How Automation Keeps Your Organization Secure - Tips for the IT Team

Automation is an increasingly popular technology, both in and out of the back office. We’ve already covered how AP teams can leverage automation (and how to make the case for purchasing a solution to their CFO), but what are the benefits for the rest of an organization when it comes to relying on this tool? 

For the IT department in particular, automation can be an ally in their most important goal: keeping their organization secure against various risks and maintaining important compliance standards.  

Let’s take a deeper look at how automation can enhance a business’s security efforts and why it’s worth the investment.  

Automation – The IT Department’s Hidden Weapon 

The majority of IT departments already have safety protocols in place, with or without automation’s help. However, adding this tool provides a seamless and proactive approach to ensure your organization is primed for continuous, secure success. 

Improved Security and Compliance Controls 

Fraud attempts increased by 52% for businesses in the last year—something an IT team dreads.  

Automation makes identifying and preventing fraud a far easier prospect. With tools like OCR, hundreds of thousands of pieces of data can be combed, analyzed, and sorted. This makes spotting suspicious invoices, spoofed email accounts, and other attacks significantly more manageable.   

This enhanced fraud prevention makes maintaining importance compliance regulations a more consistent and straightforward process for the IT team, reducing stress and costly fines.  

Reduced Human Error 

Automation is well-known for its ability to eliminate manual tasks and the associated human errors. For an IT team, this means less time coding custom protocols or manually performing security checks. With automation running scheduled workflows and other processes, there’s less need for direct human involvement. Not only does this keep sensitive data secure, but it also frees up valuable staff time for more strategic tasks and planning.  

Clearer Insights into Existing Processes 

In a streamlined, automated system, not only is productivity enhanced, but users have far clearer insights into existing processes. Tasks like the invoice-to-pay lifecycle, workflows that collect employee information, and document management items with sensitive data can now be monitored from one, centralized platform.  

This means the IT team no longer has to comb through mismatched platforms or sort through paper files for relevant information. Instead, they can monitor the business’s secure data environment with ease.  

The ROI of Automation for Your IT Team (And the CFO) 

Now that we’ve examined what automation can do for the IT team, it’s time to dive deeper into the ROI of bringing on this kind of solution. If your CFO needs convincing before deciding to invest in automation, present these key talking points:  

Tech Optimization and Its Benefits

Budgeting and cash flow optimization are among a CFO’s top priorities. Tech optimization is a great way to achieve this—and automation can make an easily reachable goal.  

Instead of relying on an inefficient tech stack where systems don’t work together, creating information bottlenecks and potential security risks, implementing an automated solution that integrates seamlessly with existing ERPs saves not only time, but money too.  

Enhanced security, more efficient processes, and lower costs are music to a CFO’s ears—and no hardship for the IT team either.  

Scalability to Match Your Business 

With a rapidly changing tech and financial landscape, investing in a solution that can’t grow and change with your organization is a poor choice. The right automation solution isn’t just customizable—it's scalable to your business’s unique needs. 

For a CFO, this may mean preparing to onboard more suppliers or personnel and the costs that come with that. For the IT team, that means additional security measures around supplier payment methods and sensitive employee data.  

The ideal automation solution can easily keep up with the needs of the entire organization, cultivating cohesion across departments and organizational goals at large.  

If your business is ready to bring on an automation solution that will boost fraud prevention, improve process efficiency, and fit into your CFO’s budget, look no further than DocuPhase! Speak with one of our automation experts to learn more about how our solutions can benefit your organization.