Leave it to The Economist to find a succinct description of what the division of labour between man and intelligent systems will look like in the future. “Machines will do the nasty jobs; human beings the nice ones,” is how the renowned magazine recently paraphrased the future of work, dispelling fears of robots taking over our jobs from factory floors to offices.
This mutually-beneficial collaboration is the ideal digital transformation of the work environment, one that makes blue- and white-collar workers more productive, efficient and boosts overall job satisfaction. Simply by eliminating routine and time-consuming tasks, companies can inject a large dose of agility into their operations while encouraging innovation amongst their employees.
Consider financial services - banking and otherwise - where the use of constantly evolving technology and cloud-based infrastructure is upending decades-old practices, while at the same time adding increased speed, savings and security. And, when it comes to the opportunity for digitalisation in finance, the Accounts Payable (AP) function in particular has been receiving much more attention, in terms of technology upgrades and new digital applications. The goal is to replace oodles of paper records with a smooth digital business process, no matter how big or small.
Consider an Accounts Payable software platform that streamlines the entire purchase-to-pay workflow for businesses in any sector (after all, everybody has a financial process). There are four key benefits to embarking on and use of this kind of digitalisation strategy:
| Benefits | Description |
| An unmatched all-in-one solution | An integrated platform that allows businesses of any size to capture, review, approve and pay invoices from anywhere, at any time. |
| Unlock savings and new revenue streams | Intelligent software eliminates delays and late payments, enabling early payment discounts and cash back via virtual cards. |
| Fast and intuitive | Provides quick access to support and answers through a user-friendly digital dashboard, eliminating phone tag and delays with vendors and other departments. |
| Full control and security | A cloud-based platform that ensures a secure digital audit trail, reducing error and fraud risks and making regulatory compliance easier. |
Consumers are already used to lean and fast financial services. Apps, not only from their banks, let them set up payment recipients, review documents and pay with their face, their fingerprint, or other means. Organisations too, are moving away from handling paper, increasing service speed and decreasing costs associated with office supplies and storage.
It’s worth remembering that it costs, on average, north of £3 - £13 to manually process a single invoice, from opening an envelope to scanning or manually keying in the data, moving it along for review and approval, sending out payments and finally archiving the relevant documents and reconciling them with an ERP or financial software. Digital process automation can shave 80% or more off this significant cost factor in the back office. Good riddance to the hole puncher and stapler!
What’s more, cycle times in the AP function drop from weeks to days or even hours, in many instances empowering organisations to pay invoices the same day. That’s particularly true when a business is struggling with thinned out staff, work-from-home mandates, or hybrid work models.
If everything runs digitally, team members can review and approve invoices from anywhere. For example, pulling up related POs from their tablet while lying on the couch and even performing keyword searches throughout the entire database, just as you would entering words into an internet search bar.
The key technologies that make this possible are artificial intelligence (AI) and its subset of machine learning (ML), as well as powerful Big Data software. Combined, they drive a more agile environment by enabling you to find as many needles in a haystack as necessary, seeing patterns and acting on them and contributing towards strategic decision-making that benefits not only the AP function but the entire organisation.
AI and machine learning are not going to replace jobs but will rather enhance them. The finance function will always need an element of manual touch, for example when something is flagged for missing, inaccurate, or conflicting information. Software that continuously learns from large data sets can perform the basic checks on hundreds of thousands of documents much faster than any person and then escalate the outliers among them for review.
You don’t need to think of magic robots in Hollywood movies to appreciate the power that comes with digital technology and the ability to automatically pull data and relevant info from text and images on a document. It’s happening right here and now in the finance function of many businesses. Yooz, for instance, has seen and read more than 100 million invoices from thousands of vendors and along the way learned the idiosyncrasies of the various templates.
That information can be used to promote good, such as helping to create a streamlined process, easy audit support and complete business records. It can also be used to prevent the bad, such as errors or deliberate fraud. AP automation will flag duplicates with the same or slightly different invoice numbers, then alert the designated person to check them or provide last-minute updates or changes. After all, it's a partnership and not dictatorship.
But the partnership doesn't just stop there. Finance teams using the solution will train and maintain the machine learning algorithms to become more accurate and powerful over time. Every document they read and "understand" increases their digitalised firepower.
