Should I Automate My Business Processes or Outsource Them?

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• accounts Payable Automation, Business Optimization, Digitizing AP

It’s no secret that automating and/or outsourcing business processes can save your company time and money. But automation and outsourcing work differently, though they often do similar things for your company. Which one should you pick?

The choice between automation and outsourcing depends on exactly what needs to be done and how much of your process you want to keep in-house. Automation gives you more direct control but requires more time and in-house employees than outsourcing. Outsourcing is a convenient option that can save money, but you won’t have as much control over the process.

What’s the Difference?

Business Process Automation gives your company the tools to handle your own business processes more effectively. You’ll still need in-house employees to work with the software and perform tasks that require a human touch.

Different types of automation software work a little bit differently. If you choose in-house or on-premises automation software, your IT department oversees updating and managing the software. If you choose cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), then your software supplier takes care of updates and security.

With SaaS, you’re “outsourcing” the software management to the supplier, but keeping the financial activity in-house. For example, accounts payable (AP) SaaS can auto-process most invoices, but your in-house AP department still oversees the software and processes invoice exceptions. Your company can also customize the software to make it work for your company.

Business Process Outsourcing takes more of the workload off your hands. Instead of automating your AP department, for example, you hire a team of AP professionals to manage the accounts payable side of your business. You’re involved only as much as you want to be.

NextProcess’s SaaS BPA

Automation can streamline any number of business processes. Most of NextProcess’s software helps your company handle finances more efficiently and accurately. SaaS automation increases productivity in departments where it’s implemented, decreases errors, makes audits easier, and streamlines communication.

NextProcess offers software modules to automate many different business processes.

• Capital Project Management software helps you get a handle on CapEx budgeting and spending. The software platform enables improved collaboration, communication, reporting, and tracking to keep large-scale projects and expenses under control.
• Procurement and Purchase Order software makes managing procurement across the entire organization simple. You’ll get improved oversight into spend management, and employees benefit from an easy-to-use purchasing system that automatically enforces company policy.
• AP Software simplifies invoice receiving, processing, and payment. This software module reduces costs, speeds up invoice processing, and tracks payment deadlines to eliminate late fees.
• Expense Report software makes it easy for employees to submit expense reports and receive timely reimbursement. The system improves visibility, automatically enforces company policy, and reduces fraud.
• Document management software simplifies record keeping. Digital documents take up much less room than paper files, plus they’re more secure because it’s easy to create backups. You’ll also have better access to the files with searching and sorting tools.

NextProcess offers the only suite of software with modules that work together to automate your business processes. They’ll integrate seamlessly with ERPs and can be used together or on their own for a complete solution to simplifying capital project management, procurement and purchase orders, accounts payable, travel expenses, and payment disbursement.

BPO Examples

In addition to automation services, NextProcess offers you the option to outsource certain business processes instead of automating them. Whether you’re a small company or large, outsourcing helps scale your business reliably so you can keep on top of things and handle audits more efficiently. NextProcess offers outsourcing for accounts payable, expense report audits, document imaging services, and payment disbursement.

• You save money by purchasing our accounts payable services by the invoice, not the hour. Our team of dedicated, talented AP professionals can handle daily processing, vendor resolution, and as much or as little of your other tasks as you like.
• For expense report audits, we enable quick turnaround so your employees get paid promptly. We’ll also help you avoid fraud with a thorough, third-party review that follows your policy to the letter.
• Our document imaging service offers same-day scanning of your important documents to a central database. It’s safe, secure, easily searchable, and you can access it anywhere.
• NextProcess’s payments solution provides an easy way to cut costs and ensure your vendors receive payments on time. Whether the vendor prefers paper checks or digital payments, our payment disbursement outsourcing can handle it.

Outsourcing can also provide an additional layer of security by segregating important financial transactions. A certified third-party service provider is a neutral party that can help manage audits and reduce the risk of fraud.

Which One Should You Choose?

Ultimately, the choice between automation and outsourcing comes down to your company’s needs. Outsourcing is a great choice in some situations, while automation is better in others. You might also choose to automate some processes while outsourcing others. For example, you could automate accounts payable and keep an in-house AP department to manage invoice processing but outsource the payment disbursement.

If you’re not sure which one to pick, Software-as-a-Service provides a best-of-both-worlds solution. You’re “outsourcing” all the software updates and maintenance to the software provider, and turning over basic processing and repetitive tasks (e.g. invoice data entry) to the software. But you’ll keep control of the software and the financial process in-house, with employees who manage the system and make valuable, strategic contributions to the company.

Want to learn more about any of our services? Contact NextProcess today.