A highly effective step in your journey from paper-based processes to digital workflow
Keeping on top of invoice processing is a demanding task for most finance teams and business owners. Without a clearly defined, efficient process for managing supplier payments and outgoings, it’s easy for accounts payable departments to become overloaded and payments to be missed.
Manual activities cannot be the answer to timely and cost effective invoice processing.
In today’s world of digital, automated workplace systems, innovative technologies provide solutions for a multitude of organisational headaches. What if technology could scan, categorise and file invoices automatically and make them accessible to your approvers anytime, anywhere?
Introducing automated invoice processing…
What is Automated Invoice Processing?
An automated invoice processing solution involves the use of intelligent software to capture, extract, classify, route and file invoices. It helps organisations set up approval chains and shift from data entry tasks to automated approval and payment processes, delivering visibility and control over the entirety of an organisation’s invoice processing activities.
Typical Costs Involved
Market research suggests that, on average, it costs £4-25 to process an invoice. With automation solutions this can be hugely reduced, by minimising the time your accounts team are spending on data entry.
Manual Processing
£ 4-25
Per invoiceAutomatedProcessing
Less than £1
Per invoiceHow Does The Process Work?
Extending to any type of document – electronic (Word, PDF and more) or traditional paper – the process begins with intelligent scanning. Key invoice fields are identified and captured data is then sorted and categorised, following a set of pre-designated rules and logic. Bar codes, invoice numbers, account numbers, dates and any additional records are matched against your purchase orders or receipts, before entering an approval stage. Should any information within an invoice be unidentified or inconsistent, it can be labelled as an exception and routed for manual approval. Once approval has taken place, an invoice is transferred to your accounts system for final payment.
Throughout the process, complete visibility is provided on the stage of each invoice, while paid invoices are archived within your chosen document, information or accounts management system.
And best of all, your people can access the system any time, from wherever they need to be.
Benefits of Automated Invoice Processing
Manually processing paper invoices increases the risk of late fees. Automating the process allows you to keep track of due dates and prioritise invoice payments.
By tracking invoices you can negotiate discounts with suppliers for early payments, ensuring that you always meet your commitments.
The process can be 100% electronic, with no need for paper. You can also process invoices from anywhere, anytime.
By automating the extraction of data from an invoice you can significantly reduce the risk of typos, which can lead to incorrect payments and supplier queries.
Many companies continue to print digital invoices before manually processing them – shifting to automated invoice processing removes the need to print, reducing unnecessary waste and costs.
Automated Invoice Systems can flag up bank detail changes or discrepancies in invoices, reducing the risk of fraud.
Not having to extract data from an invoice manually and check it against the purchase order line by line significantly reduces processing time. >90% of staff time spent keying in hundreds of invoices can be saved, allowing them to focus on other accounting tasks.
Invoices can be tracked along their entire journey – recording opens, responses and any other actions for auditing.
Interested?
Harness The Power of Process Automation
Discover how the friendly Agilico team can support you on your journey towards digital transformation.
