Read about our Accounts Payable Automation solution.
The NEW Accounts Payable Department Being Shaped by the Changing World.
If there were any lingering doubts about the necessity of digital transformation to business longevity, the coronavirus has silenced them. In a contactless world, the vast majority of interactions with customers, suppliers and employees must take place virtually. With rare exception, operating digitally is the only way to stay in business through mandated shutdowns and restricted activity. It’s go digital, or go dark.
This digital mandate isn’t new; it’s simply been brought into sharp focus. Prior to the pandemic, a paradigm shift towards digitization and servitization was already underway. Current events have accelerated the paradigm, as evidenced by the marked shift in spending towards digital businesses.
The pandemic is a reality check for businesses that have been reluctant to embrace digital transformation and now find themselves woefully unprepared. On top of the stress of potentially health-compromised employees, a sudden and dramatic drop-off in demand and total economic uncertainty, these digital laggards are now scrambling to migrate their operations and workforce to a virtual environment. While fast and furious is the name of the game when it comes to digital innovation, fast and frantic can lead to mistakes.
This digital mandate isn’t new; it’s simply been brought into sharp focus. Prior to the pandemic, a paradigm shift towards digitization and servitization was already underway. Current events have accelerated the paradigm, as evidenced by the marked shift in spending towards digital businesses.
The pandemic is a reality check for businesses that have been reluctant to embrace digital transformation and now find themselves woefully unprepared. On top of the stress of potentially health-compromised employees, a sudden and dramatic drop-off in demand and total economic uncertainty, these digital laggards are now scrambling to migrate their operations and workforce to a virtual environment. While fast and furious is the name of the game when it comes to digital innovation, fast and frantic can lead to mistakes.
New Reliance on Digital Solutions
Digitization has stepped in to bridge the gaps left by mandated shutdowns and social distancing measures. Without digital tools and technologies, we would have no way to work, shop, go to school, and more.
Let’s take a closer look at how digitization is keeping society–and businesses–afloat during the pandemic
Let’s take a closer look at how digitization is keeping society–and businesses–afloat during the pandemic
- Remote Work: Before the pandemic, only 30% of U.S. employees worked remotely 100% of the time, according to Owl Labs. For the other 70%--including the 38% of the total U.S. workforce that only worked on-site—the transition to working remote full-time has been a shock to the system—figuratively, and in some cases, quite literally, when user demand has exceeded system bandwidth. But the silver lining is that with such a high percentage of the working population now remote, digital collaboration is improving in leaps and bounds, both in terms of the sophistication of the tools to facilitate it and workers’ level of comfort with it.
- Digital Content Consumption: Homebound consumers are turning to digital content providers to meet their entertainment needs. 51% of internet users worldwide are watching more shows on streaming services due to the coronavirus, according to data from Statista. Netflix alone saw 16 million new signups for its service in the first three months of 2020. Meanwhile, many film studios have been pushing new releases to streaming services early to captive audiences.
- Platformification: Institutions and organizations of all types are trying out digital platforms to stay above water during the pandemic. The fitness industry has shifted to holding virtual classes on streaming services, both live and pre-recorded. Almost every school, from elementary schools through graduate programs, have shifted to online courses. Large-scale conferences and events are being held virtually. The NYSE has moved entirely to online trading. While some businesses will revert to their traditional models when the crisis abates, others may opt for a hybrid approach as they recognize the benefits of recurring revenues.
- Digital Health Solutions: Much of America’s healthcare system has gone digital to alleviate some of the strain imposed by the coronavirus. Telemedicine and remote diagnostics are helping patients get medical advice and diagnoses at home so they don’t need to come in to the doctor’s office or hospital, and 3D printing is being used to expedite the production of critical medical supplies, such as PPE. In the absence of a vaccine or proven treatment, the best preventative medicine is information-sharing. Digital contact tracing has already been used to effectively slow the spread of COVID-19 in East Asia. The technology itself is at least a decade old but has struggled to gain traction in the Western world where views on privacy have been prohibitive. Whether American citizens (and those that govern them) will be willing to trade individual privacy rights for the greater public good remains to be seen, but there may be more leniency around data collection going forward.
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How All of This Affect Accounts Payable Departments
Accounts Payable Departments are really known for utilizing the latest and greatest systems, solutions and technologies to operate their department. It's no surprise that a department that historically, doesn't typically generate any revenue, would be last on the list for any new improvements or technology. This does make one scratch their head a bit considering that the payables department is mired in time-consuming manual processes that require shuffling of paper invoices, sending and printing emails back and forth, comparing invoices against purchase orders and data entry into a companies financial system.
