Accounts Payable Automation and You, the AP Manager
There’s a saying in the business world: Work hard or work smart. Which do you prefer? That question is meant rhetorically, of course. No one wants to work harder than they have to. Working smart, on the other hand, means doing things in less time and with minimal effort. With accounts payable automation, the result is a smoother operation, time freed up for working on other deserving projects, and a healthier bottom line.
As manager of your Accounts Payable department, you benefit from AP automation as much as anyone. Yes, it’s your staff that will feel the effects at first, and we all want happy employees, but when you introduce leading AP automation into your company, the benefits will quickly be felt up the line.
What are those benefits? We already mentioned attention to other deserving projects. Maybe you’ve had a project on the back burner for a long time. Every month you have to put it off because you’re too busy inputting data from paper invoices, chasing after approvals on invoices lost on someone’s desk, and so forth. You’re lucky to get payment out the door within thirty days. How would you like to reduce that to three or four days? Think of what you can do with that time saving.
Not only does the workflow become faster and easier, it becomes more accurate. AP automation means far less inputting errors (most is done from the supplier’s end) and no more lost invoices. And if there is an error, it’s easily corrected in real time from your desk, the approving manager’s desk, or even the supplier’s desk.
Speaking of suppliers, they prefer a high-level, free supplier portal because it’s easier for them and they get paid faster. Probably the best feeling in the business world is the feeling of being in control and not reacting all the time. It’s a feeling of being in command, of strength. With high-level electronic invoicing, you are on top of things every day. And that benefits everyone.