Finance Automation and the Four Personality Types

Understanding what makes the people in your business tick is vital if you want a happy, productive, motivated team. This is especially true when you’re introducing change. It makes sense to understand how the change will benefit the different personalities in your business – not just the different job roles.

Let’s take finance automation as an example. Here’s how it can help four different personality types in your business.

The Detail Obsessives

Paper-based systems and detail obsessives simply aren’t a good fit. Finding the information they want involves them (or someone else in the team) disappearing down a rabbit hole trying to find it. Often, the result is frustration and too much wasted time and effort for the results they seek.

Finance automation makes their lives so much easier because they can see all the information they need at the click of a mouse. All-of-a-sudden, it’s possible to see how much the business spends with a particular hotel chain so they’re equipped to negotiate discounts. They can see how much the business has spent on stationery in the past month compared to the same time last year. They can also be confident in the accuracy of the data as human error is reduced.

The Creative Types

For creative types, admin is something they put off for as long as possible. Unfortunately, this means that when they can’t put off compiling an expense claim any longer, there are so many transactions to add that the experience is just as awful as they’d feared. And once it’s completed, the finance team gets a nasty shock when an unexpectedly large expense claim lands in their in-tray.

Finance automation helps creative types because the admin involved in travel, expense and invoice is dramatically reduced. For example, they simply have to photograph a receipt to start the expense process. Not only is much of the information then entered onto their claim automatically, they no longer have to keep hold of the receipt.

The process has suddenly become a lot easier to manage. And the finance team has a much earlier insight into what’s going on.

The Eternal Optimists

For the eternal optimists, the business is always doing well and there’s always money to spend. In paper-based systems this can mean they can’t see the bad news until it’s too late. The marketing budget is dangerously close to being reached far too early in the year. The expense allowance has been exceeded.

Finance automation is a valuable tool. They can see at a glance where they are against budget. The system can be set to alert them when an expense exceeds the allowance. As a result, they can be more responsible in their spending and the finance team can sleep better at night.

The People Pleasers

Sometimes, difficult conversations can’t be avoided – and in a small business or a close-knit team they’re especially hard. What’s the best way to ask your best sales person if they can reign in their expenses because the rules apply to everyone? How can you approach a director about their mileage claim, which looks suspiciously high?

Finance automation helps stop these conversations from needing to happen. Policy can be applied automatically. Anomalies and discrepancies can be picked up at source. Evidence is there in black and white so you can be equipped with facts, not feelings, if a conversation does need to be had.

Which One Are You?

Implementing finance automation is a big step for any business, but the key to overcoming resistance is to put the human into it. When you understand how it can help you in the way you like to work, you’re more likely to embrace what it has to offer. So, which one of these types are you and can you recognise these types of people in your business