Understanding business process automation

According to a new study by Celent, many business owners and C-level executives misunderstand e-invoicing, AP automation and other forms of business process automation. Specifically, they view these processes as the same amount of work, only online. AP automation, for example, which has the potential to reduce manual data input needed, is viewed on par with electronic banking.

The problem with this mindset is that it demonstrates a confusion about information management overall. By digitizing data and records, documents can be stored, organized and accessed quicker and easier. Furthermore, if information is completely digital, records can be changed and updated automatically through the use of computer processes and online systems.

However, business owners are assessing their problems with physical documents, such as the time and effort it takes to fill out each record and file it properly, and transferring such issues onto a potential enterprise content management system (ECM). Proper ECM saves time and resources by allowing content to be archived, searched, organized and used with applications.

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