Every business is moving toward an automated way of working, not only because it’s a future goal, but also because the way organizations run today is starting to break. Ardent Partners’ most recent State of ePayables Report shows that a majority of organizations have adopted some level of automated, electronic payments or invoice processing. The reason for that is simple: manual processes have become unacceptably slow, error-prone, and risky for businesses to manage.
That progress isn’t evenly distributed, though. While automated payments have come to the fore, with adoption north of 68%, digitized invoice management has lagged behind. On average, only 51% of invoices are sent electronically, and those businesses still sending and processing paper invoices are costing themselves time and money.
The costs are particularly heavy for suppliers. With the need to improve cash flow paramount as costs rise and capital reserves diminish, speeding time to cash via faster invoice delivery and processing becomes essential. Much of the focus has been on eliminating checks as a form of payment, given that they are inherently fraud-prone and slow. But invoices are part of the same problem.
An invoice sent to a customer via snail mail, meanwhile, can take a week to arrive and another entire week for the customer’s accounts payable team to approve and process. This leads to significant delays in payment, and even greater delays in reconciling that paper invoice with its proper payment.
Streamlining and digitizing invoice processing is one of the key ways to shorten the invoice-to-cash cycle in a way that positively impacts the bottom line. Here’s how.
Improving Customer Invoice Processing Time
Vendors who want to receive payments more quickly should move away from sending paper invoices through the mail. Ardent Partners data shows that when an invoice is manually sent, approved, and paid, it can take an average of 13.5 days to process. That's faster than it was in previous years, but that’s because more businesses have implemented at least partial automation. Ascend Software research estimates fully manual AP teams take an average of closer to 25 days to process an invoice, and that gap isn’t likely to close on its own.
Invoices shared electronically, on the other hand, enable faster payment and reconciliation. They arrive more quickly, are easier for customers to process, and typically come with already structured data, which allows for easier follow up if there are questions. If invoices are sent from a reliable, trusted domain and contain all the information customers need for quick processing, invoices can be paid even faster.
Here’s an example of how this works in practice from our perspective: When vendors join the Paymode business payments network and agree to accept Premium ACH payments, they also get access to Premium Invoice Delivery. Instead of relying on standalone emails, legitimate invoices are delivered through a recognized environment that their customers already use, making them easier to validate and act on. That invoice is far more likely to be actioned immediately than, say, an emailed invoice from another vendor who is using a Hotmail account.
There are other benefits beyond speed, too.
Electronic Invoice Delivery Improves Visibility and Tracking
If vendors send a PDF invoice directly from their email, they have limited ability to track its status. They can turn on read receipts, but otherwise they’ll need to reach out to customers directly if they have questions or are experiencing delays.
With a more automated invoice delivery solution, however, tracking can usually be done online, greatly improving visibility. Vendors can log in to the portal 24/7 to see the status of any invoice, getting instant insight into when, or if, an invoice is sent, delivered, opened, and/or actioned, as well as total dollar amounts for easy reconciliation downstream. This cuts down on the back-and-forth with customers and busts through what I like to call “accounts receivable fog,” where one can’t see the status of an invoice once it’s been sent.
With faster invoice delivery and status visibility, vendors can more confidently forecast cash flow, manage payments, and reconcile, greatly easing the burden on their accounts receivable team.
Combine Invoice Delivery and Payments in One Place
The simplest way for suppliers to recognize these benefits is to explore the payments platforms they’re using today and see if they offer invoice delivery options.
If suppliers can upload, edit, send, and track invoices from within their existing payment solutions, they’ll save time, money, and headaches as a result. Having a one-stop shop for the entire invoice-to-cash cycle shortens the cycle and removes many cumbersome, manual steps that come from switching between processes and systems. Some providers, including Paymode, include premium invoice delivery options as a membership feature for some businesses.
Paper invoices sent by mail slow down payments, increase risk, and create unnecessary friction in the invoice-to-cash cycle. Moving to electronic invoice delivery, especially through integrated payment platforms, helps vendors accelerate cash flow, gain real-time visibility, and reduce operational effort. The future of invoicing is centralized, secure, trackable, and digital, as it should be. For organizations still relying on manual or low-visibility methods, a more connected approach could make a real difference, both operationally and competitively.
