AP Best Practices e-Alert: Don't Alienate IT

When planning new AP automation projects, always consider upkeep, advises Kelly Tripp, APM. Tripp formerly worked in finance and shared services at Reuters, Bausch & Lomb, Kraft, and Motorola. He is now vice president of operations at DataServ, LLC, a company specializing in on-demand document and process automation

Speaking at our Paper-Free AP conference in Chicago, Tripp told attendees that before taking on a slick new application---automated workflow, for example--ask yourself who is going to be the "workflow jockey" and do workflow maintenance. Will it be someone in IT, or someone in AP?

Consider how well IT supports you now, and consider whether you can count on them to have the bandwidth to support the technology you are considering. He noted that there is a gap between the latest technology and IT's ability to support it.

If IT cannot back you up, you should consider outsourcing the program maintenance. Regardless of whether or not you outsource, Tripp warns, at some point you will still need to involve IT and you want to avoid alienating them. He says: "You will not succeed in injecting change in your accounts payable department and make the life of your staff easier if you do not incorporate and include IT early in the process."