Improving Operational Performance Through Software For Defined Procure To Pay Process
Define Procure To Pay Process
As Finance Executive, you strive to produce superior financial results and manage the delicate balance of cost reduction, working capital optimization, and improved customer experience. But that aspirational goal of efficiency often hits wall without the appropriate software tools. Accounts Payable automation software is tool that promises to create more efficient way to effectively process an organizations payables and ultimately enables you to attain superior financial performance.
The right Accounts Payable automation tool can drive improvements in visibility, financial control, and process efficiency, while increasing the speed and accuracy of payments. What that means, in practical terms, is that your organization can safely and securely pay its invoices, comply with expenditures and correctly process payments helping to reduce the use of ad-hoc and manual activities, which drains resources and drives up cost.
A defined Procure to Pay (P2P) process installation helps to identify where an organization can streamline and automate processes, and develop an overall roadmap for successful automation journey. When building an automation strategy, there are myriad of tactics that could be strategized in order to get the maximum overall value from such solution. Utilizing software will enable more efficient and effective workflow through automation, thus eliminating manual processes and human mistakes.
At the core of an effective P2P process, are three primary levers by which you can unlock automation?s full potential. They include: Gathering and verifying invoices, managing enterprise-wide vendor contracts, and streamlining report generation, among other things.
Gathering and validating invoices
As CFO, understanding the actual process of collecting and verifying invoices is somewhat of mystery. By utilizing automation technology, companies can streamline the entire process increasing accuracy and obtaining significant results. Such solutions can effectively identify and validate invoices and manage exceptions more accurately and efficiently.
By using accounts payable automation solutions, business can:
? automate and authenticate the entire invoice ingest process so that it is streamlined and error free.
? enable remote locations and subsidiaries to upload invoices for processing, verification, and validation.
? provide FTE labor savings by eliminating manual processing of invoices and improving the overall accuracy.
? provides additional intelligence and decision-making capabilities, gleaned from the automation solutions, which can help pinpoint costly discrepancies and payment discrepancies.
? provide data security that meets and adheres to international standards so that there is always reliable layer of safety protecting data.
Managing Enterprise-Wide Vendor Contracts
The ability to track and manage supplier contracts, as well as their respective budget allocations, is key feature that accounts payable automation brings to the table. Keeping vendor contracts up to date and in compliance with regulations and budgets is one of the biggest challenges that business face.
Accounts Payable Softwaresolutions are designed to streamline this process, providing the peace of mind that business need. It helps users to:
? Monitor expiration dates of vendor contracts.
? Have insight into how much money should be allocated for each contract and how much money is accrued during contract periods.
? Enforce internal rules and control payment terms, while reducing the risk of manual handling throughout the process.
? Get comprehensive view of the entire process, including the visibility of payments made, and those that are due.
? Enable procurement activities through automated pre-approval and payment authorization procedures.
Streamlining Report Generation
The ability to generate timely, accurate and comprehensive financial reports is non-negotiable for CFOs and other professionals in the financial industry. Manual report generation processes can be time-consuming, expensive and error-prone, thereby consuming precious financial resources.
Integrated Softwaresolutions can drastically reduce the time and effort put into the process, while presenting trove of data points to help determine the effectiveness of the current spend cycle and can be used to inform strategic decisions. Such solutions can also:
? Create customized reports so that they provide more in-depth insights into AP performance and other financial activities.
? Automate the entire report generation process allowing reporting milestones to be met easily and quickly.
? Eliminate human errors and discrepancies by providing real time data on the financial process lifecycle.
? Offer support for the report generation process, from beginning to end, from setting up templates to exporting the report to an analytics platform.
Accounts Payable automation software offers variety of functionality to help organizations meet their financial goals with confidence. The right tools and technologies can help streamline the procure to pay process, boost productivity, and minimize errors all while helping to improve visibility and financial control.
