I don’t know if I have ever written a more obvious headline, but I want to go way beyond implementing, and give you a glimpse of how the organization reacts to news that Accounts Payable Automation is going to take the paper invoices away.

When?

One of the initial things to think about is when the “yes” comes, there are several yeses to consider. The first one is when you and (probably) a handful of your colleagues in finance and or IT have done initial work and decided that AP Automation is a project your company is going to take on. If you have done your homework correctly you would have made this yes before ever contacting a service provider.

In The Spirit:

In the spirit of the title the yes that I really want to write about has to do with working through all of the service providers, doing demos and finding the right company for you, and finishing the contract negotiations. This is what I call the big yes. This is the yes that you have to soon make the rest of the company aware of.

What Happens – 3

Well the (1) first thing that will happen is the group that has made the decision and done all of the work will be very happy to share their achievement with others who will not necessarily agree with the idea that it is a good thing. (2) The next thing that happens is the group that made the decision will try as hard as they can to prove that they are capable of making such a big decision and that everyone should trust them. Lastly (3) there is some version of compliance.

Compliance?

This is a difficult situation because it is possible that the project goes ahead without the “blessing” of the rest of the company. This can be a huge uphill battle. Another version of compliance requires the leadership of the company to “mandate” the change. Either of these options won’t get the best result.

The Best

In my experience the best results comes when the entire company is kept apprised of the progress of the decision-making team so that AP Automation is not “sprung” on the company. This will give the majority of the company that doesn’t really care about the change to be ready for it, and it also gives the decision-making group the opportunity to find those people who are opposed to the idea… now… not to “deal” with those people, but to find out why. Finding out why from opposition is much more powerful than discrediting the people who oppose the idea because it will give you insight to things you have not thought about. (And) It’s a PRO move!

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