Change has historically come slowly to accounts payable (AP).
Many AP pros have spent their entire career in the same department, doing things the same way.
That all changed over the past year.
The prolonged shift to remote working has disrupted the way that AP departments operate. In an instant, established processes for processing invoices were turned upside down and shaken hard.
AP leaders and their teams were confronted with:
In the face of this upheaval, AP leaders kept their staff safe and found ways to pay suppliers when AP staff couldn’t get into the office. Most AP teams have settled into an operational rhythm.
Now the hard part begins.
AP leaders must find ways to make these new ways of working, work better.
Eighty-one percent of AP leaders surveyed by the Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) say their team is working remotely, at least in part. And there’s no telling when, or if, AP teams will be returning to the office full time. Remote working is here to stay. Many businesses will use remote working to ensure social distancing. Others will offer remote work arrangements to staff who need flexible schedules. Some will dangle remote working to recruit millennials and other new hires. And more businesses may downsize their office space based on the success of remote working.
Adapting paper-based AP processes to a remote work environment is difficult. And using e-mails to receive and process invoices is extremely risky and susceptible to errors, delays, and lost invoices. No wonder that 59 percent of AP leaders surveyed by IOFM said their department paid an invoice late since the start of the pandemic because of operational issues, not cash-flow considerations.
Thriving in the new normal
Automation optimizes invoice capture, approval, and posting, regardless of where staff work.
With AP automation, new ways of working are an opportunity for improvement, not a burden.
Best of all, leading AP automation solutions are so easy to deploy, use and maintain that they will win over the most skeptical frontline employee, accelerating system adoption and payback.
Want to learn more about making remote working work better for your AP department?
Watch our video, “New Ways of Working.”
Learn more about how an AP Automation Solution can transform remote working conditions.