Last Updated: November 20, 2025
Many organizations invest heavily in powerful document automation tools expecting to finally escape time-consuming paper processes. Some are frustrated when employees simply don’t use them. Others haven’t yet taken the leap, but worry: will our team actually embrace this change?
Either way, the resistance you’re encountering isn’t stubbornness. It’s a symptom of a much deeper problem.
Here’s the truth: Overcoming automation resistance isn’t about deploying the right software; it’s about leading human-centric change. True, lasting success comes not from the technology itself, but from a strategic approach that integrates new tools with your existing systems and empowers your people to embrace them. And that starts long before go-live day.
In this post, we’ll explore the three most common (and completely solvable) drivers of automation resistance: fear of replacement, fear of complexity, and fear of failure. More importantly, we’ll show you concrete tactics to address each one – backed by real client transformations.
It’s Not “Replacement,” It’s “Augmentation” (Addressing the Job Security Fear)
Let’s start with the biggest one: the fear of being automated out of a job. It’s the elephant in the room. Your team worries that “efficiency” is just code for “downsizing.”
But the best automation strategies don’t replace people; they augment them. They free your most valuable assets – your team – from low-value, repetitive tasks to focus on high-value, strategic work.
The Hidden Cost of Status Quo
Sticking with the old way isn’t “safe”; it’s expensive. Think about the real costs of manual work: employee burnout, high turnover in data entry and AP roles, and the very real financial impact of simple data entry mistakes.
That “fat-fingered” purchase order isn’t a small mistake. If your company processes 10,000 invoices a year and experiences a 1-2% error rate (common in manual workflows), you’re looking at 100-200 invoices that require costly, time-consuming manual correction, rework, and reconciliation.
From Data Entry to Strategic Work: The West Kentucky Story
Take West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (WKRECC), which serves over 32,000 members across Western Kentucky. When a key accounting team member retired, they faced a critical decision: hire a replacement to maintain their manual processes, or modernize and do more with a leaner team.
They chose transformation.
After implementing DocStar AP automation with Intelligent Data Capture, their remaining team now processes invoices 60% faster (from 10 days to 4 days) while reducing manual data entry by 85%. The result? They’re handling growing operations with fewer people – and employee satisfaction actually improved because staff were freed from tedious data entry to focus on vendor relationship management, exception handling, and financial analysis.
“We needed to modernize to serve our members better,” explained Heather Foley, VP of Administration & Finance at WKRECC. The team shifted from viewing automation as a threat to recognizing it as the tool that elevated their roles.
Read the full West Kentucky Rural Electric case study to see how they achieved $100,000 in annual savings while handling retirement without replacement hires.
The lesson: Frame automation as a tool that handles the “robot work” – the keying, matching, and filing. This frees your team to do the “human work” they were hired for: analyzing, problem-solving, negotiating, and advising. It’s not about replacing an AP clerk; it’s about transforming them into a vendor analyst and process optimizer.
Making It Real: A Concrete Change Management Approach
Philosophy doesn’t overcome fear. Action does. Here’s a tactical roadmap informed by successful client implementations:
- First, quantify the time savings. Show your AP team the exact hours they’ll reclaim each month. If automation handles 80% of invoice data entry (20 hours/week of 25), be specific: “You’ll have 20 hours each week for higher-value work.” West Kentucky saved approximately 1,000 hours annually – make those numbers real for your team.
- Second, involve early adopters in the selection process. Don’t impose automation; co-design it. Ask: “What tasks would you eliminate first if you could?” When your team has a voice in the solution, they shift from resistant to invested. Wood-Mizer’s successful transition back to DocStar (after an outsourced solution failed) worked because they involved their team in identifying what they actually needed.
- Third, share success stories from similar roles – ideally from peers in your industry. Coast Counties Peterbilt successfully deployed document management across multiple dealership locations because they shared early wins between locations. When one site achieved a 90% reduction in filing and retrieval time, other locations wanted in. Peer credibility matters more than any vendor promise.
- Fourth, define new success metrics before go-live. Instead of “process invoices per day,” measure “vendor discrepancies caught per week” or “early-pay discounts secured per month.” Help your team see the new game they’re playing, not just what they’re leaving behind. West Kentucky now captures early payment discounts they previously missed, and Wood-Mizer processes 60,000 invoices annually with 96% efficiency – metrics that celebrate strategic value, not just speed.
For more strategies on optimizing your AP department’s performance, see our guide on maximizing your accounts payable process.
Integration Over Isolation (Addressing the “It’s Too Complex” Fear)
Resistance isn’t always about fear of change. Sometimes it’s just frustration. Employees balk when a new tool doesn’t talk to their existing tools. This creates what we call a “franken-system” approach – where you bolt on new software without connecting it – just creating another silo and more work. Why would anyone adopt a tool that makes their job harder?
