As a business using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you already understand the value of integrated systems and robust financial control.
As a business using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you already understand the value of integrated systems and robust financial control.
However, as your organisations grows and supplier invoice volumes increase, greater flexibility is often needed within the invoice processing workflow. Expanding into new locations, introducing additional approval layers, and managing both PO and non-PO invoices all place increasing demands on the accounts payable function. Over time, you may find that the native invoice processing features within Business Central benefit from additional automation.
Invoice processing automation for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with Agilico Verify enhances your existing ERP environment with intelligent data capture, automated PO matching, and fully customisable approval workflows, allowing your financial processes to scale smoothly without adding manual workload or additional headcount.
In this guide, we’ll explore the true cost of manual invoice processing, how automation strengthens your existing Business Central functionality, and the key features and benefits of Agilico Verify. You’ll also learn how organisations are improving efficiency, visibility, and financial control through smarter invoice workflows.
The Challenge of Manual Invoice Processing
The Challenge of Manual Invoice Processing
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a powerful ERP system for small and medium-sized businesses, delivering strong financial governance and scalability without the complexity of enterprise-level systems. However, as your business grows, you may require greater flexibility in your invoice processing.
In Business Central, supplier invoice processing begins when an invoice arrives (either by email, PDF, or paper scan) and is manually attached or uploaded into the system. For PO-based invoices, the accounts payable team selects the relevant purchase order and checks for variances against the PO and delivery receipts. Any discrepancies are flagged for review or routed through the approval workflow. Non-PO invoices are manually entered into the system before being coded and automatically routed for approval according to value, department, or project. Once all approvals are complete, the invoice is posted in Business Central, with a full audit trail maintained for future retrieval and compliance.
While this process is highly controlled and more compliant than many other ERP systems, higher-volume or multi-line invoices can still be time-consuming and rely heavily on manual intervention. Common challenges include:
- Time-consuming manual tasks: Manually entering header and line-item data, visually checking POs against invoices, and handling exceptions can take significant effort as volumes grow.
- Higher risk of errors: Limited OCR or automated data capture increases the chance of incorrect values and misapplied coding. Plus, there is limited duplicate detection, resulting in a higher risk of processing the same document twice.
- Lack of visibility for non-finance users: Tracking an invoice’s progress in the approval workflow is challenging and requires users to access Business Central directly.
- Limited scalability: As complexity and volumes increase, manual processes become harder to manage, and adding headcount is often not a sustainable solution.
- Audit and compliance pressure: Manual document handling can make audit preparation more time-intensive, especially for growing UK businesses with stricter financial controls.
Research shows that manually processing a single invoice can take between 8 and 15 minutes and cost £4 to £8 per invoice in staff time.
For a medium-sized business processing 1000 invoices per month, that equates to over £48,000 a year in hidden costs.
As invoice volumes increase, these costs grow proportionally, making automation one of the most effective ways to reduce operational overheads within finance teams.
This is where automated invoice processing for Business Central becomes essential, enabling finance teams to scale efficiently without increasing headcount.
As invoice volumes increase and transactions become more complex, there comes a point where manual invoice processing begins to limit efficiency and visibility. The Skills Federation, a charity focused on vocational education quality, outlined why they needed to implement an automated solution:
“We went for the change because we wanted a finance department to run as efficiently and effectively as possible.”
Finance Manager, The Skills Federation
Automating their invoice processing with Agilico Verify has enabled them to become more efficient and save a significant amount of time, freeing up their finance team to do more valuable work.
Why Agilico Verify for Business Central?
Why Agilico Verify for Business Central?
Agilico Verify is designed to enhance your existing Business Central environment by adding intelligent data capture, automated matching, and flexible invoice routing without changing how your finance team already works. Rather than replacing your ERP, it extends Business Central with the additional automation and control needed to manage higher invoice volumes and more complex approval structures.
Here’s what sets Verify apart:
- UK-based implementation and support: Delivered and supported by our dedicated UK customer success teams, ensuring local expertise, faster response times, and ongoing guidance at no extra cost.
- Seamless Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central integration: Direct integration enables suppliers, invoices, POs, and coding data to synchronise automatically, maintaining data accuracy and consistency.
- Advanced data capture and PO matching: Intelligent extraction of header and line-item data without the use of templating, and automatic matching against purchase orders to reduce manual checking and exception.
- Customisable invoice routing: Flexible approval and exception workflows based on value, department, dimensions, projects, cost centres, and more, with support for multi-level approvals and multi-entity environments.
- Scalable user access and visibility: Verify allows unlimited users, so all stakeholders can access and approve invoices without restriction, and its intuitive, user-friendly interface makes it easy for non-finance colleagues to use, improving visibility and reducing bottlenecks.
- Rapid, low disruption deployment: Implementation designed to fit around existing finance processes, allowing teams to realise value quickly.