All of these manual steps present a multitude of inefficiencies that are compounded when you add in the fact that many companies are now forced into the world of a remote workforce. This means, now, the AP Staff doesn't have the luxury of walking down the hall to get a signature or approval on a recent purchase for a suppliers invoice. This is if the AP Staff are even able to go to and work in the office. Most AP teams are either only going in a few days a week or working entirely remote from home.
All of these manual steps present a multitude of inefficiencies that are compounded when you add in the fact that many companies are now forced into the world of a remote workforce. This means, now, the AP Staff doesn't have the luxury of walking down the hall to get a signature or approval on a recent purchase for a suppliers invoice. This is if the AP Staff are even able to go to and work in the office. Most AP teams are either only going in a few days a week or working entirely remote from home.
For years, some companies have been modernizing their accounts payable processes with tools and technologies. These tools and technologies have dramatically improved over the years and of recent have proven themselves to be an effective part of a companies overall strategic initiative for savings and growth.
In a recent study by Ardent Partners: businesses can expect a significant level of efficiency gains as well cost lowering and savings when leveraging Accounts Payable technologies and invoice automation.
In a recent study by Ardent Partners: businesses can expect a significant level of efficiency gains as well cost lowering and savings when leveraging Accounts Payable technologies and invoice automation.
Enter Remote Invoice Processing & Cloud AP Automation
With the need now for remote processing, increased visibility to transactional data and with uptick in fraudulent activity and the necessity of a remote workforce, companies are looking beyond the traditional means and now focusing on available technologies that assist, tackle and conquer these challenges.
Accounts Payable Automation is no stranger to these challenges. AP Automation is a proven tool that solves all of these and it solves them with ease. A digital transformation is less impactful to the operations of a business and continuity to the financial side of the organization is a top priority.
The number one effectiveness of AP automation is the ability for teams to work remote.
Accounts Payable Automation is no stranger to these challenges. AP Automation is a proven tool that solves all of these and it solves them with ease. A digital transformation is less impactful to the operations of a business and continuity to the financial side of the organization is a top priority.
The number one effectiveness of AP automation is the ability for teams to work remote.
Working Remote with AP Automation
The idea of working remote seemed to be a myth or impossibility to most people. The thought that employees, teams, staff could instantly access the information they needed to perform their jobs from remote, home or office was impossible. Yet, today with business forced to keep staff out of the office the ability for employees to access decision making business information has never been more important.
Cloud based accounts payable platforms have been providing the tools and ability for AP Staff to do this for years. For AP Departments that have been utilizing cloud-AP Automation solutions the transition from the office to working remote was a seamless transition and wasn't much of a change.
With cloud-AP Automation the AP Staff can sign on from anywhere, remote home or office and monitor the progress of supplier invoices via the AP Dashboards and work queues. Since AP Staff have complete control of the suppliers invoices the AP Staff can escalate, re-route, assign or re-assign any invoice they choose and override the automated workflows.
For the approvers of invoices, they could always be remote, even pre-COVID the approvers were remote. The reason for this is because AP Automation system send auto-generated alerts and reminders to the approvers so that they don't forget to review and approve invoices. They, the approvers, have been doing this for years and are already accustomed to process and approving invoices remotely.
Cloud based accounts payable platforms have been providing the tools and ability for AP Staff to do this for years. For AP Departments that have been utilizing cloud-AP Automation solutions the transition from the office to working remote was a seamless transition and wasn't much of a change.
With cloud-AP Automation the AP Staff can sign on from anywhere, remote home or office and monitor the progress of supplier invoices via the AP Dashboards and work queues. Since AP Staff have complete control of the suppliers invoices the AP Staff can escalate, re-route, assign or re-assign any invoice they choose and override the automated workflows.
For the approvers of invoices, they could always be remote, even pre-COVID the approvers were remote. The reason for this is because AP Automation system send auto-generated alerts and reminders to the approvers so that they don't forget to review and approve invoices. They, the approvers, have been doing this for years and are already accustomed to process and approving invoices remotely.
Eliminating Manual Processes & Paper Invoices
The time consuming tasks associated with processing supplier invoices have been a problem for AP Departments for decades. The challenges caused by manual processing of supplier invoices has been compounded by the advent of suppliers emailing invoices into a payable department for processing. These emailed invoices now pose a new set of challenges.
