Where's Your Payables Pain?

It's been my experience in working with our clients and prospects that there is a recurring and common theme in discussions regarding AP and invoice processing activities .... Pain. More specifically, it's how can an AP operation refine their workflow through automation? "There has to be a better way" is a common refrain. Well, as pain relief we are helping to alleviate it, to streamline it and to help prevent it from coming back.

When we are asked to help automate the AP and workflow process, we advise by asking clients to identify their "pain points" or more commonly, "where does it hurt?" The responses are overwhelming ... and it usually leads into a self-diagnosis of specific areas where problems and inefficiencies continue to plague an AP workflow operation.

To continue the "triage" theme, we help clients to identify their pain points, to think in terms of their major areas of workflow and invoice processing ... these are common themes:

• Inbound Vendor Invoices by snail mail, fax and e-mail; we know cold and flu season is upon us but it seems the pain always starts here ...

• Data Entry; we know our mothers always told us to eat slowly but sometimes, we have so many invoices to consume and not enough time or resources to help with the volume ... indigestion, etc, the most painful of all ...

• Approvals and Routing; we know that if we are waiting on others and we don't get our invoices paid on time, we miss out on early payment incentives ... yes, you guessed it, more pain ...

• Payment and Inquiries on Payment; it seems that this pain comes back to visit us? The when and where is it pain ....

  Archiving, Reporting & Document Management; How do we make sure that this pain doesn't come back? Do we have to dig through cabinets for audit reports?

Guess what ... We have been able to identify causes. For example, are increasing volumes of monthly invoices starting to overwhelm your AP data entry staff?

Have you calculated the cost of "pain" per invoice for each physically handled piece of paper? Are your approvers, project managers, budgetary advisors and distant office locations holding up the approval process? We have a cure ... workflow automation, improves processes and web based technology would be a step towards better AP workflow health. It can also help with vendors inquiring on approval and payments.

After all that is said and done, we have been successful in determining our clients sources of pain. We have advised on a path to better health and we can safely say, the "patient" is well on their way to full "pain" relief.

Going Green with AP Automation

We are helping Tourism Victoria with their green plans though AP automation.

Did you know you can go green and save at the same time? Tourism Victoria, one of our new beanbills clients, is using accounts payable automation to go green and reduce their carbon foot print. Click here to check out what other green initiatives they have on the go throughout their operations. Did you know that an automated accounts payable method is 2/3 cheaper than the old manual system of pushed paper around for approvals and manually entering it all into the accounting system. Want to learn more about it read this article. Tourism Victoria have the opportunity to save as much as 188 pounds of paper annually! That works out to 4,225 pounds of greenhouse gases avoided. Way to go Tourism Victoria!

Does it really cost $37 to process a vendor invoice?

Many small companies today are still pushing paper invoices through for payment and wasting resources in the process. When I first started researching AP costs I was flabbergasted to find out that an average company spends as much as $37 pushing one invoice through their paper system. How can that be? First, bear in mind an average company in this case is one that is not automated and is average in terms of productivity or how many invoices it can process a month. The cost of $37 comes from a recent AP study done in the US. So where is all that money being spent? Most of it is in the data entry.

One company I worked with briefly had the equivalent of one full time AP clerk that cost $42K annually and could only push through 250 invoices a month; that works out to be 38% of the cost right there. The rest is harder to "see" but think about what is required both in time and utilities when handling the invoice; opening and routing the mail, photocopying for back up, stamping, coding, approving, mailing, printing the cheque for payment, filing the invoices, storage costs, answering inquires on missing or unpaid invoices, data entry errors and the cost of duplicate payments, missed discounts etc. and it all adds up.

And what about companies that must re-bill costs to clients like property management or construction companies. There is a lengthy process of standing by the copier and having separate files etc. What is you could do it all with a click of a mouse and in a few seconds email if off?

Automation of your accounts payable system from invoice arrival through to electronic payments can reduce that $37 per invoice to as little as $4. Imagine if your company processes a few as 300 invoices a month that is over $100,000 in savings annually. So why isn't everyone doing it and doing it now?

Stayed tuned........

Bring on the AP Automation for Timberline

We're pleased to announce that beanbills is now fully integrated with Timberline Office. Thanks to our friends at Constructive Solutions who helped implement the solution. Our customers using Timberline can now take advantage of all the benefits of Accounts Payable Automation by exchanging data directly with their Timberline software.

Five Tech Trends You Can't Ignore as an Accounting Professional

Took these out of a recent article in the AICPA Insider Online Magazine, by Rick Telberg/At Large.

* Cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS);

* Mobile devices, from netbooks to Smartphones;

* Smarter scanning and recognition for document management;

* Virtualization to get the most of your existing servers; and

* Social media tools and strategies (like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn).

Great Article on AP Automation - Jul/Aug09 Issue CMA Magazine

If you've never heard of AP Automation and wondering if there're a way to streamline your back office and get more efficient. Here's a great article that talks about all the hard cost benefits automation and what's possible given today's technology.

 

Follow this link to read the article.

 

Designing Beanbills

The majority of my day is spent trying to figure out the best way to organize the content on a page.  For Beanbills, the answer to that question is generally some sort of tabular layout as the content is often tabular data.

 
The inherent problem with tabular data is that it is extremely difficult integrate the actions that are being performed into the presentation of the data.  One solution to this problem is to separate the data from the actions that are being performed on the data.  A common example of this a toolbar.

