The Case for Holistic Invoice Management Automation
Over the last few years, organizations have shown an increasing interest in back-office technology. Specifically, this interest can be attributed in part to increasing globalization in business operations. Additionally, it stems from a growing pressure from executives to reduce costs while improving productivity. Of course, automation adoption looks different for every back-office department. However, each shares the same goals of reduced costs and more strategic control over spend. In the AP department, automation often begins with managing supplier invoices in a completely paperless environment.
Eliminating paper is one of organizations’ top goals in AP process improvement. This use of data capture tools to scan paper invoices has become a common method to accomplish this goal. However, adoption of more holistic AP automation tools, like invoice approval workflow (IWA) software, has not substantially increased in recent years. PayStream believes that many companies rely too much on their own efforts to improve processes. For example, this includes efforts such as using email to send invoices for approval. Unfortunately, when organizations do not continue automation efforts beyond reducing paper, challenges occur. For example, they may miss the benefits that come from fully automated invoice management.
This report shows the difference between trying to improve processes with existing tools and fully automating invoice management with a dynamic invoice approval workflow solution. IWA not only helps to route invoices in a controlled environment, it also speeds up processing times, removes non-value-added tasks from AP staff’s workload, and helps to complete supplier payments in as little as one day. Also included in this report is a look at current AP management trends among North American businesses and a high-level guide to the services and features offered by leading IWA solutions.
Featuring insights on:
- Current Market Trends in Invoice Management Among North American Organizations
- The Benefits of Invoice Workflow Automation (IWA) Software
- Features and Functionalities of IWA Software
- A Leading IWA Software Provider
