Author: Epic IT Automations

Any CFO looking to maximize the effectiveness of their finance team needs to be open to workflow automation. Automation can open up a world of possibilities by shifting finance processes away from manual, spreadsheet-based methods. Nevertheless, implementing automation is not always a simple process. CFOs first need to understand some basics of workflow automation and how it would fit their situations.

Where does a CFO begin with introducing automation? What benefits can she expect? Are there any downsides to automation? And why should automation be implemented now? We explore these questions below.

Which Finance Functions are Ripe for Automation?

The automation-minded CFO first needs to decide how and where automation can best do its work. In other words, which finance functions would benefit the most from automation?

The answer lies in looking where manual processes are slowing down finance operations and creating bottlenecks. Many working in finance today already understand that paper-based documents, phone, and fax are outdated methods of workflow management. But they may not understand that even Excel spreadsheets and email while improving over paper and fax, are still overly cumbersome methods prone to errors and inefficiencies.

When considering where to start with automation, look first to finance functions that require a great deal of time manually entering data. Also, examine any processes where a lot of errors are made or an inordinate amount of time is spent checking for errors or correcting them. Finally, any workflow with an intricate request-and-approval process could be greatly streamlined with automation.

Accordingly, consider the intensive data entry of accounts payable and receivable. Think about how one error in a spreadsheet of vendor and contract approvals could carry over to other areas, compounding the mistake. Or think of a complicated request-and-approval process for capital expenditures (CapEx), where requests above a certain threshold need to be elevated to higher levels for approval — perhaps even to you as CFO. Automation can make a substantial difference in these and other areas of finance operations.

Workflow Automation Benefits

The CFO considering workflow automation must also weigh the costs and benefits of implementation. After all, this will require having your finance team become familiar with a new piece of software or platform. So what benefits can she expect from automation?

Increased Efficiency

Arguably the most obvious benefit of automated workflows in finance operations is greater efficiency. An automated platform can eliminate a great deal of manual data entry, which cuts down on the potential for human error. The system can make calculations and auto-populate fields. For a request-and-approval process, the automated workflow can automatically direct different types of requests to the correct approver. All these features increase speed and accuracy.

Better Transparency And Reporting

Other immediate benefits of automation are improvements in transparency and reporting. A customized dashboard can provide lightning-fast insights. If your invoice or CapEx approvals are hitting snags, you can identify the bottlenecks right away. And the automated system can provide accounting on a continuing basis, so you do not have to wait until the financial close to view insights from a report.

Free Up Your Finance Team For Higher Level Thinking

Various reports have shown that finance teams spend a large proportion of their time processing transactions. Much of this work tends to be a low-value activity that is inordinately time-consuming. By speeding up transaction processing, automation can free up your finance team to focus on more strategic and insightful work.

By allowing your finance team to focus on higher-level thinking, you are more than likely to improve team morale as well. Less manual effort and mistakes will bring peace of mind. The ability to focus on strategic efforts will likely increase job satisfaction among team members. The payoff here will be more motivated and decreased turnover.

Potential Challenges Of Implementing Automation

It is tempting to believe that automation will immediately bring on days of wine and roses with a new trouble-free finance department. But you must be prepared for some initial resistance to new technology and processes. It may be advisable to start small by automating only certain types of finance workflows, then build on that success over time by expanding automation to additional workflows.

Also, be aware that some amount of training will be required for the new automated system. Retraining may be necessary down the road. To minimize this training burden, seek out automation tools that are relatively intuitive and easy to learn.

What Are The Costs of Delaying Automation?

While automation might be a clear net positive for your finance team, any CFO has a lot of items on his plate competing for attention. It might appear easier to simply delay introducing automation into your finance workflows. If so, you should be aware of the costs of the delay.

Ongoing Inefficiencies

Without automation in place, all the inefficiencies and bottlenecks of your current manual workflows will remain. If your company is growing, these problems will tend to get worse over the long run. The current snags in the process could result in missed deadlines, additional mistakes, and possibly even hits to your bottom line.

Increased Risk

Since manual routines and spreadsheets are error-prone, any finance team using them will be subject to increased risk. Manual processes make it more difficult to follow internal controls, which are put in place for the precise reason of decreasing risk. Furthermore, manual processes make it more difficult to trust financial reporting.

