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It has evolved into a strategic enabler that can improve operational efficiencies, strengthen supplier relationships, and provide valuable insight to data, so financial teams can make smarter strategic decisions.
Importantly, automating Accounts Payable processes is also a key lever in optimising budget spend. By reducing the time, personnel, and resources dedicated to handling thousands of invoices each month, financial and non-financial decision makers can reallocate their budget towards more valuable and strategic initiatives. With automated AP solutions increasing employee productivity by 400%1, they are becoming a catalyst for accelerating growth and profitability within organisations.
When an organisation starts automating its AP systems, its starts to develop intelligent business practices. One of the immediate benefits of intelligent AP systems is the automation of repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Manual data entry, invoice matching, and payment processing are prone to errors and inefficiencies. Intelligent AP leverages technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) streamline these processes, reduce the risk of human error, and make them more efficient, potentially reducing invoice processing costs by 91% and reducing the time finance teams spend on responding to inquiries by 30%2.
With automation accelerating and streamlining invoice processing, finance teams are able to refocus their talents and energy on much higher-value projects. For example, automated invoice processing can reduce the cycle time from weeks to mere days or even hours. Working at this pace enhances cash flow management, presents the opportunity to benefit from early payment discounts, and helps avoid late payment penalties. This level of efficiency also goes a long way to strengthen supplier relationships.
Accuracy is paramount in financial operations. Intelligent AP systems use AI and machine learning to ensure data accuracy by automatically matching purchase orders, invoices, and receipts. These technologies can flag discrepancies and potential fraud in real-time, ensuring that only valid and verified transactions are processed.
Moreover, compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies is critical. Intelligent AP solutions provide audit trails and comprehensive reporting capabilities that help organisations maintain compliance. They can adapt to changing regulations and ensure the AP function remains up-to-date and compliant without the need for extensive manual intervention.
Intelligent AP is not just about efficiency; it’s also about intelligence. Invoicing creates a vast pool of valuable data, which once captured and processed, can deliver valuable strategic insights. Advanced analytics tools can identify spending patterns, supplier performance, and cash flow trends – all valuable insights for making better decisions.
For instance, by analysing payment trends, companies can negotiate better terms with suppliers or identify opportunities for cost savings. Real-time dashboards and predictive analytics can forecast future cash needs, enabling more effective financial planning and risk management.
As already identified, efficient and accurate AP processes are a key enabler of better supplier relationships. Intelligent AP systems can deliver 81% faster invoice processing times and reduce late payments by 12%3.
When invoices are processed quickly and payments are made on time, suppliers are more likely to offer favourable terms and be flexible in negotiations. Intelligent AP systems facilitate better communication with suppliers through portals that provide real-time updates on invoice status and payment schedules. This transparency builds trust in the relationship, enabling closer collaboration and long-term partnerships.
With many organisations working towards carbon neutral and zero-waste operations, intelligent AP systems reduce the reliance on paper-based documentation and manual processing. They can also reduce (and in some cases even remove) the need for physical printing and minimise the number of processes that are prone to human error. Printed documents also need to be stored, so reductions in physical storage and the transportation of documents helps achieve carbon neutrality and bring the organisation towards zero.
In combination, it’s intelligent AP processes like these that typically sit at the core of an organisation’s sustainability and corporate responsibility initiatives.
It’s the potential to transform a functional process into a strategic enabler that’s putting intelligent Accounts Payable at the top of most CFO’s priority lists in 2024.
Intelligent Accounts Payable is a perfect example of what happens at the intersection of automation, data and AI. Capturing and leveraging data, then translating it into meaningful and valuable insights makes effective strategic decision making an everyday reality. With AI and machine learning powering this process, organisations can anticipate cash flow needs, optimise their payment schedules, and enhance supplier relationships. Repetitive and time-consuming manual tasks can be automated, removing human error and enabling people to focus on strategic tasks that add real value to the organisation.
When all these benefits are pulled together into a key reason to get onboard with intelligent AP, it comes down to ensuring the organisation can not only compete and stay viable in the modern landscape – but can actually thrive.
We believe that the integration of advanced technologies in AP isn’t just a trend, but a necessity for forward-thinking organisations that need to be on the front foot. So, it’s our strong recommendation that it’s time to harness the power of intelligent Accounts Payable and unlock its full potential for your organisation.
1 ABBYY, Accounts payable automation, (n.d.).
2 ABBYY, Accounts payable automation, (n.d.).
3 ABBYY, Accounts payable automation, (n.d.).
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