As digital transformation accelerates the business landscape, CFOs and finance teams are looking to improve organizational efficiency and focus on strategic initiatives. According to the Harvard Business Review, data shows that companies with a clear and comprehensive digital vision grow 75% faster on average than less digitally sophisticated peers. This applies to finance and accounting teams who can leverage advanced technologies like AP automation and artificial intelligence to reduce errors during processing, increase turnaround times and boost cashflow.
Companies that successfully digitize their business functions do so through coordinated project management and support from their technology vendors. While many companies succeed at digital transformation, some also fail. Finance leaders can mitigate the risk of digital investments by starting on the right track with a smooth and strategic onboarding process.
When implementing new AP automation technology, a multiphase onboarding process is vital for internal adoption and long-term success. The onboarding process should be thoughtfully designed and include opportunities to add value, guarantee ROI, scale automation, support your in-house BI tools, and train your team for success.
Here are 4 phases to build into your onboarding process to help streamline and set expectations with your technology vendor:
Discovery
Expect your technology vendor to do a deep-dive into how their AP automation solution can best optimize your AP processes. You should openly communicate your goals and success criteria, including ROI expectations. With the latest AP automation technology, it is entirely possible to achieve immediate ROI results, and you should expect this standard from your technology vendor. Encourage collaboration between your teams and your technology vendor to identify potential fail points, create risk mitigation strategies, and outline an integration plan for AP automation.
Training
Your technology vendor should prioritize your team’s success by ensuring that they have the necessary training and resources available to become product champions. Prioritizing change management during this phase is critical to increase internal adoption. Your technology vendor should assist you in providing one-on-one guidance to your team through office hours as well as training and product workshops. Creating a winning digital strategy is different for every company and team. To overcome your specific challenges, your technology vendor should be able to offer product customization to suit your team’s specific needs.
Automation
Working alongside your IT team, your technology vendor should develop a scope of work for integration to create fully customized, automated processes. Before integration happens, you should make rules for your automation capabilities and conduct testing to go live. Once you have reached the point to go live, your new AP automation solution should offer you access to a real-time API to extract data into in-house BI tools, detailed account-level views of organizational spend, and a record of truth to reference prior to any payments being executed.
Growth
You should be able to see your technology vendor as a strategic business partner who you would like to continue to grow alongside. Maintain frequent communication and offer feedback on product performance and recommendations for improvement. Your technology vendor should be open to feedback and include your insights into their product roadmap to ensure you have the necessary features for growth.
A successful automation journey starts with smooth onboarding and implementation.
The technology vendor you choose to help your business should ensure the onboarding experience is smooth and efficient through individualized support and planning. At OpenEnvoy, we have incorporated a hands-on approach to customer onboarding. With a Customer Success Manager from day one of the onboarding process, our customers are set up for success. “Our Customer Success Managers are focused on learning the specifics of your business from day one. Our main goal is to ensure our customers have support to be successful, and their needs are met in a timely manner,” said Marcelo Rivera, Sr. Customer Success Manager at OpenEnvoy.
Ready to have a seamless onboarding experience with your AP automation vendor that adds value to your finance team, guarantees ROI, and scales your current processes? Download the whitepaper The Four-Phase Journey to AP Automation.
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