If you’re an accounts payable (AP) professional, you’ve probably already heard a lot about AP and payment automation. You’ve read news articles and whitepapers – attended a few webinars – and done some research on your own. You might even know of a competitor or colleague in the industry who has already embraced automation.
Still, no matter how much of a no-brainer AP automation is for you, its myriad benefits are all for naught if you are unable to communicate them to your boss, who will likely be giving the final say as to whether your company will automate its accounts payable department.
That’s why we have put together a resource kit to aid you in convincing your boss of the value in AP automation. The Building a Business Case for AP Automation kit contains information on every aspect of the automated accounts payable process, from invoicing all the way to payment. It’s filled with the stats and real-world information your CFO will require before making a decision.
How to Sell AP Automation to Your Boss
Armed with the knowledge from this kit, you will feel confident in selling automation to your boss, but don’t pat yourself on the back just yet – even after presenting a compelling case, your CFO might still have some questions. These might include:
Why should we do this, and why now?
Answer: We should automate because it will immediately save time and money, and also enable our AP department to pursue higher-level tasks that will save the company even more money. Why should we do it now? Because we are losing money with every day we spend committed to the manual, paper-based process.
If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Answer: This is a common objection. After all, the AP process has been handled in the same basic, manual fashion since time immemorial. The paper process is familiar, and some might fear that by eliminating it they are giving up an element of control. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is that AvidXchange isn’t reinventing the wheel here – they’re just making it roll a little smoother.
The process remains the same, but through AP and payment automation we will save considerable amounts of time and money when compared to the inefficient, outdated manual process. And to top it off, we will actually have more control and visibility, because you will be able to log into your portal at any time to see the status and history of any invoice or payment.
Who else is doing it?
Answer: More and more companies have the automation revelation every day. More than 5,700 such companies have chosen to work with AvidXchange to automate their AP process.
How long before we see results?
Answer: We will see results almost immediately, namely in a reduction of our invoicing and payment processing costs. AP automation will continue to pay dividends by allowing our team new time to pursue higher-level tasks like rebate procurement and vendor discounts that could yield additional savings.
Your finance department might still be stuck in the Roaring Twenties without a way out – until now.
