The 7 Golden Rules for Accounts Payable Automation

Eliminate time consuming, costly, and error-prone paper invoice processing through automation. The key to minimizing bottlenecks and maximizing success in Accounts Payable automation? Preparation, preparation, preparation.

By following some simple steps, you can ensure a pain-free transition to automation and achieve an end result that really delivers for your business.

The 7 Golden Rules for Accounts Payable Automation will help you create a framework for making the key decisions that will ultimately determine the success of your project:

  • Agree on the scope - define the core areas and processes you want automation to cover.
  • Analyze existing processes - analyze your current invoice handling and payment process, engage the key stakeholders, and assess their roles.
  • Sweat the details - think carefully about how you will capture invoice data and the workflow for pre- and post-processing.
  • Standardization is more important than centralization - be strategic in determining what needs to be centralized.
  • Know your priorities - plan around the four key priority areas: control, visibility, efficiency, and agility.
  • Map your priorities - understand what you have, what you want, and how to articulate your requirements to vendors.
  • Be realistic - know what you have to work with and thoroughly analyze the available solutions to set accurate goals.

Invoice Automation RFP Template

Find the perfect partner for your Accounts Payable automation project by setting out and fine-tuning your requirements using our comprehensive RFP template.

Four simple questions to unlock the truth in your Invoice Automation performance

Everyone talks a good game with process automation. With so many options and competing solutions, it can be difficult to sort fact from fiction. To help you better understand your invoice processing efficiency, Basware has designed this free web-based tool to benchmark your invoice handling process against top industry performers. The all-new Invoice Automation Benefits calculator targets the most important performance metrics to identify your level of automation and position you within the Purchase-to-Pay model. The result is a clear list of actionable improvement areas to:

  • raise your performance
  • reduce costs
  • control spend
  • eliminate manual processing

Understand the Strategic Advantages of Invoice Automation

While streamlining your Accounts Payable process, Invoice Automation offers even greater rewards in forecasting cash outflows with full spend visibility. When you know your future cost obligations, you have the freedom to open up working capital for more beneficial uses and can strategically budget your spending. These effects are compounded by the substantial cost savings of:

  • removing laborious and inefficient handling of paper invoices
  • foregoing time-consuming, error-prone manual data entry
  • automating matching to POs and contracts
  • adopting electronic archiving over expensive warehousing facilities
  • capturing early payment discounts and avoiding late payment fees.

With Invoice Automation in place, you introduce your organization to a host of Purchase-to-Pay advantages - generating real synergy in your buyer-supplier collaboration, achieving full control over spend with enhanced compliance, channeling spend toward preferred suppliers for more competitive terms, managing your contracts automatically, integrating and streamline travel and expense costs, identifying and managing risk within the supply chain, and much more.

E-Invoicing Comes of Age

This research study takes
an in-depth look at the latest capabilities of electronic invoicing and invoice automation, and the benefits that it has delivered for best-in-class organizations worldwide. It helps you assess your current e-invoicing automation level and guides you in building your business case.

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Lloydspharmacy

Lloydspharmacy – the UK’s largest community pharmacy operator – achieved a 40% increase in Accounts Payable productivity thanks to Basware Invoice Automation. They were also able to extend best practice and drive operational efficiency through a three-year supplier activation in collaboration with Basware. Find out how.

Read the case study

Business Rules Management

Watch this tutorial to see how Business Rules Management gives you full control over who approves which invoices and how.

Invoice Automation vodcast

Take a look at Basware Invoice Automation in action to see how it speeds up processing times from as much as 45 days down to as little as one day.

Basware anyERP

Compatible with every leading ERP – over 250 different ERPs to date – anyERP utilizes a propriety middleware for easy, cost-effective integration of multiple ERPs.

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Straight-through-processing

See how Basware Invoice Automation delivers high STP rates with total control by matching invoices to orders and contracts