The 1 thing you don’t need to do in 2015

It is safe to say that for most of us 2014 flew by! 12 months, 52 weeks, 364 days, 8736 hours and the one thing on most people’s minds is – where did the time go? With another year gone the start of 2015 is the perfect time to re-evaluate how to ‘get’ more time for business. Time is one of the most precious commodities for busy accountants and small to medium sized businesses, and its efficient use is essential.

In 2015, wasting time is the one thing you don’t need to do! This year, automation should be a key focus for increasing efficiency and saving time.

Low level, repetitive tasks like data entry are time consuming and take up valuable resources. While these tasks are important for the day to day machinations of a business or accounting firm, they don’t have to take up time like they used to. Repeated workflow functions like invoice processing can be effectively automated. Automation means more time for business and higher level tasks at a much lower cost than traditional methods.

Smart software solutions can accomplish this kind of automation. Software can replace entire sections of the business workflow with faster and better results. With invoice processing automation documents are emailed at one end and the data available for use at the other. Employee time spent processing invoices is valuable and it doesn’t have to be wasted retyping data or shuffling paper. Intelligent software also eliminates the inevitable mistakes inherent in manual data entry. Mistakes that are usually problematic and costly to find and fix.

Automating invoice processing means that the data from financial documents is available quickly and can be put to use almost immediately. Integrations with popular software suites such as Xero and Sage One mean that once an invoice is received it can be reconciled with ledgers without interference. Businesses and firms can have accounting data that is up to date in near real time, providing the perfect barometer of the financial position of the organisation.

Automation through cloud technology increases transparency within invoice processing workflows. Interested parties can be granted access to the workflow and be party to all the transactions. This access streamlines communication for a faster and more effective workflow, and most importantly, saving time. Approval, alterations and rejections are fast and available for all to see.

Make the most of 2015. Don’t waste time this year, get software to do the work you don’t have to do anymore.