Evolving your company and keeping up with the constant rollout of new technologies and new ways to handle traditional tasks can help streamline your operations while helping you focus on the core of your business.

More and more organizations are adopting paperless solutions every year because the value of having electronically organized information at the ready, anywhere you are, is a convenience and time-saver that can’t be ignored.

One of these solutions is Accounts Payable Automation. Even if your business has been running like a well-oiled machine when it comes to having your finance operations covered, it only takes a day for a situation to arise where a wrench is thrown into your cogs to throw things off and the prior way of doing things suddenly becomes more of a hurdle.

Today we will be discussing the benefits of Accounts Payable Automation and why it is worth taking a deeper look into this evolved payment solution. If you would like to stick around, we would appreciate your time and take a deeper look into this ever-growing method of managing your finances.

AP Trends and Changes

These days, we have a host of software and services available that simply were not there 15 years ago, and this is important because it means businesses have the luxury of deciding how they can streamline and make their operations more efficient. And with remote work being so common for obvious reasons in recent history, these services are more important than ever.

AP (Accounts Payable) Automation has been one of these solutions and has been constantly evolving and helping businesses manage their finances while being the most accessible it has ever been.

Because of this, it is making it more viable for organizations to look into their future and decide how they want to improve their financial operations.

Improving Back-office Operations

While customer-focused processes are often prioritized, back-office operations have been better supported as the years gone by. The truth is that more businesses are starting up and are relying on the help of software that can assist them towards a successful future.

However, even if you run an established business, you can still highly benefit from looking into AP automation.

Is AP Automation Right for Your Organization?

There are certain patterns and cues that can tell if your business is right for AP Automation. While choosing to forgo AP Automation may not be a do-or-die situation, it can take a burden off of your organization if there are things that indicate that there would be benefits to looking into new accounts payable trends and reevaluating the situation.

Change can seem difficult when you’ve been running things “well enough” for a long time, suddenly making such a major switch overnight may be daunting, but eventually, some things can be highly beneficial in the long run.

If you are processing 500 or more invoices in a month, and have more than 2 full-time AP clerks, AP Automation is certainly worth consideration. It will save you time and money by streamlining the entire process of manually pouring over payment information. Additionally, if you are outsourcing your AP or processing your invoices in multiple locations, you can also highly benefit from AP Automation.

Lastly, if you find yourself struggling with late payments, have data entry errors, and missing out on early payment benefits, then AP Automation is a viable solution for your organization and is worth your consideration.

Think of it as having one person filling 100 buckets of water vs an automated machine doing it in one fell swoop. Automation in general has become a core part of society to make things more efficient overall.

Overall, this is a topic that can be healthy to have a sit down discussion with your team regarding the future of your organization.

The coronavirus pandemic has presented unique workforce challenges in industries ranging from supply chain to fast food. In its wake, an increased necessity for secure, cloud-based document systems has also become evident. It is especially true of accounts payable departments who work remotely to ensure their team is safe while assuring the company’s creditors and suppliers get compensated on time.

Transitioning your company’s financial records from their locked file cabinets to electronic files can be quite the task, but your team does not have to do it alone. A systems integrator, like the paperless guys at Mosaic, can help put your AP documents at your fingertips with accuracy and transparency. But how do you objectively determine the best integration resource for your project? As with choosing any vendor, we recommend completing a full vendor analysis.

Understanding Your Scope of Work

To begin your search for the most appropriate integrator, you are encouraged to first be clear on your scope of automation. Know what you want to accomplish, when you need it taken care of, and how the integration will affect your teams. It’s also not a bad idea to reference your standard operating practices when unraveling your project’s scope. 

Be sure to outline your payable processes in steps as well as your accounting department’s invoice management and approval processes. Also, include any known pain-points to be addressed during this integration.

Let’s consider this the discovery process, during which you may also seek to develop a project timeline that could be adjusted in real-time. Accounting for system upgrades and human error will afford you additional time to implement the automation software you choose. Taking adequate time to define the scope of work and implementation process expectation before vendor selection could help eliminate costly mistakes later in the process.

Selecting an Integrator

Getting the most out of your accounts payable automation software solution is critical to your company’s bottom line. Selecting the integrator who best fits your needs will help provide the framework to improve your organization’s expense-to-revenue. Once you’ve identified the scope of your integration process, research your vendor’s entire organization. Peruse their website for positive results. Pay close attention to customer success stories. Do not hesitate to reach out to other customers about the potential vendor’s professional services. To inquire about an integrator’s business and viability, our recommended questions include, but are not limited to the following:

• How long have you been in business?
• Do you have licensed engineers on staff?
• What is your process for hiring and equipping new engineers as veteran engineers retire?
• How will the integrator learn your business?

Deciphering the AP Automation Process

“Accounts Payable automation (AP Automation) refers to the technology used to streamline and automate accounts payable processes, removing manual tasks, and providing better visibility and control over important financial data.”

The Institute of Financial Management reports that 73 percent of organizations used AP automated software in 2020. Whether you use Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Infor, SYSPRO, SAP, or any other ERP system, a viable accounts payable automation software should make it easier to retrieve data for reporting, reviewing invoices and purchase orders, and immediately knowing your company’s cash flow. AP automation tools synergistically improve invoice processing and the overall workflow of the accounts payable department.

Read More: Cloud-Based AP Automation the New Normal in Accounts Payable

Incorporating AP automation software is an ideal solution for circumventing common issues with manual accounts payable processes. Now’s the perfect time to switch if your company:

• Processes 500 or more invoices per month.
• Has more than 2 full-time AP clerks
• Outsources your AP
• Has too many late payment penalties
• Misses early payment discounts

Take a look at our recent blog posts for more on the benefits of AP automation.

