Accounts Payable News^®

Fact File

We’ve all heard of imaging and workflow solutions, but how many of us really understand the ins and outs of how it works and why it’s increasingly becoming a by-word for best practice in Accounts Payable?  Today’s workplace demands efficiency, cost effectiveness, speed in all transactions and thorough, traceable adherence to compliance issues which, as a result, can help in fraud detection and prevention.  In a nutshell, the main advantages of Imaging & Workflow solutions are:

Ten Key Benefits

1. Removes paper where it enters the organisation
2. Allows simultaneous access to invoicing information
3. Aids in fraud detection and prevention
4. Aids in compliance issues
5. Provides secure electronic storage
6. Reduces storage costs
7. Reduces manual data entry
8. Provides enhanced visibility into invoice-receipt-pay
9. Enhances prompt payment and therefore discount capture and reduces late fees
10. Effective in limiting lost and misplaced invoices

But What Exactly is it?

Imaging & Workflow Automation (IWA) solutions convert paper invoices into digital images which then get stored in a web enabled holding bay from where data is pulled from the invoices to, amongst other things, speed up the approvals process.

How it Works

Invoice Receipt Function
Receives captured data whether manually or by automated sorting.  Suppliers can also upload invoiced directly into the ERP system.

Imaging
Conversion of paper invoices into digital images

Content storage
The system allows for the storage and management of electronic documents and data.  This may also include Enterprise Content Management so that a transaction can be effectively account managed throughout its journey within an organisation.

Analysis
IWA enables organisations to analyse key invoice receipt-to pay metrics.  These include the standard reports on which invoices are pending approval etc.  However, it can also include vital consumer metrics such as who’s buying what, when and how often.

Workflow Management
 This can include automated reminders of when work is due, prompts on compliance issues and approvals hierarchies.  Workflow also provides a tool at the Accounts Payable level to track and manage processing and efficiency.  In addition it also enables a corporate business style and best practice solutions to be used throughout a corporation.

Looking Ahead

As with all new technologies there remains a lurking worry that automation may surpass human function and render whole areas redundant.  This is only natural, but in itself causes a resistance to change which is largely unnecessary and unfounded.  In fact, increasingly, low value AP tasks such as document scanning and data entry are already being outsourced.  This allows AP professionals to concentrate on more critical tasks such as invoice approval, dispute resolution and chasing invoice discounts crucial to a corporation’s success.

In the future the most profitable and consumer respected organisations will be using Imaging & Workflow technology together with other compatible technologies to provide effective and profitable solutions.  In addition, when these solutions are also applied to suppliers, the result is one of a tightly integrated community where the chances of error and delay are minimised and are replaced by efficiency and profitability.