Shrink cycle time
AP automation dramatically shortens cycle time by eliminating manual data entry, streamlining the validation process, and routing invoices electronically for approval.
Speed vendor payments
Digitizing AP and converting check payments to ACH and virtual card payments can slash processing time from 3 weeks to an average of 3 days. Zero-touch scenarios can let you process and directly deposit approved payments into a vendor’s bank account.
Improve agile decisioning
Digital transformation for your invoice-to-pay process provides complete visibility into real-time data to support agile decision-making regarding budgeting, forecasting, spend liability, spending patterns, and more. The majority of challenges faced by Accounts Payable (AP) are ultimately about time. There are processes taking too much time and people having too little time. Here are ten ways re-engineering AP through digitization and automation puts valuable time back in your day.
Enhance invoice prioritization
AP systems that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help you make fact-based decisions about how much to pay, when to pay, and how to pay to fulfill your business objectives and maintain strong vendor relations.
Accelerate vendor onboarding
An advanced AP solution provider checks suppliers to verify whether they are on a watch list, contacts them for onboarding information, houses sensitive banking data, and performs ongoing data validation any time there is a change in account details.
Expedite anomaly detection
AI and ML can detect anomalies in invoice amount, timing, or frequency based on historic data and flag invoices or payments for inspection, eliminating the time and effort spent manually analyzing invoices for possible fraud.
Simplify data access
Electronic imaging and archive capabilities ensure that invoices are easily accessible to all authorized staff, even when working remotely. This supports approval workflows, as well as audit and compliance reporting.
Eliminate manual errors
Correcting errors consumes an inordinate amount of time in AP, and that’s time that could be much better used elsewhere. Digitizing the invoice-to-pay process enables you to avoid these errors and reclaim time spent correcting them.
Streamline supplier management
Digital transformation in AP streamlines supplier management by providing complete transparency into payment status through a vendor portal. This accelerates exception, complaint, and dispute management with readily-accessible AP data.
Fast-track financial data
Digital transformation of AP means you can swiftly gather the necessary reports and information so that your CFO is able to address strategic goals such as funding growth, paying down debts, or financing mergers and acquisitions.
