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Improve Operational Flexibility with Automatic AP Software
In the modern business world, operational flexibility is more than a luxury—it’s a necessity. In the accounts payable (AP) department, offering flexible payment options, enabling employees to work from a variety of locations, and the ability to adapt to internal or external changes can make a huge difference to the success of your company. And that means the sooner you switch to an automatic AP system the better.
Paper systems just aren’t all that responsive to changes in the organization. Paper-based systems, and even older AP software systems, also require significant resources to adapt. Modern business process automation (BPA) systems like NextProcess’s AP Automation Software, on the other hand, are designed for flexibility and adaptability.
Limits of Paper
The “paperless office” is a goal of many organizations, but this is hard to achieve. In the average AP department, where about 60% of invoices still arrive on paper, it’s particularly challenging. It is possible, though, to reduce the need for paper and eliminate paper-based manual processing.
Though a daunting task, getting the accounts payable department off a paper system is worth it in the long run because automatic AP accelerates turnaround times, improves visibility, and reduces transaction costs. Fully automated AP processing saves companies an average of $14.93 per invoice compared to organizations that manually process invoices. Automation also reduces the average cycle time to just 5.4 days. Invoices associated with a purchase order that’s already in the system are typically matched and processed within 12 hours.
Systems That Can’t Adapt
Another limitation of paper systems is that they’re not easy to adapt. This is also true of some accounts payable software systems. In-house or on-premises software that your company purchases once and installs on specific computers is typically standardized and inflexible. Updating or altering outdated AP software falls on the IT department, and might not always be possible to achieve.
Paper-based systems and static software don’t adapt easily to changes in your organization. If your company grows, acquisitions increase, or AP has to take on more tasks, it can take a while before the department catches up to the increased workload. In addition, if changes within the organization result in the AP department moving to a different physical location, that move is made harder if you’re still working with paper. Paper is cumbersome to store or move.
Automatic Advantages
When you switch from a paper system to NextProcess’s AP Software, you instantly have a scalable accounts payable workflow that you can configure for your specific organization. The software centralizes all your accounts payable tasks with simplified invoice processing that reduces touch points to keep invoices moving quickly and effectively.
We have already looked at how much of a difference automation software can make in processing time and cost-per-invoice. The benefits don’t stop there, though. When you automate using a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model for BPA software, your software is just as flexible as you need your AP system to be.
Examples of BPA Flexibility
Where paper systems take time and effort to adapt to increased workflow, SaaS software handles it automatically. Since SaaS software is cloud-based, employees can access it from any internet-enabled location. That makes it easy for your company to give employees the flexibility to work in the office, at home, or while traveling. If you need to move the AP department to a new location, you’ll access the software the same way as before with no need for IT to change or update anything.
The system also scales quickly and easily in response to company growth. You won’t need to worry about upgrading the software if your business suddenly takes off and AP transactions dramatically increase. Your software provider will handle everything for you. We’ll even convert your paper invoices to digital for you at our high-volume mail center, so you don’t have to worry about scanning invoices into the system. Our proprietary data capture technology ensures over 99% accuracy on every invoice.
Another big benefit to accounts payable BPA software is that it supports flexible payment options. Your vendors likely have different preferred payment methods, and automation software makes it simple for your company to pay with paper checks, electronic transfers, or a company charge card.
Changes for Staff
The phrase “automation” often sparks worries about people losing their jobs. That’s not what’s happening with BPA. Automating AP processes frees up employees so they can focus on important tasks rather than routine, mundane work.
Instead of trying to keep track of papers or manually inputting information into a clunky software system, people in an automated AP department can focus on approving processed invoices, getting payments out on time, working with vendors, and other tasks that require a human touch. They’ll also have more time to devote to generating reports, sharing financial data, and supporting company-wide strategic decision-making.
NextProcess software lets you grant access to as many people as needed within your organization. There are no additional fees for adding new users; you pay based on transactions, so each month you’re only charged for what you use. Your entire accounts payable department can take advantage of the improvements from automatic AP software. If you’re curious about how our AP software would fit into your department, contact us to schedule a demo.
