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What can AP learn from shoe repair?

August 13th, 2010 | No Comments

If you need a pair of shoes repaired, be prepared to wait. As the Great Recession continues, people are finding more ways to save money. We’re staying in our houses longer, driving our cars longer, and apparently wearing our shoes longer.

According to the USA TODAY, “Cobblers at the nation’s roughly 7,000 repair shops — down from more than 100,000 in the 1930s — are thriving, bordering on overwhelmed.”

Certainly a $15 fix is much cheaper than a new pair of $100 shoes. What once were considered throw-away items, shoes are now looked at as investment worth preserving.

So what does all this have to do with AP? More than you might think, actually. The AP departments I talk to are overloaded, understaffed and inefficient. The easy answer is more headcount, but, like a new pair of shoes, it is just not economically feasible in today’s economy.

Like the savvy shoe owner, AP departments are looking for new ways to maximize the resources they have. Some are reexamining long-standing policies and procedures that have slowly become anchors. Others are asking their vendors to take on more of the burden of invoicing. And some are looking to reduce the stifling amount of paper that comes in the door every day.

As economists see no end in sight to the Great Recession, forward-thinking AP departments will find ways to maximize the resources they have. When the recession does finally subside and a true recovery is at hand, it is those AP departments who will be in the best shoes of all.

Adam Slick
Marketing Communications Manager
Verian Technologies