Middle market companies reside at the intersection of scale and agility, and intelligent automation primes them for unprecedented growth and sustainable competitive advantage.  Intelligent automation is a game-changer that’s leveling the playing field in the middle market and redefining what it means to be competitive in today’s digital age.

Digital Transformation Is Different in the Middle

Resources – capital, people, time — are typically more constrained in mid-market companies than in a larger enterprise where digital transformation is often strategically managed by a dedicated department or team. On the other end of the spectrum, small businesses aren’t typically in a position to even need such platforms.

To help the mid-market navigate technological change, Harvard Business Review reported five key considerations to ensure alignment and return on investment.

1. Platform: Allocating more budget to innovation over daily management will generate greater long-term value.
2. Budget: Return on investment can take longer to achieve depending on the system(s) involved.
3. Processes: Think about what might need to change by process-mapping key functions.
4. People: Using partners can help fill the skills void, but take time to think through the longer-term talent plan.
5. Risk Management: With new technology comes the potential for new exposures.

With the right mindset, strategic approach, and willingness to leverage outside resources as needed, middle-market companies can lean into change with eyes wide open, primed to extract most if not all of the benefits of digital transformation to drive greater efficiency, collaboration, and growth in an increasingly competitive world.

The Middle-Market Is Turning To AP automation

One key way middle-market companies are fighting off economic uncertainty is by investing in accounts payable automation technology. AP automation tools have matured considerably in recent years. As a result, midsized businesses can now deploy automation solutions that are intuitive by design, easy to use and — thanks to their cloud-based nature — quick to implement. Plus, as AccountingToday writes, with the emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, leading AP automation platforms can do considerably more than they used to, enabling middle-market companies to get a bigger bang for their buck.

AP automation has the power to transform an organization’s accounting function, with benefits that extend beyond that department, such as having more controls over vendor approvals, ensuring that only legitimate invoices are paid and controlling the payment approval process to reduce the risk of external or internal fraud.

Midsize Companies Build Supply Chain Resiliency And Sustainability

Midsize organizations are including supply chain resiliency and sustainability in their improvement strategies for profitable revenue growth, efficiency, and mitigation of risks such as soaring costs. This shift in strategy according to Forbes is expanding their focus on other areas, including supply chain dependability and strength, cost control and spend management, less reliance on scarce resources, and product, service, and operational sustainability.

Supply chain functions are expanding their use of the cloud by digitizing their end-to-end supply chain – creating a much more unified ecosystem for their internal teams and external vendors, partners, and customers. In addition, they leverage employee collaboration tools, business process intelligence, and AI capabilities such as robotic process automation, machine learning, blockchain distributed ledgers, and human-computer interaction.

How Technology is Fueling Growth in the Middle Market

Today, middle market company decision-makers are prioritizing investment in technology to improve their payments, customer experience, retention and hiring goals, operations and supply chain/logistics processes.

Capital One surveyed mid-market decision-makers to understand their challenges, opportunities and investment priorities with business technologies. Key findings shed light on stakeholder perceptions of the value of technology for business strategy and day-to-day operations. Businesses have doubled down on adopting technologies that help them stay competitive in the new economic era by accelerated implementation plans for technologies supporting customer experience (63%), operations (60%), payments (58%) and supply chain/logistics (56%).

Start Now, Think Big, Go Fast

Intelligent automation primes midsized companies for unprecedented growth and sustainable competitive advantage. Since the middle market resides at the intersection of scale and agility, technology can serve as a flywheel for success and is foundational to winning the game. Cloud eases and speeds the adoption of the complex ecosystem of technologies working in concert to modernize operations. Companies that embrace intelligent automation solutions will do business faster, better and cheaper.

To understand how IA can make a difference to your business strategy, let’s talk.