9 Rules for Successfully Automating Finance Processes

Avalera's 2020 State of Finance survey (see comments for link) found that?nearly half of finance professionals believe that finance automation technologies have been critical or survival during the pandemic,?and this trend will continue.?

"A bad process automated is still a bad process."

Automating finance processes is a great way to optimize process flows, reduce manual tasks and free-up accountants time for more strategic, business decision making. BUT, remember, a bad process automated is still a bad process. To help you automate your finance processes in the right way, here are my 9 rules:

1.?Start with 'why?'. Before you look at any technology, know what you want to achieve. For example, $ value cost savings, less time to produce a report, less people involved in checking data. Define you goals and be clear on your NorthStar.

2. Team brainstorm. Get the team together and think up ways to improve the process. What annoys you about a particular process? What would you change? I like using the IBM Enterprise Design Thinking methodology. Important: you must have end users in the brainstorming otherwise you're guessing.

3. Automation options. Don't jump to technology yet! Take the highest value ideas and then examine the process from end to end. Which tasks could be automated easily. The three finance processes that are easy targets for automation are procure to pay, order to cash, and record to report. Important: flag any tasks that are performed differently by different people and create consistency.

"The three finance processes that are easy targets for automation are procure to pay, order to cash, and record to report. "

4.?Technology selection. Once you've selected the process to automate, evaluate the best automation solution. Always start with what you have. Look at your existing current technology stack for automation options or upgrades. E.g. Options in your existing ERP or CRM, Excel automation tools, Power Query?or Python.

5. Think big, start small. Create PoCs and pilot projects in short iterations. Regularly review progress with end users and don't hesitate to pivot away from low performing automation.

6. Impact. As you automate tasks, people's roles will change and this creates uncertainty. Some my fear loss of jobs and resist. Be clear to everyone on the changes being made and why (see #1). For example, I helped an accounting team free up time to work on more interesting, strategic projects.

7. Realize value. As the automation starts to create benefits, ensure you realize the value. For example, if you're freeing up time to spend on strategic projects, make sure there are projects to work on.

8. Automation champions. When you start building more automation into your processes, you need to support the new way of working with expert resources or a center of excellence. Create a dedicated team that governs automation, create consistency in design and provides support.

9. Collaborate. To realize the full potential of automation, you need to expand the process automation across business units. For example, automating the approval of invoices will create efficiencies for supply chain, contracts, IT and Finance.

So there you have it. Follow my 9 rules and you'll successfully automate your finance processes and free-up time for more strategic value add. Hope that helps and happy to share more details - just shoot me a DM or email.