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by Lentune on 3 February, 2023
Fundamental to the growth of any business is putting your time where it’s best spent. The construction industry, however, is still lagging behind other major sectors in terms of digital adoption.
Many businesses are still using manual-based finance processes, which are time-consuming and riddled with the potential for error. With modern business process automation options available, it’s worth learning about the benefits they can bring to your business.
Finance automation is especially useful in the construction sector as the number of invoices, projects and employees are significantly larger than in most other industries. While the benefits of business process automation are easily understood, our partner Procore says,
“Changing established practices and behaviours are the biggest barriers to digital transformation.”
In this article, we share five routine, mundane and time-consuming financial processes you can eliminate or minimise through finance automation. By removing data entry and automating admin processes, you can free up time to focus on the things that matter. So, let’s dive in.
1. Progress Claims
Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business. So, it’s imperative your submission of progress claims is timely and efficient. For most construction businesses, however, it’s anything but. Instead, preparing claims for your customers is filled with chasing paper trails and manually inputting data into your accounting software.
With progress claim automation, you can say goodbye to manual work. No longer will your team need to spend time on this humdrum task. Instead, you will have a paperless, cloud-based system that will shorten accounts receivable invoicing times and remove manual data entry.
2. Purchase Orders
How often are you or your team having to chase up approvers to actually approve a purchase order? These pesky pieces of financial necessity can really slow your business down
With purchase order automation, you can create a purchase order workflow that gives you more efficiency and visibility. Not only will purchase orders be approved faster by being sent directly to an approver, but your team will also benefit from getting real-time data on project spends.
With mobile app functionality, you can create and send purchase orders whether you’re at the office, working from home, or having a meeting at the timber yard. When purchase orders arrive in your inbox they will be automatically linked to supplier invoices, creating a more seamless workflow.
3. Expense Claims
An automated expense claims process gives you more time and freedom. No longer will you or your team be chained to a desk to get that required paperwork finished. Instead, submit expense claims on the run and let the software code them for you.
This will help to get your reimbursements out to your team faster. Expense claims software is simple, easy, and quick to use - you and your team will never look back.
The data provided will also give you a better understanding of where money is being spent across your projects, which will help you to find holes to close up and save.
4. Labour Costs
With timesheet automation, paper timesheets will be a thing of the past. Employees can enter their hours on the go, so you’ll always have real-time information about the labour spend for each project.
Paperless timesheets will allow you to automatically send hours worked to your payroll software, eliminating manual data entry and letting your team focus on higher priorities.
The real-time data provided will also give you a better understanding of what your labour costs are for each project. You can then easily compare actual hours worked versus what was budgeted.
5. Accounts Payable
No business wants the reputation of making late payments for their invoices. An automated invoice processing system will do all the heavy lifting for you. The checking of information, getting that invoice to the correct approver, processing the payment and recording the transaction will all be done for you.
The best part of having your bills paid this way? The potential for savings in the form of early payment discounts.
When your reputation turns into a business that pays invoices early and regularly your relationships will flourish. You can be relied on and that should help to bring in more business for your company.
Wrapping it up
The benefits of adopting business process automation systems are profound in the ability they have to impact your company’s financial efficiency. This impact will be felt not only in your finance department but across the board.
Digital adoption should be a top priority for any business as our world becomes more and more digital. Staying in the past with manual systems will only slow you down. Automation is the key to future business success and resiliency. Ride the automated wave and see how your business thrives!
How we can help
At Lentune, we help construction companies streamline the way they handle project finances. Our project cost management and automation tools help you to save money, improve cash flow and increase productivity. We’d love to show you how it works!
In our 10-minute recorded demo, we’ll show you how our invoice automation module streamlines your workflow and gives you more time for the things that matter.