It’s time to play Jeopardy. Imagine if you will, that you are a contestant on Jeopardy and one of the categories Automating Your AP Processes. You begin the show by selecting that category and asking Alex “Automating Your AP Process for $100.”
Alex reads the answer, “It Provides Complete Control Over Your AP Processing.”
You buzz in the question, “What is Document Management Workflow?” “Correct,” says Alex, and you quickly jump to a $100 lead over your competitors.
You then ask for, “Automating Your AP Processes for $200.”
Alex reads the answer, “It Eliminates Lost Invoices and Avoids Accidently Paying an Invoice Twice.”
You again buzz in first with the question, “What is Document Management Workflow?” “Correct,” says Alex again, as you add another $200 to your lead.
You are on a role now so you ask for, “Automating Your AP Processes for $300.”
Alex reads the answer, “It Creates Reminders When Someone has an Invoice to Approve and has Timer Alerts When an Item is Not Acted Upon.”
Gaining Confidence with each new answer, you buzz first with the question, “What is Document Management Workflow?” “Correct again,” says Alex as your lead builds to $600.
Not wanting to break your momentum you ask for, “Automating Your AP Processes for $400.”
Alex, feeling your excitement, is quick to read the answer, “It Provides Analytic Tools for Forecasting Invoice Payments and Managing Cashflow.”
Amazed that your contestants do not possess the same knowledge of AP processing as yourself, you buzz in with the following question, “What is Document Management Workflow?” “Correct,” says an excited Alex as your lead now balloons to $1,000.
Feeling invincible, you ask Alex for, “Automating Your AP Processes for $500.”
Alex finishes off the category by reading the answer, “It Eliminates Paper, Decreases Audit Times and Costs and Saves You Money.”
You can’t believe your luck, having deployed your own AP approval workflow you buzz in with the question “What is Document Management Workflow?”. “Correct again,” shouts Alex as you sweep the category and build your lead to $1,500.
Unfortunately for the other two contestants, they have not moved from their antiquated paper-based AP approval process. Unlike you, they have not realized the advantages of streamlining processes and saving money. And unlike you, they will not win today’s show.
And you thought that implementing a document management workflow to automate your AP processing would only save you time and money. Who knew it would also make you a star on Jeopardy.
Jack Arnston is a Principal at The Priton Group. He can be reached at jarnston@pritongroup.com.