When a company is faced with the selection and implementation of an EFH system, there are many aspects to be considered for the success of the process. We have conducted many implementation projects and we see that there are some critical areas that can often be overlooked or underestimated, which can result in unnecessary complications and costs.
This article highlights these pitfalls to provide insights on how to avoid them, contributing to a smoother and more efficient transition to digital management.
Inefficient workflows
Implementing a system is rarely enough to solve a problem with an inefficient process. It is important to have realistic expectations of what technology can achieve and not to assume that a new system will automatically solve all existing problems. When implementing an invoice management system, or any other system for that matter, you should be open to also changing your process for the better. Of course, it should be possible to set up a system to support important needs, but not to fit a process that is inherently inefficient from the start.
Lack of flexibility to fully support the company's current and future needs
Many vendors today offer a "one size fits all" solution that is certainly standardized, which is great, but does not offer much flexibility to fully support the company's processes or unique needs. An overly rigid system limits the possibilities to optimize the processes and achieve maximum efficiency of the investment in an EIM system. When choosing a new system, you should choose a vendor that offers a system that is standardized and still offers flexibility in the configuration and settings of the system to meet the company's specific needs.
Technology and business processes are constantly evolving, and it's important to consider the system's scalability and flexibility for future needs. Choosing a system that can also grow and adapt over time can have a big impact on long-term success.
Insufficient integration with existing systems
There are several vendors that claim to have "ready-made integrations" or "standard integrations" to a large number of business systems. Opinions differ on what constitutes a ready-made integration or a standard integration. A supplier may have something they call a standard integration, which means that they have a standardized setup in how they read and send data to and from a certain business system, but that it still involves a lot of work in your business system to be able to receive transactions and enable the reading of data.
A true standard integration should mean minimal work in the ERP system. The job that may need to be done should then be standard settings or installation of the finished integration code. It should not involve programming in the ERP system. To the extent possible, an integration should use the ERP system's standard APIs, which means that in most cases there is no need to do any setup in the ERP system and never any programming.
Normally, there are more systems in the company's technical environment in addition to the business system that you will want to integrate with. In the quest to streamline processes throughout the company, more and more systems need to be tied together. It is therefore important to consider this type of integration in terms of current and future needs. The system supplier you choose should have the technical and knowledge prerequisites required to integrate with other types of systems in an efficient and secure way.
Overlook ease of use
The focus of marketing and the development of systems for electronic Invoice management is automation. This has been the case for several years and the possibilities for this are constantly evolving. Today, every step of this process can be handled automatically, from data capture to accounting, approval and matching of invoices. With the help of AI, even more complex activities such as posting expense invoices (also known as wild invoices) can now be handled.
However, even if it is possible to handle each step automatically, it is far from all invoices that slip through without deviations or question marks. When you need to manage an invoice manually, create an overview and collaborate with your colleagues, it is important to have a system that is user-friendly and intuitive and that offers smooth opportunities to collaborate and communicate between users. There are currently quite large differences between the different systems.
Lack of continuous follow-up and improvement
The work to improve their processes does not end when the new system is implemented. Now it is important to continuously follow up, evaluate and make improvements. Were the goals set for the implementation met? What should we do to continuously streamline our process? This provides insights into the value of the system and whether there is a need for adjustments or improvements.
By being aware of these pitfalls and actively working to avoid them, companies can ensure a more successful implementation of a system that meets both today's and tomorrow's needs. For more information, you are welcome to contact us at Conrab.