The time consuming efforts caused by paper and emailed invoices has taken highly skilled staff with financial skills are turned them into clerical workers wasting time on low-value, non-essential tasks that are time consuming and costly.
A key driver for the transition from paper to digital AP Automation has been the overall costs associated with paper invoices. Generally, companies can expect overall cost reductions from 60 - 80% over traditional paper based processing.
The time consuming efforts caused by paper and emailed invoices has taken highly skilled staff with financial skills are turned them into clerical workers wasting time on low-value, non-essential tasks that are time consuming and costly.
A key driver for the transition from paper to digital AP Automation has been the overall costs associated with paper invoices. Generally, companies can expect overall cost reductions from 60 - 80% over traditional paper based processing.
Optimizing Cash Flow / Paying Suppliers Electronically
When cash is the lifeblood of an organization, having unproductive cash tied up in inefficient AP processes poses a huge threat when economic disruption hits. The new AP department has a more intense focus on cash flow and payment terms, takes a more disciplined approach to its financial processes to optimize cash conversion, and has a more strategic spend management approach to combat overspending, lower compliance risks and strengthen vendor relationships.
Looking ahead, non-digital AP departments will have an even harder time paying suppliers on time. The quickest, easiest and most secure way to pay suppliers is electronically. In fact, suppliers are now specifically seeking out ways to be paid electronically by customers for that very reason. Companies can capitalize on electronic payments by paying even faster and taking advantage of more early payment discounts.
Looking ahead, non-digital AP departments will have an even harder time paying suppliers on time. The quickest, easiest and most secure way to pay suppliers is electronically. In fact, suppliers are now specifically seeking out ways to be paid electronically by customers for that very reason. Companies can capitalize on electronic payments by paying even faster and taking advantage of more early payment discounts.
Improve Supplier Relations
Improving relationships with suppliers requires open lines of communication and access to invoices and other webbased tools that provide vendors hands-on control over information. Automation equips vendors with self-service portals for quick, real-time access to support teams and any information needed, while helping AP specialists quickly onboard suppliers without compromising fraud and compliance controls.
Leveraging the ERP Investment
By leveraging the ERP investment and technology vendor and invoice data gets synchronized with your ERP system (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, JDE,Lawson, Infor, Dynamics, Epicor, QAD, Sage, Epicor and more) providing full end-to-end process automation. By connecting the accounts payable process with your ERP system this eliminates the need for AP Staff to manually enter invoices into the
accounting system further leveraging your ERP investment and maximizing your return on investment.
accounting system further leveraging your ERP investment and maximizing your return on investment.
Typical Steps to an AP Automation Project
- Discovery: This is taking the time to learn and understand how you process supplier invoices today.
- Configuration & Testing: You will use about 80% of the system as is, however there will be business rules and
processes specific to your type of business and how you handle things. We add those rules into the AP Automation
system for you and thoroughly test your processes and rules with you and your teams. - Go Live: We are with you every step of the way to ensure a smooth transition. By the time we go live your staff will
be AP Automation Experts! We will make sure of that. - Training & Support: Even after you go live we are with you from here on out. We are proactive and in constant
contact with you to ensure there are no problems and to make sure you’re getting the most out of AP Automation and
reaching your goals. We are always here to help.
So What Does the NEW AP Department Look Like?
The new AP Department is vastly different from the days of old and all of these changes are for the better!
So the NEW AP Department looks like nothing we've ever seen before. No walls, No limitations, and unparalleled efficiencies at levels unimagined!
- AP Staff can work from anywhere and process invoices either remote, home or office
- AP Managers can now manage the entire payables process via online dashboards that monitor the entire payable process
- Businesses can now grow and process more invoices with less resources as scalability is limitless
- Strict financial rules and policies can be enforced to ensure cost control and corporate compliance
- Protections against fraudulent invoices and activity as these threats will continue to increase
- Touchless process will not only create efficiencies, but will also help reduce the amount of physical touches and employee safety
- With no more paper file cabinets, storage boxes and warehousing, invoices will be a click away from any device
- Flexible electronic vendor payments and cash rebates will lead to revenue generated by the AP Department
- With Accelerated vendor payments, Suppliers will be in a better position to offer early pay discounts
So the NEW AP Department looks like nothing we've ever seen before. No walls, No limitations, and unparalleled efficiencies at levels unimagined!