The Reality of Accounts Payable in a Mobile World

From online banking to Amazon, consumers are conducting more business on smartphones and tablets. Now, on-the-go commerce is spilling over into the business world. Seventy-two percent of Americans who own a smartphone check their devices at least once an hour, according to a Gallup Panel survey. Overall, Americans spend an average of 5.6 hours a day online.

To meet this demand, more than 1,000 mobile applications are created across the globe every day. What’s more, Internet penetration now stands at 88 percent (compared to 77 percent in 2010), Baron noted, and Internet access speeds have nearly tripled between 2010 and 2015.

With mobile commerce so prevalent in their personal lives, it is no surprise that financial professionals expect 24/7 access to critical information, irrespective of whether they use a computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet. As a result, mobile purchase order requisition and invoice approval has come of age.

Sixteen percent of businesses use a mobile solution to approve invoices, according to a 2015 Institute of Financial Operations (IFO) survey. One-in-five manufacturers surveyed currently approve invoices using a mobile solution.

Importantly, nine percent of businesses surveyed said they plan to deploy a mobile invoice approval solution within six months, five percent plan to deploy a mobile invoice approval solution within 12 months, and nine percent plan to deploy the technology within 24 months; If these plans come to pass, within two years, 40 percent of businesses will be approving invoices via a mobile solution.