How AP Automation Helps Businesses Unleash the Power of their People

Benchmark data from the Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) shows that highly automated AP departments outperform their finance peers with little or no automation in metrics such as:   

• Invoice processing costs 
• Staff productivity 
• Accuracy  
• Invoice processing cycle times
• Percentage of discounts captured

But the biggest benefit of AP automation may be its ability to unlock the potential of AP staff.   

By automating manual, repetitive tasks such as invoice data entry, matching invoices to purchase orders and proof-of-delivery documents, businesses provide their staff with more time to focus on fulling activities that boost their careers, the AP department, and, ultimately, the business.   

Some business leaders report that their AP staff is providing more value to the business than they ever imagined since automating their invoice processing with cloud OCR technology.   

Morale goes up.  Turnover goes down.  It’s easier to attract and retain talent.  Employees strive to accomplish more because they see career growth.  AP becomes a more desirable place to work.  

Few things are as frustrating to an employee as feeling stuck in a job where it seems like they can never get ahead.  No matter how hard they work, things keep piling up and the pressures and the expectations keep mounting.  There are never enough resources to get the job done and never enough time in the day to focus on higher value tasks.  Worse, there is no clear path to career advancement.   

Many AP professionals spend their days bogged down by low-value activities such as invoice keying that chips away at their creativity and drive to make themselves and their company better.  In many businesses, AP is perceived as a tactical back-office function that drains company resources. 

Automation changes this paradigm.  

Within a few days of automating, AP teams have more time to investigate exceptions, perform data analysis and cash management, respond to suppliers, collaborate more closely with coworkers, and maximize their personal contribution to the business.  Job satisfaction increases when employees that have been buried in the trenches for so long are now able to shine.

Just imagine the benefit that your company will achieve by tightly managing its cash.  Automation provides a single source of truth for liabilities, providing AP staff with better reporting and the ability to act faster. 

Automation also provides significant revenue opportunities for the business.  Consider a four-person team that currently spends their entire day keying invoice data.  By eliminating that task, those employees can spend their time looking for new early payment discount opportunities, uncovering ways to rationalize corporate spending, and providing senior management with the reports they need to grow the business.  

Many college professors call this opportunity cost. But isn’t the ability to create revenue, improve performance, and overall job satisfaction a much more motivating argument?   

When we maximize the human potential of our staff and focus on what matters, it’s really amazing what can happen.  And AP automation makes it possible.

If your AP department is planning to automate its invoice processing, cloud OCR may be for you.