The Bottomline:
Beyond In-Boxes and Out-Boxes

How Automation is Changing the AP Landscape

Today's accounts payable professionals spend much of their day handling paper, resolving vendor disputes, attempting to keep up with phone calls and other onerous processes in the effort to move invoices from the "in" box to the "out" box. Even though elements of automation have been introduced in the last few years, accounts payable processes continue to represent models of inefficiency.

Though AP departments have long been viewed as cost centers, by investing in Web-based purchase-to-pay systems, they can increase efficiencies, contain costs and improve vendor relationships. Automation can help cut the cost of processing an invoice by half, reduce error rates to less than one percent and help control unauthorized spending. At the same time, automation can enable a company to improve cash flow by better timing payments to take advantage of payment discounts.

Since most organizations are at different levels of technology adoption, there are no cookie-cutter approaches to automating AP. Instead, technology upgrades need to be modular in nature so that companies can add the capabilities they need without scrapping systems that meet some, but not all, purchase-to-pay needs.

The clearest economic gain can be made by working with a technology partner that can assist an AP manager assess current systems, needs and desired purchase-to-pay efficiencies while helping to leverage previously made IT investments where possible.

Before selecting an AP automation solution, organizations are best served by conducting internal due diligence while evaluating the features and functionality of prospective solutions. Given the number of existing variables in motion within an AP department, haphazard automation could potentially create more difficulties than efficiencies. With that in mind, organizations should give careful consideration to questions such as:

• What are the short- and long-term automation goals for the organization?
• How ready is the organization to adopt an AP automation solution?
• What is the level of process complexity?
• What are the needs of the supplier community?

Additionally, organizations should be prepared to weigh build versus buy, as well as licensed versus hosted decisions. Each of these five readiness factors carries with it discernable pros and cons. Ultimately, by asking these types of questions and weighing these factors, organizations should be able to accurately assess the scope of an AP automation initiative and be in a position to create a shortlist of automation solutions capable of addressing the specific needs of the AP department and the organization it serves.

To read more on this topic, download a complete, complimentary copy of the new five-page report: Beyond In-Boxes and Out-Boxes: How Automation is Changing the AP Landscape.