It doesn’t matter what your industry, properly managing your company’s finances is the key to success and growth. However, with today’s technology you should not be doing everything manually. Utilizing financial process automation (FPA) can make a huge difference in what you accomplish every day. In fact, financial process automation can take you from order to payment, and yes, even mine data that you can use in every department to support future growth.
What Is Financial Process Automation?
FPA is not a replacement for your standard accounting practices, ERP systems or financial systems. Instead, it automates many of the practices you do on a daily basis and front ends/integrates with your ERP or financial systems. FPA can include document capture (paper, email attachments, fax, EDI), data capture and validation, user-centric approval and exception processing and system-centric automation for all departments in Finance. When utilized correctly, FPA saves time and money—processing every activity related to your finances quickly and in a hands-off manner. You are left with the information that has been gathered and entered into your systems of record quicker thus allowing you to make information influenced business decisions.
While the concept seems useful and quite simply, amazing, not every financial process automation provider is the same. We’ve put together a few simple ways that you can make certain your provider is dedicated to your success.
Flexible
A great FPA software provider doesn’t implement products that require you to jump through hoops to get it working. You need a program that works with your current ERP and other financial systems and is easily configurable versus requiring significant custom development.
A great FPA provider has multiple products to recommend based on your requirements and can communicate the pros and cons of each product. Many vendors don’t act as consultants because they only have one product brand to sell. Great FPA providers are true consultants with product flexibility and experience to do what is right for their customers.
Scalable
Yesterday you may have been a small startup. Today, you’re a growing medium sized firm—and we can only guess what tomorrow may bring. Will your FPA provider grow with you? Will the products proposed handle your volume of transactions now and at least for five years from now. Focus on your growth and choose a vendor that has the products and practices to grow with you.
Accessible
How do you like to access information? In today’s marketplace, fewer and fewer users work while sitting in front of a computer in a corner office. Your FPA provider should provide solutions to help you access everything from a workstation, laptop, tablet or smartphone whether at the office, on the road or even at home.
Communicative
The final, and most important, thing to look for as you compare financial process automation providers is the methods of communication the providers have with their customers. If you have a problem, will you be able to reach tech support quickly and what is their guaranteed response time? If you need to scale up services, will someone be available to assist? Look for a firm that is responsive, communicative and ready to work with you at the speed of YOUR business. Proactive communication versus reactive is always going to push your envelope with creative ideas. Developing a line of communication including consistent on-site visits with your FPA provider will be a critical step in helping your system be as successful as it can be. Working with a company that genuinely cares about your success will make all the difference compared to just being another customer in the queue.
Choosing an FPA Provider
Understanding what makes a good provider is just the first step. Once you know what makes a great provider, you can better compare the options available in the marketplace today.
All Star Software System’s solutions fit nearly any size organization. From a few thousand transactions per month to hundreds of thousands of transactions per month. From a single site to a large shared services center to a global organization with multiple sites and/or shared service centers, All Star’s automation solutions can easily be scaled to provide the results you need. All Star’s goal is to not only meet your needs but also exceed your expectations. Our core values dictate how we work which in turn dictates the results of an implemented solution. Reach out to us today to learn more about the All Star difference.