- End-to-end purchase management: Fully compatible with Agilico POP, our purchase order processing solution, enabling a complete purchase-to-pay workflow.
- Secure data hosting: Cloud-based, secure, and fully aligned with GDPR requirements to protect your financial data.
Together, these capabilities extend Business Central with a more automated and scalable accounts payable process, improving accuracy, visibility and operational efficiency as your organisation grows.
How Verify Automated Invoice Processing for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Works
How Verify Automated Invoice Processing for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Works
Verify is a cloud-based, automated invoice processing solution for Business Central, built to help growing businesses manage increasing invoice volumes and complexity with ease.
The process begins when an invoice is emailed into the Verify system. Within minutes, Verify intelligently extracts key details, including header and line information, business entity, supplier, PO number, invoice number, date, and net/VAT/gross values.
For PO invoices, Verify automatically matches the invoice to an approved PO generated in Business Central or Agilico POP, our integrated purchase order processing solution. If variances are found, the invoice enters a guided matching process to resolve them before posting.
Non-PO expense invoices, as well as any PO invoices flagged as exceptions, enter a flexible workflow. Verify supports coding across multiple dimensions – such as department, project, cost centre, or other accounting structures used in Business Central – and automatically routes invoices through configurable approval routes, with support for up to 3 levels of approval. Once approved, invoice data is posted directly to Business Central, ensuring every invoice is accurate and authorised before payment.
All invoice data – including audit trails, approval history, and notes – is securely stored and instantly searchable within Verify, providing a complete, paperless record for reporting and audits. Verify’s customisable reporting tool also delivers real-time insight into approval bottlenecks, cash flow commitments, and overall spend, giving finance teams the visibility and control needed to scale efficiently.
For more information about how Verify enhances invoice processing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, please download our product sheet:
Read the Full Case Study”We are now much happier thanks to Verify. We no longer have to spend our evenings and weekends manually processing invoices, and the accounts payable process is so much quicker and easier.
OwnerW. Liddy & Co Limited T/A McDonalds
The Benefits of Automating Invoice Processing with Verify
The Benefits of Automating Invoice Processing with Verify
Implementing Verify for Business Central isn’t just about processing invoices faster; it’s about managing more complex invoice volumes with the same finance team as your business scales. Here are some of the key benefits organisations using Verify have experienced:
Save time and eliminate manual effort:
Verify automates tasks such as data entry, PO matching and complex approval workflows, freeing finance teams to focus on higher-value work. Invoices flow into Business Central with minimal input.
Improve accuracy and data quality:
Intelligent data capture and automated matching significantly reduce errors, including duplicate invoices, mistyped data and incorrect coding. The result is more reliable information in Business Central.
Accelerate approvals and payments:
Invoices are automatically routed to the right approvers based on defined business rules. Multi-level approval workflows reduce delays, support timely payments, & strengthen supplier relationships.
Gain complete visibility and control:
Every invoice includes a full audit trail showing who approved it, when, and why. Real-time dashboards provide oversight across departments and locations, helping you to manage spend more effectively.
Scale confidently as your business grows:
Whether managing higher volumes, multiple entities, or hybrid teams, Verify scales seamlessly with Business Central, enabling greater complexity without increasing headcount or administrative workload.
On average, Agilico Verify customers report measurable results within weeks of deployment:
- 70% faster invoice processing times from receipt to posting
- Up to 90% fewer data entry errors
- 50% fewer supplier queries due to improved visibility
- Savings of two to three days per month in manual finance workload
Read the Full Case Study”Verify has made the business more cost-effective. People know exactly what they’re spending, how much they’re spending and how much the things they’re buying cost. They’ve got more ownership and they’re a bit more accountable now.
Joint Managing DirectorInturf
Ready to Take Control of Your Invoice Processing?
Automating accounts payable with Verify not only enhances Business Central – it transforms how your finance team works.
Say goodbye to manual invoice processing and hello to greater control, improved accuracy, and efficient, transparent workflows that scale with your business.
Watch our demo video to see Verify in action, or book a personalised demo with one of our Business Central automation experts today.
Building a Business Case for
Accounts Payable Automation
Need help with building the business case for automating invoice processing for Microsoft Dynamic 365 Business Central? We have put together a free guide Accounts Payable Automation Buyer’s Guide: 6 Simple Steps to Help You Build the Business Case for Automated Invoice Processing.
This guide will equip you with the tools and insights you’ll need to build a persuasive business case. And we’ve created a free Sample Business Case with detailed examples of the sections your business case should include. It outlines essential steps to follow for implementing AP automation in your organisation. You will learn how to assess your current situation, define your goals, identify necessary system features and functionalities, and understand what to look for when researching solutions.
Once you complete these steps, you’ll have the information you need to create a business case that resonates with stakeholders and drives your organisation toward a more efficient future.
