My Experience with Automation: Benefiting Every Industry

In my previous blog I gazed back wistfully at the times when we gleefully committed everything to paper and offices were crammed with lever arch files containing the 6-year life story of a finance department. However, prior to working for a company (Compleat) promoting AP Automation for customers using Sage, QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite or Sage Intacct I was also involved in other software promoting better use of the earth’s resources. 

Automation benefiting taxis 

I spent over 10 years working with some truly remarkable people—individuals whose intelligence and expertise far surpassed anything I could ever aspire to. These teams were based in both the UK and Russia, and developed innovative software designed to optimise transport and reduce fuel consumption. Our mission was to find smarter, more efficient ways to manage fleet operations, both for taxis and delivery services. 

On one side, we focused on streamlining taxi journeys from the perspective of the operators themselves. This was no small task—we were going head-to-head with the likes of Uber and their cutting-edge technology. Yet, our solution gave operators the ability to schedule rides more efficiently, reducing not only fuel costs but also overall operational expenses. 

The other part of our software tackled the logistics of goods deliveries, with an emphasis on scheduling deliveries in a more optimal and timely manner. Again, the goal was the same: cut down on unnecessary fuel usage, reduce the miles travelled, and, in turn, slash costs. The impact was profound. I remember one taxi operator telling us that our software helped them save over a million miles annually. Imagine the fuel savings alone! It was amazing to witness how something as simple as optimising a route could have such a dramatic financial and environmental impact. 

It was incredibly rewarding work, and it was a real eye-opener to see how technology could transform entire industries by automating complex tasks that would otherwise require far more human effort and resources. 

Automation benefiting finance 

Both Compleat and my previous company share a fundamental belief: automation is better. The human brain is an incredible organ—capable of astonishing creativity, problem-solving, and organization. But there are some tasks that, quite frankly, are better left to technology. If software can replicate and even improve upon human processes—whether it’s scheduling deliveries, optimising taxi routes, or managing invoices—why wouldn’t we let it do the heavy lifting? Technology has the ability to process vast amounts of data in seconds, make real-time decisions, and handle repetitive tasks in ways that far surpass what even the most efficient human brain can achieve. And it does so in a fraction of the time, with minimal errors. 

When it comes to finance, for example, people have a nearly limitless capacity to keep things organised—posting items to the Purchase or Nominal Ledgers, chasing approvals, ensuring compliance. But if great software exists to handle these time-consuming tasks, why wouldn’t you use it? Why not free yourself up to focus on higher-value work, like strategic planning or big-picture forecasting, instead of getting bogged down in manual processes? This is the beauty of automation: it doesn’t replace the need for human insight; it enhances it by allowing us to shift our focus to the things that really matter. 

The truth is much of what we do in our day-to-day jobs can be labour-intensive, repetitive, and tedious. Whether it’s manually scheduling taxi routes or processing invoices, these tasks take time and energy away from more important, creative work. That’s where software steps in. In the examples I’ve already mentioned—like taxi and delivery optimisation or AP automation—the technology takes over the grunt work, allowing us to focus on the bigger challenges that require true human insight. For instance, why spend hours manually scheduling taxi journeys when software can efficiently handle 97% of them, allowing you to step in only for the more complex scenarios? Or, in the finance world, why waste your time manually posting invoices and chasing down approvals when AP Automation tools like Compleat can do it for you, freeing you and your team to concentrate on more strategic tasks, like preparing that crucial 3-year forecast for the Board? 

Automation benefiting everyone 

Ultimately, software has the potential to make our work lives so much easier by taking care of the time-consuming, repetitive tasks that no one really enjoys. It allows us to work smarter, not harder, and to redirect our efforts to where they’re really needed. If there’s a tool that can do the hard yards for you, why not embrace it with open arms? 

So, if you’re looking for help scheduling your fleet’s journeys, making life easier for both your drivers and your scheduling team, I’d be happy to point you in the right direction (no pun intended). And if you’re interested in transforming how your finance team operates—particularly in automating your purchase order process or matching invoices to approved orders—then, and I may be a bit biased here, I highly recommend taking a look at Compleat Software. It’s genuinely a game-changer for teams looking to work smarter and more efficiently.