A successful automation strategy must prioritize deep integration with your core systems, especially your ERP.
The “Rip and Replace” Myth
You’ll hear objections like: “Our ERP is too old,” or “Our ERP is too customized. We can’t automate around it.”
This is a myth. The answer isn’t to rip and replace the system you’ve spent years customizing and training your team on. The right implementation partner builds bridges.
Wood-Mizer’s Integration Success: Wood-Mizer, a global manufacturer processing 60,000 invoices annually, had previously outsourced their invoice processing for $4,300 per month. When they brought processing back in-house with DocStar, seamless integration with their Infor CSI ERP was critical. The result? 96% processing efficiency with full ERP integration – proving that even complex, customized ERP environments can be enhanced, not replaced.
Explore the Wood-Mizer case study to learn how they eliminated a $4,300/month outsourced solution while achieving 96% efficiency.
The goal is to enhance the value of your existing ERP, not force you into a new one. A true ERP integration specialist focuses on integrating with the platforms your team already uses, making those systems more powerful – not replacing them.
The “Single Source of Truth” Imperative: Coast Counties Peterbilt’s Multi-Location Challenge
Think about a paper-based Bill of Lading (BOL) process:
The signed BOL sits in a filing cabinet in the warehouse. Meanwhile, the ERP thinks the item is delivered. The AP system has no proof of receipt, so the invoice sits in limbo. Finance is confused. Warehouse is confused. You have three systems telling three different stories. No single truth. Just delays, disputes, and lost visibility.
Coast Counties Peterbilt, operating multiple dealership locations, faced exactly this challenge – multiplied across every site. Paper documents in one location were invisible to staff at other locations. Customer service representatives couldn’t access documents without physically traveling between facilities or making phone calls to track down paperwork.
After implementing centralized document management with Karmak Fusion integration, they achieved a 90% reduction in document filing and retrieval time. Now, any authorized employee at any location can instantly access customer records, service applications, and agreements. One action. One source of truth. No duplicate entry, no lost paper, no delays, no confusion.
See how Coast Counties Peterbilt transformed multi-location document chaos into seamless, centralized access.
As Erin Elliott, Accounting Manager at West Kentucky, put it: “We live in a mobile world. With DocStar, it’s easy to keep processes moving when staff are out of the office – and still do things right.”
Quick reality check: How many different systems does your team log into just to process one sales order? If the answer is more than one, your process is broken – and your team knows it. They can feel the friction. Fixing this isn’t optional; it’s the foundation of adoption.
“Discover How to Make a Business Case to CFO”.
The “Expert Gap”: Why Good Technology Fails Without Guidance (Addressing the “We Tried It and It Failed” Fear)
This one is painful. Many organizations have been burned by software promised as “plug-and-play” that turned into a graveyard of abandoned projects. Six months later, the tool is abandoned and your team is back to paper processes.
Why? Because implementation expertise matters far more than the software itself.
The 80/20 Reality Check
Here’s a hard truth that most software vendors won’t tell you: Technology is only 20% of a successful automation implementation. The other 80% is expert implementation, process redesign, and hands-on change management. Without that 80%, even the best software will fail.
That 80% includes everything from mapping your current workflows to identifying bottlenecks, configuring the system to your specific business rules, training your users until they’re genuinely comfortable, and coaching teams through the adoption curve. It’s not sexy. It doesn’t fit on a product brochure. But it’s the difference between success and another shelf-ware failure.
For a comprehensive look at avoiding these common implementation pitfalls, read our guide on successful AP automation implementation.
Franklin Foods: From Resistance to “Why Didn’t We Do This Sooner?”
Franklin Foods, a leading food processor, exemplifies what expert-led change management looks like in practice. Their transformation started with AP automation but quickly expanded when they tackled their most frustrating bottleneck: credit memo workflows.
Returns and adjustments had been a nightmare – paper forms moving between departments, manual calculations prone to errors, and zero visibility into outstanding credits. Staff were understandably skeptical about another “solution” that might create more work.
The breakthrough came through hands-on implementation support that didn’t just install software – it redesigned workflows with the team’s input. Digital forms now route automatically through the approval chain, calculations happen instantly, and every adjustment creates a complete audit trail. The finance team reconciles credits in minutes instead of days.
The cultural shift happened within the first quarter. Warehouse teams embraced digital BOLs on tablets, AP clerks redirected their time from data entry to vendor relationship management, and finance leadership gained real-time visibility they’d never had before. The transformation from “this is how we’ve always done it” to “why didn’t we do this sooner?” didn’t happen because of the software – it happened because of the strategic implementation approach.
