expense, document management, and payment disbursements. Contact us today to learn more and set up a free demo so you can see our scalable software in action.
