Top 10 Accounts Payable Automation Benefits - Kris Lamey

Whether you run an accounting and finance department or make IT decisions, it’s important to understand what’s at stake when it comes to automated accounts payable systems. You can eliminate manual efforts and save money in your accounts payable processes via Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). This article discusses accounts payable automation benefits and how they could impact your organization.

According to a McKinsey Report Global Institute, 60% of jobs consist primarily of repetitive tasks that would benefit from automation. With one-third of their activities automated, employees could spend more time on other functions that add value to the organization.

Company X’s AP Automation

Company X offers an accounts payable automation solution that can do more than just automate repetitious tasks. It can also dramatically decrease total processing time by days. Our solutions already accommodate thousands of companies. However, it’s our mission to bring the power of intelligent automation to even more customers to help them gain an edge in the market.

To achieve this, we’ve created a highly configurable platform that uses AI, RPA, and Business Process Management (BPM) to streamline your AP processes. As a result, we can help you develop AP automation best practices that simplify your operations and help employees stay more productive.

Are you ready to do away with manual AP processes that introduce errors, create inefficiencies, and potentially compromise your relationship with vendors and other partners? Then, it’s time to realize the benefits of invoice automation using Company X’s AP automation solution. However, you don’t have to take our word for it. You’re welcome to view our case studies revealing the robust automation solutions we offer.

How One Media Company Automated Its High-Volume Invoicing Operations

In one case study, Company X provided automated solutions for a media company that processed more than 1,000 invoices coming from 11,000 agencies every day. Each vendor had a unique format for its invoices, increasing the risk of human errors – creating liabilities in the form of payment delays. With Company X’s accounts payable (AP) automation solution, the company automated manual invoicing using natively embedded RPA, BPM, and AI.

Challenges of Manual AP

As the case study emphasizes, there are numerous challenges with manual AP processes. Some of these challenges include the following:

Manual Data Entry Mistakes
Slow Approval Process
Lack of Visibility
Inability to Manage and Store Information
Vulnerability to Fraud

Fortunately, intelligent automation eliminates manual operations and many of the challenges that come with it. Implementing AP automation best practices start by understanding AP automation benefits.

What Are the Top 10 Accounts Payable Automation Benefits?

Add value to your organization by freeing up your team to focus on critical tasks. Here’s a look at how your organization can benefit from the automation of accounts payable processes.

Time savings: Before automated AP solutions, invoices were stacked up on desks until workers could complete them. With automated routing, you streamline the approval process and do away with bottlenecks. This is just one of many invoice automation benefits. You can add rules to the workflow to ensure that the right person receives an invoice along with task reminders. In this case, AP automation can cut down on the aging of invoices and ensure that you meet the contractual obligations with each vendor.
Streamlined invoicing: Like other forms of business process automation, invoice automation cuts back on both labor costs and other overhead expenses. It can cost thousands of dollars to process a few hundred invoices manually. Instead, AP automation automates the process, cutting back on paperwork and manual tasks. RPA has become a $2 billion industry. Eliminating repetitious tasks has almost become a necessity in the modern workplace — especially if you want to keep up with or outpace the competition.
Improved accuracy: Opting for AP automation reduces the number of errors and skips repetitive steps such as typing in data line by line. It also makes it easier to catch double payments.
Improve cash flow management. AP automation keeps invoices and POs flowing through the process smoothly, giving you more flexibility and control when managing your cash flow.
Early payment discount. By automating the AP process, you’re more likely to meet the criteria for early payment discounts. With 77% of AP departments already investing in automation, it’s essential your company also takes advantage of this technology.
Save on storage. Through the automation of AP processes, you can save significantly on storage. With all records available electronically, there’s no more need to waste space with file rooms full of invoices and purchase orders.
Reduce escalations. It’s easy for manually processed invoices to become misplaced, creating misunderstandings and subsequent escalations. That’s valuable time that managers could spend pursuing other initiatives.
Improve average days payable outstanding. According to IOFM’s 2020 Benchmarks report, 33% of companies with low invoice rates processed invoices on time after automating the AP process. That number jumps to 42% when considering the automation of the PO process compared to 25% processed on time with manual invoicing.
Simplify auditing. AP automation from Company X can also simplify the auditing process by introducing document management. This links all documents and communication related to purchase orders and receipts, creating a trail of easily trackable breadcrumbs for auditors.
Integrate your AP system. Last, but not least, AP automation makes it easier to integrate your AP system with other databases, including business ERPs and financial systems.

Company X’s AP Automation Solution

Company X provides end-to-end automation of your AP process. Some of the key benefits of Company X’s AP automation solution include:

Multi-channel support for processing invoices
User-friendly viewing
Vendor portal to track invoices
Automated invoice matching
Customized approvals
Auto-posting of invoices to your ERP
Notification and alerts
Introduces Accounts Payable Automation Best Practices

Contact us today for more information or a free quote on our automated accounts payable system.