Mosaic Can Help with Integration

Our accounts payable tools can help free up your team, and a path for you to continue growing your business. Together, we can facilitate business optimizations that yield results your entire company will feel. Our DocStar solution integrates with accounting software to: 

• Stimulate productivity through intelligent automated capture of invoice data
• Capture early payment discounts
• Automate your company’s AP approval process
• Reduce accounts payable processing labor costs
• Securely store electronic versions of your company’s financial documents

Why You Should Tour our DocStar Tools

Give your accounting department a break! Decide to automate your AP solutions and allow your accounting systems to do the heavy lifting. Your team’s day-to-day objectives will shift, giving way to the capacity for more revenue-generating activities that your current process may not have room for. 

Accounts payable automation solutions with paperless invoice processing are critical in transforming your AP Department. Take a tour of our DocStar automation software to see how the integration of our software can make your team and stakeholders happy.

Start your journey to AP automation with us today.

Accounts Payable is a crucial arm of any successful organization. Managing outgoing expenses and vendor and supplier partnerships is not an easy task, and without an effective process in place, things can slip through the cracks.

The way the industry is moving, it’s no longer a question of if your organization will automate with invoice processing software solutions, it’s a question of when and how. To further understand the necessity of automating accounts payable, we’ll look at the technical definition, specific use cases, and how you can implement AP automation at your business.

Defining AP Automation

In technical terms, Accounts Payable automation (AP Automation) refers to the invoice software solutions used to streamline and automate Accounts Payable processes, removing manual tasks and providing better visibility and control over important financial data.

AP Automation isn’t just one piece of software you install on your computer, it’s a set of connected tools that work as one unified solution to simplify your organization’s processes.

These tools can include:

• Document management
• Intelligent Data Capture
• Integration with your ERP
• Built-in Workflows
• And others to create a seamless holistic system

Using manual methods, the average invoice takes about two weeks to process and requires approval from two to five people before it is fully processed. If your organization is processing hundreds of invoices monthly, relying on manual payment processing is simply inefficient. In a 2021 study on AP automation by the Ardent Group, best-in-class companies process invoices 74% faster with invoice processing software than companies that process paper invoices with manual processes.

By implementing AP Automation, your organization can take advantage of these key benefits:

• Decrease invoice processing costs
• Decrease invoice processing time
• Capture more early payment discounts
• Avoid late payment penalties and interest
• Improve visibility over cash flow and liabilities

Cost-Savings With Invoice Processing Software

Manually processing an invoice tends to vary in cost. Some organizations with relatively streamlined processes may pay as low as $15 per invoice, while others may pay upwards of $40 per invoice. These hefty costs account for labor, software systems, outsourcing, overhead costs, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Unfortunately, with manual processing comes human error. With each error made, your organization is faced with overpayments, duplicate payments, unused credit notes, and unclaimed discounts which ultimately drive costs up as well. Just a few mistakes over time can quickly cost your organization thousands of dollars.

With invoice automation, the cost can be reduced to as low as $2 per invoice. Invoice processing automation uses Intelligent Data Capture (IDC) for speedy and accurate invoice data extraction. Built-in workflows in Accounts Payable Automation software moves invoices along quicker than accounts staff and it eliminates the error-prone manual data entry (or any mishaps that may happen in the office). It’s more efficient, which means it works quicker, which means it can save both resources and money over time. The more efficient the system, the greater the cost savings.

How do I know if I should implement AP Automation?

Every organization is different in terms of need, ability, timeline, and budget to automate its current payable process. Having executed hundreds of AP Automation projects, we’ve noticed patterns among our most successful deployments. If the following problems apply to your organization, you’re a perfect candidate for AP automation:

• You process 500 or more invoices per month.
• You have more than 2 full-time AP clerks.
• You are outsourcing your Accounts Payable.
• You face too many late payment penalties.
• You are missing out on early payment discounts.
• Your invoices are processed in more than one location.
• You see many entry errors in your manual data entry procedures.
• Misplaced invoices and other documents take up to much time.
• Your company struggles with a lack of visibility into cash flow.

More often than not, most organizations need an invoice solution and don’t realize it. Their current state of managing their financial processes is “good enough” so they’re resistant to change. These organizations are missing a huge opportunity with the company growth and cost savings that come along with implementing invoice automation software.

Why Implement AP Automation?

Beyond the clear cost incentives, AP Automation is a solution you can easily implement now to help your organization succeed long term. Businesses must prioritize digital transformation to keep up with the competition and meet the expectations of vendors. A manual invoicing process simply won’t cut it as more and more companies digitize and automate processes.

By implementing invoice processing software in your Accounts Payable department you can also see these key benefits:

• Reduce the time required to process invoices
• Eliminate the slow manual processes associated with routing, approving, and GL coding invoices.
• Process invoices faster and more accurately, reducing payment errors and capturing cost discounts.
• Reduced paper usage and improved operational efficiency.
• Better data visibility into cash flow and invoice cycle times.
• Real-time access across your organization.
• Streamline vendor invoice processing and manage discounts to improve cash flow.
• Free finance teams from repetitive processes so they can be productive in other areas.
• Ensure record retention compliance and keep documents safe and secure with digital invoices.
• Say goodbye to over-stuffed filing cabinets.
• Saves headaches come audit time – have peace of mind that you will find documents you need.

How to implement Invoice Automation

As previously mentioned, AP Automation isn’t software you can simply download and install. There are many moving parts to an effective system, but by working with a partner that can design an invoice processing solution that fits your exact needs, moving to a fully automated process becomes so much simpler.

Mosaic has vast experience in implementing smart automation solutions, and we constantly evolve to offer innovative solutions to transform our clients’ business processes.

Contact Us to discuss your current AP process and learn how we can help transform your business.