Many CFOs believe that at least 25% of their time is spent improperly on manual tasks. To be a great CFO, it is clear that reprioritization is necessary: less time needs to be consumed by finance function tasks, and more time needs to be devoted to value-driven projects (Gartner, 2019).
With AP automation, CFOs can delegate manual assignments to reduce the workload, boost productivity, and create opportunities for transformation within the company.
But a successful automation strategy goes far beyond going paperless. To create meaningful change, you need to rethink your definition of success for your AP automation solution.
There are many automation solutions available in the market, and most claim to offer significant benefits but end up with lackluster outcomes. These tools often produce a wide range of results within the auditing process causing higher expenses, inconsistent error identification, and lower processing rates.
Here are some ways an inconsistent solution can impact your accounts payable processes:
- Discrepancies at the line level or for the total invoice, and the inability to identify the cause of the issue
- Missing or incorrect reference information on the invoice leading to incorrect insights
- Failure to prevent wasted spend or provide spend visibility
- Incomplete processing leading to increased costs associated with resolving issues missed during the audit and failure to reduce the manual workload on your teams
You must know how to decipher between a solution that will recoup your ROI and propel your team forward with one that only expedites high-volume manual tasks while failing to boost internal productivity. According to Gartner, “The imperative for CFOs is to find the right vendors, at the right time, at the right price, and deploy solutions in places that will improve the speed, trust and predictive nature of insights”.
If your AP automation tool is not meeting these four expectations, it is time to reconsider its usefulness.
Guaranteed ROI and immediate cashflow
Your AP automation tool should be preventative, working on your behalf to ensure you recoup your investment by generating cash flow immediately and blocking wasted spend.
Eliminate wasted spend
Your solution should verifiably protect you from ever overspending by automatically removing duplicate invoices, verifying surcharges, and offering insights to support you in future planning.
Data accuracy
You are the owner of your data, and you get to decide how it is used. The right tool will give full ownership to extract your data at any time while trusting that you have reliable insights.
End-to-end visibility
Uncertainty should not be an issue, real-time analytics and tracking capabilities should be easily accessible.
Most AP automation solutions perform according to plateaued industry norms. You can avoid low-performing, unprofitable automation tools by being selective and knowing what to look for. The newest automation technology can offer your team operational excellence that prioritizes your processes to drive meaningful change and remedy your unique pain points.
Begin by shifting your standards of success and holding your system to higher expectations. Demand that your AP automation tool supports creating long-term competitive advantage for your business through functions like guaranteed ROI, end-to-end visibility, real-time analytics, and truly automated processes.
OpenEnvoy’s solution is reshaping the standards of performance with the first real-time AP automation solution offering customers guaranteed ROI, end-to-end spend visibility and insights, process efficiency, and immediate cashflow generation. Ready to shift the standards of success for AP automation? Download the eBook Creating Success with AP Automation: Beyond Going Digital.