By eliminating paper invoices, credit memos, and manual filing systems, Franklin Foods also reduced their document-related paper consumption by an estimated 75,000 sheets annually – a sustainability win that resonated with staff who cared about environmental impact.
Discover the complete Franklin Foods transformation including their credit memo automation breakthrough and cultural adoption story.
You Don’t Have to Build This Expertise Internally
If your objection is “We don’t have the IT staff to support this,” you’re right. You shouldn’t have to. A true implementation partner acts as an extension of your team – not a vendor handing you software and a support phone number.
A real partner starts by mapping your current state: How does an invoice really move through your organization? Where does it get stuck? What’s the impact? They identify your actual bottleneck – not what you think it is, but what it really is. Learn more about common AP bottlenecks and solutions.
Then they configure the solution to solve your specific problem. Not a generic setup, but a customized approach tailored to how you actually work. West Kentucky integrated DocStar with their CSA billing and accounting software. Wood-Mizer connected with Infor CSI. Coast Counties integrated with Karmak Fusion. Each integration was unique because each business operates differently.
And critically, they train your team – not with slide decks in a conference room, but with hands-on, real-scenario coaching.
One Mosaic implementation expert captured this perfectly: “Change management isn’t a go-live event; it’s a process. Without dedicated guidance, teams will always revert to the paper processes they know. With the right expert support, adoption becomes natural.”
The Vendor vs. Partner Difference
Understanding this distinction is critical to avoiding another failed implementation.
- A vendor sells you software, provides a help desk number, and offers standard support. The focus is on the technology itself, leaving process mapping, user adoption, and change management largely up to you. When adoption stalls, they blame your team. “Your organization isn’t ready for change,” they’ll say. Translation: We didn’t do the work to make it work.
- A partner, by contrast, acts as an extension of your team. They take ownership of the outcome. They map your workflows, identify bottlenecks, design solutions, configure systems, train users, and coach adoption. They succeed only when you succeed. A partner doesn’t just deploy software; they engineer organizational change.
While internal adoption of AP automation can be managed through training and communication, dealing with vendors and external partners introduces unique challenges that are often outside of your direct control. Some vendors may be resistant to change, prefer traditional methods like paper invoices, or lack the technological infrastructure to fully integrate with your automated system. These external factors can slow down the process and create friction, even if your internal team is on board.
Stop Buying Software. Start Investing in an Outcome
Ultimately, overcoming automation resistance is less of a technical challenge and more of a human one. We’ve learned – through implementations at West Kentucky, Wood-Mizer, Coast Counties, Franklin Foods, and dozens of other organizations – that lasting adoption comes from three foundational principles:
- Reframe the change as Augmentation, not Replacement. Help your team see that automation is freeing them to do higher-value work, not eliminating their value. Make this tangible with time savings (West Kentucky’s 1,000 hours annually), new responsibilities, and success metrics that prove it (Wood-Mizer’s 96% efficiency).
- Ensure seamless integration through deep ERP connection, not isolated tools. Your team feels friction when systems don’t talk. Remove that friction and adoption becomes frictionless (Wood-Mizer’s Infor CSI integration, Coast Counties’ Karmak Fusion integration, West Kentucky’s CSA integration). Bolt on another silo and watch adoption stall.
- Provide expert-led guidance with true partnership, not just platform support. That 80% of implementation expertise matters more than the software itself. Invest in the guidance, and adoption will follow (Franklin Foods’ first-quarter cultural transformation, Coast Counties’ multi-location rollout success).
This is exactly how we approach automation at Mosaic. We focus on Augmentation by using AP, Sales Order, and HR automation to empower your teams and free them for strategic work. We ensure deep Integration by seamlessly connecting with your existing ERP, managed by our expert implementation team. And we act as a true Partner, where our implementation experts guide you through every step of the process – from workflow mapping to user adoption to post-go-live optimization.
Yes, it can feel “safer” to stick with current paper-based processes. But that path has its own hidden costs: inefficiency, errors, delayed cash flow, and stagnant growth. The real risk is automating without a clear plan for your people. The organizations that succeed aren’t the ones who buy the fanciest software; they’re the ones who invest in expert-led change management.
For a closer look at how invoice processing costs add up, and why paperless AP delivers such dramatic savings, check out our full breakdown on the cost of processing an invoice.
Ready to Build a Sustainable Automation Strategy?
If you’ve tried automation before and it didn’t stick, or if you’re preparing to implement automation and want to avoid common pitfalls, we’d like to help.
Ready to eliminate manual data entry and reduce errors? Talk to a Mosaic expert now and learn how our implementation-first approach can ensure your automation actually gets used – and drives real results.
Don’t let manual processes hold your business back. Reach out to Mosaic now to explore how our seamless ERP integration and expert change management can revolutionize your operations. We’ll help you identify your biggest adoption barrier and chart a clear path forward.