Dive into continuing education.

August 10, 2016 Lynn Larson

Many people have asked me about where to find easy-on-the-wallet continuing education events. This is a worthwhile quest regardless of your industry experience or professional credential status, so following are my suggestions specifically related to virtual endeavors.

Sources

Below are examples of sources through which I have attended complimentary webinars. Your card issuer is another potential avenue, as some routinely schedule free webinars for clients. I have had the pleasure of fulfilling the speaker role for many such events.

In addition, AP Now offers a couple different options. If you participate in their research, you are invited to attend the related webinar. They also have an annual webinar pass available for purchase. Paying for relevant education can be worth it, especially when you know the source delivers good quality content.

Suggestions

Most free webinars are sponsored by an industry provider. You might hear a sales pitch, even if this is not the intent of the event host. If it happens, view the pitch as an opportunity because it, too, can be educational.
Share key points from a webinar with your management and note how you can apply the information to benefit your organization.
Strive to attend a webinar every month to broaden your knowledge. While job demands can pull us in multiple directions, taking 60 minutes for professional development is time well spent.

Take the plunge to explore cost effective educational events.

If You Hold a Professional Credential...

Be familiar with the requirements for credential renewal, so you can look for eligible continuing education events. However, do not automatically skip something if it does not qualify. If it interests you, go for it.
Track what you have completed on an ongoing basis, so you do not need to scramble as your credential expiration draws near.

Related Resource

Separate yourself from the crowd, a January blog post about strengthening your professional biography

About the Author

Blog post author Lynn Larson, CPCP, is the founder of Recharged Education. With more than 15 years of Commercial Card experience, her mission is to make industry education readily accessible to all. Learn more…

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Staff members are a wildcard.

August 1, 2016 Lynn Larson

When we talk about expanding electronic payments, things like technology and work flow often surface, but are we forgetting the people aspect? The employees who manage or support purchase-to-pay processes—namely, procurement and AP—often wield just as much power as senior management in the success or failure of a new payment strategy. Organization leaders who are ready to modernize payment operations need to address two aspects of the staff members responsible for executing their plan: attitude and skills.

In case you missed it... Staff members are not the only culprit in a laggard payments environment. The previous blog post shares an example highlighting how internal culture driven by management can plague B2B payments.

Attitude

People are unpredictable. Even employees who are generally flexible might resist a change in payment methods, processes, and/or technology. I have heard of organizations who avoid such conflict by holding off on implementing something new until “so-and-so” retires. It does not make business sense to sacrifice quantifiable benefits of a modern payments strategy to appease one or more employees.

Resistance often stems from fear. Senior management should be planning appropriate communications to ease employees’ fears about the unknown. This includes explaining:

the reasons for making a change and
the anticipated impact on jobs

Some organizations go a step further by offering incentives if/when staff achieves certain goals related to adopting a new initiative. This could range from monetary rewards to something basic like a celebratory lunch. Those who do not display the right attitude could be subject to a change in job position or status.

The other dilemma management could encounter is employees who have the right attitude but lack the necessary skills to accommodate a change.

Skills

Key questions for management to explore include:

What skills do employees need to help the organization succeed with the new plan?
Are the right skills attainable? Conversely, are employees simply not suited for what lies ahead, regardless of possible training?

An organization should decide how much it is willing to invest in employee development in order to fulfill a vision.

Which employees are ready to support improvements to the organization’s payments plan? Ensure they possess the skills to meet new job demands.

Conclusion

If management is committed to payment improvements, they should do the following as early as possible in the process:

Assess the impacted staff members to identify potential roadblocks related to attitude and/or a shortage of skills
Determine how they will address the identified potential issues (e.g., training, employee restructuring, incentives, etc.)

Finally, once the dust settles, policies and procedures, as well as job descriptions for procurement and AP personnel, likely need to be refreshed to reflect the organization’s new path.

See more on payment strategy from Recharged Education.

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Two issues plaguing B2B payments.

July 20, 2016 Lynn Larson

Internal culture and tools drive the operations of AP and procurement, but these things can also be roadblocks. A culture that is forward thinking and innovative will lead an organization to adopt the right technology to streamline purchase-to-pay processes. One that resists change and remains stuck on old ways risks a downward spiral. This can even occur with billion dollar companies; following is a real-life example. Call it a case of duct tape, wire, and chewing gum. What can happen if your organization resembles this one?

Duct Tape, Wire, and Chewing Gum

The MacGyver way is how “Paul” describes operations at his $2B employer, a large North American manufacturer. He wryly remarks that employees use duct tape, wire, and chewing gum to fix a problem because no one wants to fix the process at the root of the problem. Management is satisfied with ignoring an issue because, as Paul sums up, “Bill and John know how to work around it, and, as long as Bill and John are here, they think we are fine.”

Inefficiencies

The company uses a huge spreadsheet file (originating at least a decade ago) to manage certain purchasing activity. Because it repeatedly caused Paul’s computer to crash, the company actually purchased a second computer for Paul, so he could keep using the file. Making matters even worse are company acquisitions for which executive management has allowed the acquirees to retain their legacy systems indefinitely.

Excess Costs

Like many other organizations, AP is paper based at Paul’s company. He shares that a recent audit required them to make more than 2500 invoice copies for auditor review. In addition to printing costs, they incurred the cost of retrieving the original invoices from storage (with a records management company) and putting them back.

Paul proposed new AP technology, not realizing that the decision makers lacked basic information about payment strategies. He had to go back to square one.

Personnel Hurdles

Most employees have been at this company for decades. Paul says the cafeteria dining room is a “sea of gray” (as in hair color). Millennials do not stay around long. They quit because of antiquated processes and the lack of a similar-age peer group with whom to connect.

Further, Paul explains the impact of his retired employee, Judy, who basically took all operational and company knowledge with her. His new hire, Kathy, struggles to grasp the labor-intensive processes and systems. Given their limited resources, no one has time to train her. Everything has taken longer to get done. Poor processes + new employee = reduced productivity.

Does this look familiar? Organizations that do not equip employees with the right tools risk losing staff and, ultimately, revenue.

What to Do

“Traditional” culture and outdated tools are tough to battle. Nevertheless, I believe in making an effort. Tips include:

Ensure procedures are documented, so knowledge is not lost when someone retires. This is the easy part; the real problem is outdated processes.
Calculate the process costs of your most tedious processes and share with management along with potential solutions. Educate them on what is possible.
Encourage management to explore why you do “X” and whether it is still justifiable beyond “Because we’ve always done it this way.”
Talk with your bank, other providers of payment-related products and services, and your industry peers to learn more about the options.

Access more information and tips on payment strategy.

Up Next

What happens when management is ready to expand electronic payments, but employees stand in the way? Take a look at the next blog post.

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