While manual invoice processing is popular, it is slow and could lead to errors and delays. Invoicing delays can lead to higher costs and invoices must often travel between departments before being accepted (and and paid). Furthermore, manual processes are at greater risk of being fraudulent due to the length of time required to transfer information from invoices to internal systems.

Invoice automation resolves crucial issues

Automation is an effective way to overcome the issues caused by manual processes, by eliminating the human element. It also improves workflows, cuts costs and gives a greater degree of visibility to gain control of processes and the results. By taking a thoughtful approach to invoice automation helps accounts payable (AP) teams to overcome the bottlenecks in their workflow without making major radical changes to their existing systems.

How to implement an automated invoice processing solution

Take the steps below to integrate an automated solution to your existing process:

Examine current processes and establish objectives: companies should be able to answer a series of questions to gain an understanding of their current invoice handling processes. What are the company’s methods in handling invoices? Are they paper or electronic? What’s the average amount of length of time to complete an invoice? How many invoices are processed annually? It’s much easier for companies to pinpoint bottlenecks and implement improvements to their current processes when they are aware of these.

Find out the organisational requirements. From the organization’s requirements, businesses need to determine the needs that their invoice automation software has to fulfill. For example, if a business aims to improve the accuracy of payments and eliminate inefficiencies, then selecting a software that has a simplified invoice matching process is essential. To help identify key requirements, businesses should create a checklist that distinguishes their requirements from their wants and decide based on the outcomes.

Choose the most efficient automation software: Once companies have identified their requirements it’s time to review accounts payables, software vendors and select one that will best fit their workflow for approval. The ideal software should automate invoice processing and integrate with the existing customer relationship management (CRM) as well as financial system, or workflow software for business. It must also centrally and electronically store all information with easy and secure access. It should also simplify auditing and compliance, so that businesses can quickly and efficiently respond to requests for details.

Integrate into an ERP system Once businesses have chosen a electronic invoicing solution and incorporate it into their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in order to cut down the time employees take to switch between different software applications to enter the same information. This allows for total transparency in company expenditures, and makes sure that all employees work from a single source of information.

Automating your invoices could bring you many benefits

Automating the manual invoice process is about more than just keeping up with the latest technology. Automating the manual invoice process could bring many benefits to companies that enable the organization to expand their operations easily. The advantages include:

Automated workflows: Automation of invoices improves workflows by closing the gaps and eliminating the problems caused by manual processes. It automates tasks to reduce financial team burden as well as improve accuracy and reduce unnecessary expenditure from late invoices.

Better security: companies can lower their risk of fraud by automatizing the invoice process and limiting access to unauthorised personnel. Software that is automated can detect duplicate invoices, and then raise the issue for immediate review.

Cash flow optimization helps businesses cut cost of operations and cut costs. Optimising cash flow also helps businesses identify the best terms for payment and also how to capture early payment discounts.

Increased visibility and real-time information: with the automation of invoices, businesses can gain greater insight into the status of their payments and invoices. You can track every step and get real-time information to assist you in making informed decisions about your cash flow in the future.

Automated invoicing eliminates the requirement for manual input

A company’s success depends on the performance of its AP department. It’s responsible for tracking what’s owed to vendors and ensuring the payment is approved prior to they are processed. It relies on manual invoice processing, which increases the risk of human error, delays in payment, fraud, and other blunders.

At DespaQ We help companies reduce invoice processing delays, reduce costs, and improve efficiency by implementing our AP automation solutions. Using industry-leading automation software, businesses can instantly simplify and improve their AP processes, eliminate the need for entry of data, and swiftly locate documents in a strong solid system. Most importantly, our AP automation solutions integrate seamlessly into finance systems already in place and store the data in a secured central archive for quick, error-free access.