Should you get an accounts payable automation solution, or shouldn't you? That’s no longer even the question! It has become inevitable. But automate what? And how? And what are the effects of not taking the initiative to learn more and utilize AP automation software? The truth is, staying uneducated and delaying the journey toward streamlining your AP department’s invoice processing can cost you in more ways than you think. Being overwhelmed is natural, but the good news is you can release some of that stress because you don’t have to figure all of this out on your own. Our AP experts at Yooz will share their expertise to guide you through making an informed decision when selecting the right AP automation solution for your business.
Many businesses are under the impression that all they need to do is randomly choose an AP automation provider then they’re free to never think about it again without dedicating a lot of time into the process. But, putting in effort to diligently think through your options, pinpointing the issues in your current AP process, and giving your finance leadership team time out of their day to solely focus on what it will take to automate your AP process, is nonnegotiable. Taking these initial steps are the gateway to a smoother transitioning process and receiving the best return on investment. Just saying you have an accounts payable system does nothing for your AP department if it’s not addressing the inefficiencies you currently have and will only decrease ROI while frustrating employees because their job became harder.
Now that you’re ready to commit to the extensive process of finding the state-of-the-art AP automation solution that will address all your company’s pain points and increase ROI, you need to know the right questions to ask your team and the vendor. Get representation from every tier in the finance department (if possible) to collaborate and assist in this game-changing decision when choosing an AP automation vendor. Those questions are:
One of the questions we suggested you ask your team is “would an end-to-end cloud-based AP automation solution be best for your firm.” Since cloud-based technologies are just gaining popularity, companies tend to fear their reliability versus the “tried and true” on-premise solutions. If you do a little more research, you will learn that that is further from the truth. Cloud technology allows you to access, approve or send back, and see the status of documents at every stage of the invoice and payment processing workflow, around the clock, 24/7. The documents stored in the Cloud are secure from unwanted eyes because they can only be accessed by those with login credentials, whether it be to view only or approve. Users are also able to see the history of the document, who has accessed it, who has approved, where it is in the workflow. No more paper documents exposed at all stages in the process. No more lost documents. These are just a few capabilities that set could-based solutions apart from on-premise AP.
But there is more to choosing a cloud-based solution. You should understand the technologies that make the AP automation solution possible, at least on a high level. You can have the smartest, powerful technologies in the world for your accounts payable, but if you don’t know what they are and why you need them then they’ll be useless and do more harm than good.
For instance, we hear a lot about OCR (optical character recognition)—a technology that turns a picture into words—in AP automation. It is an important characteristic. Even more important is the next layer, smart data extraction, a technology that “understands” and processes the text from the OCR to transform it into relevant data. As many of you are exploring AP automation providers, you may ask, “Do you have OCR technology?” Good question. But what you really want to know is if the solution has a complete technology, combining OCR, smart data extraction, and machine learning.
Some providers might claim OCR, but then apply human extraction, outsourcing to a third party—also called third-party verification. OCR extraction that layers human verification uses people to input data read by the OCR into predefined fields. In this scenario data entry is done by an outsourced firm and takes time as the data is being populated by people, typically 24 to 72 business hours and risks costly mistakes. That’s why you need to choose Yooz, a complete, end-to-end, AP automation solution hosted in the cloud that doesn’t allow third-party outsourcing.
Our AP Specialists are dedicated to learning about your pain points and solving those problems with Yooz’s unique, customizable platform. We want to make sure you get everything you need to increase productivity and multiply your ROI while keeping your data highly secure. Some of the questions our AP specialists will ask are:
Yooz has 10+ years of experience providing excellent service to our 4,000 customers and counting and we want to do the same for you. We go above and beyond to follow and consider these best practices in everything we do:
So, should you invest in a cloud-based AP automation software? We believe the answer is yes! By trusting in Yooz to provide a highly customizable, easy to use, reliable cloud-based AP automation solution that leverages smart technologies, you’ll be well on your way to fixing your company’s pain points and your AP department will be able to focus on more value-added tasks.