6 Reasons Why People HAVEN’T Automated CAPEX Processes in SAP

Automated CAPEX Overview

You know that your Capital Expenditure process should be automated, delivering business benefits like data integrity, audit compliance and efficiency. But, like you, not all companies have automated CAPEX processes. Allow us to guess why you haven’t done it – some of these reasons may feel eerily familiar!

1) Procrastination

You wrote a note to yourself about automating your CAPEX process a year ago. There’s been a lot to do between now and then, but you’re finally just about to get started on looking into it. Then suddenly, it’s budget time again! How are you ever going to get it done? Well, the good news is that there are solutions on the market designed to solve this problem by doing all the hard work so you don’t have to. IQX CAPEX Online, for example, works instantly and can be tweaked and refined to your specific requirements as you go. It doesn’t take long to set up, so there’s no excuse for not fitting it in anymore.

2) Fear

You looked into automation, but the effort seems seriously daunting. It’s a low volume, complex process, and you don’t feel qualified or ready to get started. Then again, you don’t really need to. What you need is an online system with prebuilt forms and workflows so you can easily and quickly get to work. CAPEX is the most important process across the whole of your business, so it deserves the time investment.

3) Excel

Your accountants use Excel, and they love it. They know how to use spreadsheets for budget and business case preparation, and they’re not prepared to budge from their familiar tried and tested methods. The best way forward is to use an automated CAPEX system which embraces Excel, but has a centralized database to provide a single source of truth, now and into the future.

4) Executives

Your executives are set in their ways, and they know that signing off has to be done with a pen. They could never be convinced to log into SAP to do it. Or could they? Electronic signatures are actually more secure than physical ones, and once they understand that, they’ll be ready to jump on-board. Plus, they can start signing off on their mobile phones, wherever they are, eliminating the major process bottleneck. And faster approvals means taking advantage of time-critical opportunities sooner, for an even bigger return on investment.

5) Planning

You don’t really plan out your CAPEX. You just judge each project on its merits, and leave it at that. Sadly, this means you’re probably doing your business a disservice. Automated CAPEX means you can ensure a good return on investment, using the maturity of your new planning processes to improve outcome predictability and know the likely value of projects before you start. And ongoing budget reconciliations help keep your investments in the black.

6) Persuasion

Systems can never replace the lobbying required to get projects approved. Wrong! Having structured and standardized processes, running automatically, will help you to get projects approved on merit. CAPEX requests supported by documentation and expert opinion, classified and evaluated easily get the nod. A system which is more secure, easier to use, and with automated workflow will get your projects actually approved faster!

Running a successful business is all about making the right investments to increase productivity and profitability. Maybe your first investment should be in a modern CAPEX process solution today!