Failing To Keep Up With Competition

The simple fact is that automation is becoming ever more prevalent for finance departments everywhere. If you are not implementing automation for your company’s finance functions, you can be assured many of your competitors are. Not only will these competitors reap the benefits of automation, they are more likely to attract top talent for their finance teams — possibly from your team.

Interested In Workflow Automation?

Connect with Epic IT Automations today and learn how automation fits into your organization and the possible benefits. Call us at 608-496-8660 or schedule a consultation!

Source: Integrify

Microsoft Excel is used by millions of users worldwide. And for good reason. Excel is a powerful spreadsheet database that does a lot more than just help you store data. From financial analysis to customer information, Excel can be an essential tool for any business managing cross-functional departments.

But if Excel is a big part of your day-to-day, you may be looking to streamline certain processes involved, particularly when it comes to internal data management and team updates. By pairing Excel with Zapier, you can create powerful workflows—called Zaps—to automatically log form submissions, send team updates, sync databases, and create projects.

Log Forms and Survey Submissions

Whether you’ve just asked your customers to rate your business or you’re collecting responses from team members to host an event, forms apps—like Jotform and Typeform—are undeniably handy.

But if you’re using Excel to store and analyze those responses, you’ve probably experienced the dread that comes with transferring data between your two apps. You don’t want to export hundreds of responses or waste time manually copying and pasting them into Excel. You have better things to do. (Who could blame you?)

Save time by using Zapier to automate this entire process. Your responses will get added straight to your Excel sheet from your forms app any time a new one is submitted.

Send Notifications for Important Updates

The hard part is done: You’ve added vital customer information to an Excel sheet, and it’s ready for sales. Maybe a customer has changed their email address, and you need to update your email list. Or perhaps you’ve logged important company information that you need to hand over to your stakeholders.

The question is: How do you keep everybody in the loop whenever there’s a new update or a new row? You can’t be expected to check Excel 10 times a day, then send your team an email or Slack notification every time something changes. It would take over your life.

Fortunately, you can use Zapier to set up automated alerts whenever new rows are added or updated in Excel. You can choose how to present each message so everybody receives the details they need to know at a glance—without logging in and out of Excel constantly.

Update Data Across Multiple Spreadsheets

Do you store data across multiple spreadsheets? You’re not the only one. Having multiple databases across different teams is pretty common, but it can make it difficult to keep information up to date, particularly when someone updates or edits a row.

This is exactly how mistakes and missed updates can happen, as manual updates take time, precision, and an eagle eye for detail. To keep your spreadsheet data consistent across all sources, you can automatically update your data across spreadsheets whenever a change happens, no matter how small.

Create Tasks and Projects

Do you use Excel to plan out projects and workflows? It’s also very likely that your team uses a project management app to track and manage tasks once you kick off work. But you don’t have to refer back to Excel every time you set up a project manually—you can get Zapier to do the heavy lifting for you.

This means that whenever you add a new row to your Excel spreadsheet, Zapier will automatically create a task or project for you in your project management app with that specific information. This lets you and your team tackle every new item that comes in straight away.

You can forget the tedious admin that goes with setting up projects, ensuring no task slips through the cracks. Instead, you and your team can get straight to the bulk of your work.

Use Webhooks to Connect Excel to Almost Any App

Have data in one app that you need to send to Excel, but Zapier doesn’t support the app? Don’t panic because you can use webhooks to achieve the impossible.

In simple terms, webhooks let your apps speak with each other—sending detailed information back and forth whenever new items occur in the first app.

This Zap, for example, will catch payloads inside your app, which Zapier’s webhooks will catch. Zapier then automatically enters that data into a new Excel spreadsheet row for you.

Do more in less time

No matter how you use Excel, pairing it with Zapier ultimately helps you save time and focus on your most important work.

But using automation to log form submissions, send team notifications, update multiple spreadsheets, and create projects can streamline your IT processes, serving you with better ways to move your work forward at growth speed.

And this is only the beginning: You can easily develop tailored solutions to how you and your team get work done with Excel.

Ready to increase your workflow with the use of Zapier? Give  a call at 608-496-8660 or schedule a consultation to learn more.

Source: Zapier