For AP software platforms, this give-and-take starts with setting up flexible digital workflows which are dedicated to your organisation and fit its specific needs. As you keep using those workflows, AI begins to learn from your modifications, edits, changes and choices. It will detect patterns and add them to its knowledge base.
No solution is perfect, so employees will always have to ensure that their machine learning systems are functioning properly, safely and responsibly. Technology is either rules-based or needs to develop new rules as time goes on, but in many cases it’s a judgment call that only experienced employees can make.
If a system provides the right information at the right time, it not only improves efficiency but also creativity. Once finance pros know they can ask any question about their data, an efficient digital automation process lets them come up with entirely new ways to look at things like cash flow and cash management. Digitalisation provides a business with the ability to address needs that you didn't even know existed.
And, while the jury is still out on whether the so-called “Great Resignation” is here to stay, many companies are focusing on hiring and retaining top talent. Implementing a technology solution will help them reduce the burdensome, repetitious aspects of the accounts payable work process, for an overall better employee experience and new opportunities to interact with both staff and customers. Questions get answered faster and insights are shared in a better, more complete way.
Automation has a lot to offer when it comes to improving current processes however the possibility of digital technology also opens new pathways to reimagine your business.
For example, consider payments. Various AP automation platforms are now offering options for making payments as easy, quick and secure as possible. Incorporating a digital payment option also has the additional benefit of bringing vendors into a dynamic business network, as well as providing them with an improved service solution. By onboarding everyone onto a digital platform and becoming part of a web of financial business intelligence, there is improved visibility and faster payments, a key asset for uncertain times when new supply chain shocks may be looming.
This is just one example. The fact is, working with intelligent accounts payable software goes far deeper than ensuring businesses pay invoices on time. Advanced technologies help you reimagine the way that you run your business, yielding more flexibility, speed and scale to get more done with less. When an organisation deploys a financial automation solution consisting of optical character recognition and smart data extraction powered by AI and machine learning, it can build a completely customised workflow that reflects team structure and their invoice and payment processing needs.
Humans are crucial to getting the most out of the technology set-up and avoid a cookie-cutter approach. At Yooz, for instance, Customer Success Managers work closely with each client throughout the implementation stage to determine their specific needs and the most efficient workflow for them. One example is exceptions: You determine what happens with them, choosing whether to skip escalation automatically or manually. Another example is handling periods of time when an employee is absent. Humans can turn the knobs and temporarily change the approval workflow to avoid delays.
Scaling up is no longer a headache but an opportunity to reinvent your business for growth. Minimising human manual interactions with documents will free up your team to focus on more value-added tasks or personalised services such as managing relationships with vendors. Technology provides an opportunity for any business to do more with the existing staff and resources as well as be able to adjust as it grows.
What's more, the act of decision-making also benefits from digital transformation. Having real-time and accurate data on your screen empowers everyone to make better-informed strategic decisions, starting with, but not limited to, an organisation’s cash flow.
“Fintech” has become a buzzword for the broad and deep changes sweeping the financial services digital landscape, as a Google search with 102 million results will confirm. Yet it is important to remember that software systems, no matter how powerful and advanced they seem, are not a magic bullet.
As mentioned previously, the future division of labour between humans and intelligent systems isn't simply a clear-cut "them versus us." What counts is finding and then fine-tuning the right balance of collaboration between humans and cutting-edge technology. Intelligent AP automation is a prime example of the way in which financial technologies do not take away jobs or replace humans. Instead, they help businesses to do more and improve.
Or, as The Economist concluded after listening to top robotics and automation experts: “Instead of destroying jobs, robots can create them by making businesses more efficient, allowing firms to expand.”
Curious to find out more about how humans and technology can collaborate in financial services? Check out a replay of our live webinars at your convenience.
Searching for the best IT solutions for financial services? Look no further than Yooz. Recognised by prestigious awards and trusted by the global financial ecosystem, Yooz stands out with its unparalleled value and innovation. Imagine automating 80% of your invoices without any prior setup—only Yooz makes this a reality.
Combining real-time AI performance with simplicity and maximum business value, Yooz transforms your financial operations. Start reaping the benefits in just one hour, no training required. Our all-in-one solution streamlines every stage of your P2P process, from purchase request to payment.
With unmatched business expertise and a dedicated focus on automatic document processing, Yooz is your ultimate partner. Born in the Cloud and solidly enduring, Yooz is designed to meet the evolving needs of the financial services industry, driving efficiency, accuracy and success.