It is always good to have allies. Better yet, it’s always good to have allies that can help you. That’s what today’s article is about, resources that can help.

Worst?

The person who said keep your friends close and your enemies closers was a very smart person. I would venture to guess that they had some significant accounting experience in their life or tried to automate something. Let’s face it, when it comes to an Accounts Payable Automation project you need all the help you can get.

Resources That Can Help

1. Technology – Let’s start with the most obvious ones first. When I write, as you can probably tell, I mostly write to accounting professionals. Technologies get a bad rap a lot of times, and as an accountant we could use their help in vetting service providers or making sure all systems will be nice to each other.
2. C – Level – This is another obvious one, but you must have buy-in from the CFO and or CEO and even the board if you can get it. Having leadership buy-in is critical because AP Automation is a fundamental change to the business.
3. Colleagues – I run into this situation on a frequent basis where one member of the accounting department is vetting AP Automation but has not clued the rest of the team in on it. Having team buy-in will help with getting the C-Level folks on board, but being a one person “change the department” project won’t get you too far.
4. Departments – Managers in the field and in the departments can be big help when it comes to building a new process. They also will be able to help with change management. You will be amazed what you will find out when you put together a sampling of managers and ask them about accounting processes.
5. Outside Your Walls – That’s right, outside consultants can be a big help, but be warned that if you don’t pick a company or person that have AP Automation experience then you are asking for trouble. I have cleaned up a lot of project where the first consultant had no clue about automation, but their Visio drawings were really nice. Best advice here is to play it safe… ask me to help!
6. Service Provider – If you pick a good service provider they too will have resources to help. The thing to be clear about with the service provider is to make sure the staff has the experience needed to make sure your project will be done well.

Want to know more? Buy My Books!

To buy the book – The Argument to Automate – How Innovation Can INSPIRE Not Fire – click here to buy

(Also) To get your copy of The 8 Pitfalls of Accounts Payable Automation – click here to buy

How about a children’s book? The Princess and the Paper – click here to buy