WHITE PAPER: INTEGRATING PROCESS AUTOMATION TO ENHANCE OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Paper invoices and manual processing continue to hamper accounts payable operations, keeping suppliers in the dark and failing to give finance the visibility it needs to actively manage the organizations’ cash positions. This study, conducted during March and April of 2011, profiles 130 enterprises at varying stages of AP maturity to identify what differentiates those achieving the greatest results from their less successful peers. The end goal, and the target of their automation efforts, is to drive savings through discount capture, penalty avoidance, and lower labor costs – all while improving the speed with which they can access payables-related information.
Best-in-Class Performance
Aberdeen used the following three key performance criteria to distinguish
Best-in-Class companies:
• 3.8 days to process a single invoice
• $3.09 average cost to process a single invoice
• 4.1% year-over-year increase in early payment discount capture
Competitive Maturity Assessment
Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance shared several common characteristics. When compared to
Laggards, for example, they are:
• 2.4-times as likely to have invoices archived in a central, searchable location
• 1.9-times as likely to have automated matching of invoices to purchase orders
• 4.1-times as likely to have dashboards summarizing current AP status and performance
Required Actions
In addition to the specific recommendations in Chapter Three of this report, to achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies must:
• Quantify the potential impact of automating AP processes to make the business case for investment
• Focus on strategies for maximizing supplier collaboration through incentives, facilitating technologies, and effective on-boarding
• Look beyond accounts payable to maximize benefits by integrating with procurement, finance, and other back-end systems
Download the full white paper below.....
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Paper invoices and manual processing continue to hamper accounts payable operations, keeping suppliers in the dark and failing to give finance the visibility it needs to actively manage the organizations’ cash positions. This study, conducted during March and April of 2011, profiles 130 enterprises at varying stages of AP maturity to identify what differentiates those achieving the greatest results from their less successful peers. The end goal, and the target of their automation efforts, is to drive savings through discount capture, penalty avoidance, and lower labor costs – all while improving the speed with which they can access payables-related information.
Best-in-Class Performance
Aberdeen used the following three key performance criteria to distinguish
Best-in-Class companies:
• 3.8 days to process a single invoice
• $3.09 average cost to process a single invoice
• 4.1% year-over-year increase in early payment discount capture
Competitive Maturity Assessment
Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance shared several common characteristics. When compared to
Laggards, for example, they are:
• 2.4-times as likely to have invoices archived in a central, searchable location
• 1.9-times as likely to have automated matching of invoices to purchase orders
• 4.1-times as likely to have dashboards summarizing current AP status and performance
Required Actions
In addition to the specific recommendations in Chapter Three of this report, to achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies must:
• Quantify the potential impact of automating AP processes to make the business case for investment
• Focus on strategies for maximizing supplier collaboration through incentives, facilitating technologies, and effective on-boarding
• Look beyond accounts payable to maximize benefits by integrating with procurement, finance, and other back-end systems
Download the full white paper below.....
| accounts_payable_best_in_class_white_paper.pdf |
