Remote Work: Automation is the Future of Your AP Department
In recent months, we’ve seen the remote work trend take off. This trend, of course, resulted from necessity, but it’s far from a new thing. Ever since the 1990s when the name “World Wide Web” came into common usage, the idea of working remotely via internet has appealed to employees.
At first, it seemed like a good way to stay active during downtime on business trips. Soon, it became an indispensable way of staying connected to the home office for vital data and applications. As security measures improved, it became a way for those stuck at home for the day to stay productive. In more recent times, companies realized that working remotely meant cutting out awful commutes for the employee and saving on office space and other resources for the company – a win-win.
Remote work – at least part of the time – has become more and more mainstream for those able to accomplish their work from home using email, remote mainframe access, and audio-visual interfacing platforms. And your accounts payable department should be getting on board with this trend if it doesn’t want to be left behind. Here’s how:
- Ditch paper. That’s right. Go entirely paperless with your invoicing as soon as you can using enterprise-level automation. With automation, just about every function your staff can perform at the office can also be done from home.
- Use proper computing tools. The right hardware (and software) necessary for working remotely should either be required or provided to each employee who will be working from outside the office, even if it’s just some of the time. Ensuring that the hardware is as secure as possible and that access to data is the same can give you confidence knowing that information is still safe. Plus, using the right E-invoicing solution will enhance the security of all your computer-based functions and data.
- Ensure ease of access. Make access to all necessary data easy from anywhere your employees might find themselves, whether down the street or on the other side of the globe.
- Make all your processes digital. No analog functions, like scanning, should clutter and interrupt your digital workflow. AP automation will help with this, by making each step of the workflow digitally created, accessed and stored.
- Know who will need access. Anyone can go out sick for a few days or leave town on business. Plan ahead. Make sure each person needed along the workflow process is equipped and has access to necessary information and sites from outside the office.
According to Flexjobs.com, remote work has almost doubled in 10 years, and it’s going up every year. This includes AP personnel, but only those who are equipped for working remotely can perform sensitive and vital functions from outside the office. An APIA solution capable of handling every step in the process digitally is the right way to go for working remotely in accounts payable.