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Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Finance Automation Projects
Adopting digital technology, including Business Process Automation (BPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), is at the top of many CFOs’ priorities going into 2026. While digitization is a high priority, surveys also show that confidence in this type of technology is relatively low.
It’s easy to see the need for digital technology in the modern business world. It’s also easy to see the potential for software implementation to be stressful and expensive, and there’s always the fear of new software not living up to expectations.
If you’re thinking of implementing a finance automation project, taking steps to avoid common pitfalls can go a long way toward guaranteeing success. It’s important that you examine existing processes and plan how you want to implement them before you start rolling out new BPA software. You’ll also need to work with your finance team and provide training to prepare them for the way that finance automation will change their jobs. Having a realistic timeframe in mind for how long implementation will take also helps you manage expectations and track return on investment (ROI). Finally, choosing your software supplier carefully sets your company up for successful software implementation.
Take the Time To Plan Before Implementation
Building a cross-functional task force is key to laying the groundwork for successful BPA implementation. Including finance, IT, and operations in the early stages of automation ensures alignment on the project and provides opportunities for planning a true end-to-end financial automation solution.
Work with key finance stakeholders within your company to decide on what type of automation to implement, which departments to automate, and how you’ll measure success. Start with process mapping and optimization. Automating broken or inconsistent processes can amplify inefficiencies. You need to identify what works and what doesn’t about current processes, and establish best practices to adhere to in the future.
Make sure that there is interdepartmental collaboration during this planning stage. Neglecting integration planning often leads to siloed tools and missed opportunities. For example, seamless procure-to-pay automation involves the procurement department and accounts payable team working closely together.
Remember The People
BPA automation can help a company cope with staffing shortages or scale up operations without necessarily increasing headcount. However, it is not a substitute for human employees. Many people don’t know that, though, and talk of automation and AI can cause worries about how their jobs are changing and whether they will still have a job by the time implementation is completed.
Preparing your finance team for automation is a key part of successful BPA implementation. Employees need to know why automation is a good idea for them as well as for the company. You can emphasize that automation is designed to make their jobs easier, not to replace them. Surveys show that the majority of employees in workplaces that have already implemented BPA report higher job satisfaction and no worries that automation will take away their jobs.
Automation will change the type of work that employees are doing. With BPA software taking over data entry, error checking, and other routine or repetitive tasks, employees have time to devote to other tasks. As you implement automation, also implement a program to equip your team with the upskilling they need to thrive as your company changes. Training in data literacy, working with BPA software, and cross-functional collaboration prepares teams to take on a more analytical role after BPA implementation. On the other hand, underestimating change management and training needs can delay adoption or lead to poor ROI.
Have A Realistic Timeframe
If you’re planning to implement a new software system, you’ve probably heard that cloud BPA platforms typically offer faster deployment than on-premises software systems. This is generally true, and you can have cloud-based BPA set up within a matter of months, while some on-prem setups can take a year. Remember, though, that it is still important to make time for pre-implementation planning and to budget time after initial implementation for employees to get used to the software.
Let’s take NextProcess’s accounts payable automation as an example. We’re usually looking at 60-90 days to finish the initial implementation, and 3-4 months to be fully set up for using the AP software. That’s not the end, though. We typically do not consider any implementation project finished (in other words, at a “steady state”) until 6 months after it goes live.
The longer you use your new software, the more effective it becomes. As you use the software, machine learning technology learns how to process invoices. After using it for a few months, auto-processing rates can get up into the 80-90% range. Throughout this process, NextProcess provides both implementation and integration support. Our Project Managers work closely with each client to help you understand configuration options, decide what will work best for your goals, and customize the software’s functionality.
Choose Your Supplier Carefully
It’s a well-known, though sometimes debated, statistic that roughly ⅔ of projects in the IT/software industry are not implemented as planned. About ⅓ fail entirely, ⅓ are scaled back with a reduced scope, and only 1/3 are fully implemented. Often, these failures can be traced back to poor planning and communication between the company trying to use the software and the software supplier. Other times, the failure is the software supplier’s fault when they make empty promises or conceal hidden fees.
None of those are issues with NextProcess. We have a near-perfect implementation rate. The only times we haven’t completed an installation, the client backed out for an internal reason (not because we couldn’t deliver on our promises or we changed the scope of the project unexpectedly). There are no hidden fees with our software, and you know exactly what you’re getting when you start working with us.
Contact NextProcess today to set up a free demo. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you have and demonstrate how our software would work in your company.