A repercussion of separating data from content can be mass confusion.  Simply put, people do not know what buttons to press to achieve their goals on a specific page.  Additionally, users who do not understand many of the paradigms known by the technologically savvy are just as confused as a cat running after a laser pointer.  Such confusion is not exclusive to situations where data is separated from actions, but is usually a result of increasing complexity of rich web applications.  The adopted solution is generally FAQs, documentation, training videos, etc..  However, how many users will actually search in documentation to figure out how to use a page?  People want answers, and they want them right away.

Enter The New Beanbills

When I was implementing our uploader, I adopted a similar visual style as Flickr’s uploader (because they were using YUI’s uploader as well).  Flickr has a floating container to the right of the uploader (similar to how the Yahoo! Photos 3.0 uploader was designed) which is used for ads.  I needed some text to fill that spot so I put a couple of tips about how to user the uploader.

Tips, now what?

The tips were a random thing, but they proved to be very powerful and visually appealing.  There was just enough information to help the user out if they were stuck.  But the upload page really didn’t have any actions integrated with the tips.  This had to wait until the redesign of the scans page.

The scans page is a fairly complicated page.  The user has the ability to organize their scans within a group by dragging and dropping; however, the user can also submit records for processing.  Clearly, there is a lot of stuff going on.  Initially, I just copied the style of the uploader and created a bunch of tips but I needed to perform some actions on the content.  I decided to place the action links below the tips that explain what to do on the page so that the user can read the short blurb, and then see what buttons to press immediately.  This was the first merger of tips and actions and the separation of content and actions.  Furthermore, organizing your scans is completely different from submitting a group for capture.  After I played around with radio buttons, tabs and other hacks, I finally decided to use the actual tips to place the users in the “organize” mode and the “submit” mode.  The solution was surprisingly elegant and intuitive.

 

Putting it all together

Rich web applications are extremely complicated and often features are not used as they are not made salient.  Even if your design is mediocre, you can really assist the user experience by providing small tips about how to accomplish common user goals on that specific page.  This is also extremely useful when your pages require a certain workflow in order to progress smoothly.  

Instead of randomly placing buttons or icons in various places on a page, if you place action elements under a tip with an appropriate heading, the user can refer to the tip if they are confused.  Additionally, this allows for the user to develop conceptual modularity.  Plus, it just looks good :).

In conclusion, do not be cryptic: let the user know how to do what they want to do.  Additionally, leverage conceptual modularity and place action elements close to a tip that explains what to do!

Stickiness is Good

How did urban myths and legends come to be?  What is it that is so compelling for ideas to "stick"?  How do you make your ideas "sticky"?  In a homage to Malcom Gladwell's, "The Tipping Point", Dan and Chip Heath illustrate the concept of "stickiness" through the SUCCESS model.

I highly recommend you read the book, "Made to Stick".  More details and resources are available at www.madetostick.com

SUCCESS

S-imple
Simplicity isn’t about dumbing down, it’s about prioritizing.  (Southwest will be THE low-fare airline.)  What’s the core of
your message?  Can you communicate it with an analogy or high-concept pitch?

U-nexpected
To get attention, violate a schema. (The Nordie who ironed a shirt…)  To hold attention, use curiosity gaps. (What are Saturn’s rings made of?)  Before your message can stick, your audience has to want it.

C-oncrete
To be concrete, use sensory language.  (Think Aesop’s fables.) Paint a mental picture.  (“A man on the moon…”)   Remember the Velcro theory of memory - try to hook into multiple types of memory.

C-redible
Ideas can get credibility from outside (authorities or anti-authorities) or from within, using human-scale statistics or vivid details.  Let people “try before they buy.” (Where’s the Beef?)

E-motional
People care about people, not numbers.  (Remember Rokia.)  Don’t forget the WIIFY (What’s In It For You).  But identity appeals can often trump self-interest.  (“Don’t Mess With Texas” spoke to Bubba’s identity.)

S-tories
Stories drive action through simulation (what to do) and inspiration (the motivation to do it).  Think Jared.  Springboard stories (See Denning’s World Bank tale) help people see how an existing problem might change.

A Green AP: Good for Productivity, Good for the Environment

This is a great piece from Mary Schaefers e-AP newsletter;

Here are a few tactics you can try that are good both for the environment and a more efficient AP function
• 1) Before you hit that print button, ask, "Do I really need a copy?"
• 2) Pay electronically if at all possible.
• 3) Encourage electronic invoicing-it makes AP more efficient.
• 4) Sign up for a service that converts the faxes to e- mail.
• 5) Automate wherever possible.

thanks Mary!!

3 Reasons Why Workplace Technophobia is Unacceptable Today

Technology is everywhere, from your microwave to your car to your office. You don't even know you're using it most of the time. Computers are almost an essential in our lives. For those who think they shouldn't be using a computer or are resisting just because they can, or think it's not for them, I urge you to think about;

1. Your kids safety.
If you have kids you wouldn't let them roam around at night after 11pm where they could meet complete strangers. If you're not watching them they're on facebook doing exactly that now. And the wrong type of strangers are out there. You must get a handle on what's going on. Watch their use and understand the online vulnerabilities, your kids safety is at stake.

2. Your job security.
The person sitting next to you at work might have better tech skills than you. In these economic times if your company is pulling out the chopping block those with better tech skills are preferred. Remember it's technology that makes the work place more efficient and unfortunately replaces what people do. If you resist technology, your job is on the line.

3. Software is easier than ever to use.
Yes, 10 years ago software was not that easy to use. But have you gone online lately? Web applications are so much easier to navigate. Over the last few years design and usability have become key ingredients in technology products. We can partly thank apple for that. Software is just easier and simpler to use.

Yes you can! 4 year olds are learning how to use software, and so can you. I urge you to use this as a motivator and embrace computers and technology. There's a lot riding on it.