As someone who has spent a lot of time either helping organizations change or doing the change, I have developed a pretty long list of what I like to call “key indicators”.

Key Indicators

These are actions, conversations, or questions that tell me where a person or a group really is in the process of change. The challenge is you can ask someone how they are doing and they will look you right in the eye and tell you there are doing fine. I remember a mentor I had early in business that said when someone asks you how you are doing 80% don’t care and if you are doing poorly the other 20% are happy to hear that. We have been condition to not tell the truth in certain situations. That’s why key indicators will help you find out how they are really doing.

With AP Automation

When the paper is going do the questions stop? Before you Automate AP you will notice that your organization will have, what seems like, a ton of questions. They will be mostly fear based, thinking that the lack of paper will mean there will be a lack of control. A key indication that the change has gone well is to notice the questions tailing off and then changing.

Changing?

The indication that your company is adapting well to automation is they will start to ask what I like to call optimizing type questions. These are questions where they are helping you improve the process. Questions that have their root in some type of improving the process. Some of these questions may not work or really be appropriate, but if you start to see them show up, know that your group is taking well to the change.

The Other Side:

The same is true that if you don’t start to see these questions, and you continue the hear the same questions over and over again, and they will be more rooted in – why are we doing this or basic questions they should have mastered like where to login or how to approve, these are indications that either the solution provider wasn’t a good fit or the training wasn’t done well enough, but with any case you have some work to do.

Oh

The questions never stop… and I hope I have made a case for that being a good thing.

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