3 Common Objections to Invoice Automation (and How to Overcome Them)

Digital transformation in the construction industry can help reduce operational costs, increase visibility across projects and boost profit margins.

But there are often objections to change. People would rather stick to the status quo and do what’s comfortable, even if it is becoming inefficient and labour intensive.

So, how can you overcome the common objections to invoice automation and create new efficiencies in your business? Let us show you. 

Objection 1: “I can’t see the benefits” 

Many people in your business will be resistant to adopting invoice automation as they can’t see the benefits.

With the current manual process, your invoices are getting paid (mostly on time) and everyone understands it, so why invest in a new clever software that will automate the process?

You may even hear the familiar refrain, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

But there are many significant benefits to adapting invoice automation:

• Reduced invoice processing time: Invoice automation cuts the average supplier invoice processing time from 30 days to just 5 — that’s great for your reputation!
• Increased visibility of costs: Invoice automation puts all your accounts payable invoices in one place. Now in real-time, you know exactly how many invoices are awaiting approval and which project they relate to.
• Access your AP from anywhere: Forget about chasing paperwork, with cloud-based technology, invoice automation allows you to manage your accounts payable from anywhere.

To effectively communicate and understand these benefits, focus on the long-term ROI of the investment instead of just the initial learning curve and setup costs.

Objection 2: “Automation will take away jobs”

Once you begin to understand the benefits of invoice automation, it’s a common concern that this technology will take away jobs. But it doesn’t quite work like that.

At Lentune, our customers typically report that our invoice automation software saves them 70% of their invoice processing workload.

So, does that mean those customers are laying off their accounts payable staff? Not necessarily.

When a company is growing, the volume of invoices they process will usually become time-consuming and overwhelming. The introduction of invoice automation simply means no additional AP staff member is needed to process those invoices.

This helps you scale your business more efficiently, while it also frees up time for your finance team to focus on tasks more important than data entry.

To be clear: Invoice automation is not about replacing your finance team, but about leveraging digital technologies to optimise business processes and create new opportunities for growth.

As Payapps has brilliantly said, “We need systems that support people to focus on higher-value tasks rather than doing paperwork. Fundamentally, it’s about efficiency and quality that comes with digital solutions.”

Objection 3: “I don’t fully trust the technology”

Some members of your team may be hesitant to embrace automation as they don’t trust technology to accurately perform important financial tasks such as supplier invoice processing.

But it’s important to understand that invoice automation software is specifically designed with smart features and functionalities to ensure the reliability of data.

This includes advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology that can accurately extract data from invoices, as well as intelligent validation algorithms that verify the accuracy of data against predefined rules.

Many invoice automation solutions also have an approval workflow that includes a quick human check of the extracted invoice compared side by side with the original pdf invoice. This dual-validation process ensures price discrepancies or inaccuracies are minimised.

There are two key ways you can help your team develop more trust in invoice automation:

1. Comprehensive training and change management: It is important to install confidence in your team by providing them with the proper training. If they truly understand how the technology works and the benefits it brings, then they are more likely to trust it.
2. Introduce automation slowly rather than all at once: Consider starting with a small pilot project to demonstrate the benefits of invoice automation and build your team’s confidence in the system. This will allow them to get comfortable with the technology and see the positive impact it can have before a wider company rollout. 

Still have objections?

If you or your team still have objections to invoice automation, we’d love to help! Book a free personalised demo, and we’ll show you how Lentune Invoice Automation could work for you.


Looking to learn more about Invoice Automation and discover how it can transform your accounts payable? No worries, we wrote "The Ultimate Guide to Invoice Automation for Construction". It's packed with valuable insights that will show you why it's an effective solution for your business.