Strategizing Risk Mitigation – The Potential Of Not Implementing Accounts Payable Automation Software
B2B BILLING
As market volatility and the pace of technology advances continues to rise, procurement teams and finance executives have to contend with increasingly complex challenges. Nowhere is this more so than in accounts payable operations, where the latest automation technology has revolutionized the processing of invoices and payments. Yet, many businesses fail to recognize the risk of maintaining manual systems or, even worse, not utilizing accounts payable automation software at all.
On the surface, it may seem advantageous to avoid investing in an accounts payable automation platform as an initial cost-saving measure. What this stance overlooks are the long-term ramifications of not having enhanced payment processing capabilities. Without such system in place, organizations face an elevated risk of costly errors, wasted resources, and significant vulnerabilities across financial and cybersecurity fronts.
Processing invoices manually can prove to be an onerous and inefficient experience, even within smaller organizations. The lack of automation requires an arduous effort to ensure accuracy and compliance throughout total payables and AP management. Time-intensive manual processes and labor force needed to execute may be expensive than investing in an AP automation solution. Furthermore, manual AP is prone to inaccuracies and costly compliance issues and proves to be inadequate in meeting multi-faceted, cross-border business requirements.
From cyber-risk perspective, manual processing of invoices poses myriad of potential danger points, including the potential for fraud and data breaches. Accounts payable automation software can improve risk mitigation by implementing security measures such as data encryption and automated controls. Additionally, an AP automation system generates detailed audit trails that enable the management of chain-of-custody, improves visibility of vendors and transactions, and ensures compliance more rapidly and cost-effectively than manual processes.
As market headwinds mount and pressure on budgets build, executives must remain cognizant of the risks and costs of not adopting automated AP software. The higher costs associated with maintaining manual processing and the ever-increasing threat of cybercrime continue to be potent combination in making compelling business case for automating the accounts payables process. With the right automation software, organizations can surely realize cost savings, business continuity, and improved scalability while gaining the maximum value from their B2B billing.
