Electronic Invoicing: The Secret Sauce that Makes the Recipe a Hit

With so many sophisticated invoice and payment management solutions and services available in the marketplace today, why aren’t companies making headway in better managing their AP processes?

Why aren’t more companies able to remove paper from their organizations, decrease processing costs and increase discount capture? PayStream Advisors conducted its “eInvoicing Adoption Survey” in the last quarter of 2009 and developed a benchmarking report to highlight the overall trends that are shaping the rapidly evolving AP automation space and to answer these questions.

Download a complimentary copy of PayStream’s “Electronic Invoicing Adoption Benchmarking Report.”

The answer lies in execution. Our latest research indicates that the difference between a winning AP automation initiative and a dud comes down to the ability to execute such programs. Based on survey results, we have identified the secrets of successful invoice and payment management with a look into the best practices of the innovators. What techniques have they employed to streamline their processes? How do they monitor their programs? In short, what are they doing that you could be doing.

• Increasing transactions processed on purchasing cards translates to a reduction in invoice volume – paper or otherwise – and the paperwork that is associated with invoices. Increased p-card volume also results in higher rebates for the buying organization.

• Centralization of the receipt invoice process ensures that the AP department and senior management have instant visibility into the company’s outstanding liabilities. A formal policy mandating that all invoices should be sent to the AP department is the first step in streamlining invoice management processes.

• Front-end imaging ensures that invoices enter the system quickly and are available to all the parties immediately, irrespective of where they are located. Combining imaging with automated data capture adds further benefits in terms of quicker entry of data and fewer errors.

• An electronic invoicing solution goes a step further by applying a set of pre-defined validation rules to ensure that all the required information and only accurate information is submitted on the invoices, ensuring that only clean invoices enter the AP processing queues.

• Leveraging an automated workflow solution ensures that once invoices enter the solution, they will be routed to the required approver automatically, based on pre-defined business rules. The business logic is typically configured at the time of solution implementation and can be updated as needed.

• Organizations that do not have the in-house resources and capital required to bring a critical mass of suppliers onboard an automation solution are leveraging the expertise and value-added services provided by their technology vendors to achieve this.

• Further, not all suppliers have the same technical savvy and propensity to adopt an e-invoicing solution. Providing multiple options for electronic invoicing – EDI integration, PO flip, Web templates etc. – goes a long way in ensuring that there is something for every supplier.

• Dynamic discounting and supply chain finance have become hot topics in electronic invoicing circles. Organizations that are on the innovative end of the automation cycle are adopting these sophisticated technologies to increase their potential for discount capture.