Purchase-to-pay, procure-to-pay (P2P). For an increasing number of consumers, this type of almost touch-free process has already become a daily routine. They shop in person or place an order online and purchase with a wave of the credit card, a touch of their finger, or even just by face identification. In fact, Amazon Go stores take this same idea even further. They track based on visibility, using beacons and cameras to identify which product shoppers take off the shelves and then automatically bill you when you walk out of the store.
Now imagine this same effortless process in a company which has embraced accounts payable automation in their invoice and payment process. A complete automation platform - the P2P process - streamlines the complete workflow from procurement to payment with as little human intervention and oversight as possible, with order invoices making their way efficiently through from the moment they are submitted all the way until they're paid.
It’s not just imagination. This type of effortless process is possible thanks to a powerful combination of technology including robotic process automation and deep learning algorithms that capture and understand every invoice and purchase order, routes them for approval, and eventually uses just-in-time payment. All this optimizing and maximizing cash flow.
How businesses can cash in on an automated complete P2P accounts payable process
An increasing number of organizations are discovering that they can truly take control of the invoice process using an intelligent accounts payable automation solution. Better yet, this is in addition to multiple (new) benefits such a system will provide including:
- Keeping each step in the invoice purchase process transparent
- Improving supplier engagement
- Streamlining contract management
- Optimizing inventory and cash flow management
- Creating a new revenue stream from a current cost centre (thanks to early payment rewards and avoiding possible late fees)
- Minimizing risk of error and fraud while ensuring legal compliance
These are just six of the many ways and they don't happen by magic. The software manages just about everything: requisitioning, purchasing, receiving, paying for, and accounting for goods and services and the business benefits. Everything is covered. Unfortunately, reality is not as neat as a workflow chart. In fact, most companies still reply on a piecemeal approach that involves automating only parts of the purchase-to-pay process. As a result, they are only enjoying a few benefits and missing out on sizable gains in both efficiency and productivity.
As market researcher Ardent Partners points out in its "Accounts Payable Metrics that Matter in 2021" eBook, the share of companies that receive invoices electronically keeps rising, now standing at one-third, and the share of payments made electronically is at 57%. This is a good start but again, without an end-to-end process in place a company can't benefit from a successful digital AP process transformation.
Another finding was that three out of four companies that Ardent polled rely on document scanning, and only one-third offers a vendor self-service portal. This is also a start but still piecemeal. However, a fact that is encouraging is that the vast majority of companies of all sizes and industries admit that they consider having "smarter systems" for their accounts payable process as "a key to success."
The next step? To partner with an advanced accounts payable automation solution to optimize the entire purchase to pay process.
Minding your AP business: why the entire procure-to-pay process needs to be automated
Why is that partnership so important?
True purchase-to-pay process automation follows a holistic approach, striving for a straight-through process with ideally close to zero human involvement. This means that employees are free to focus on other, more strategic endeavours. After all, human attention and staff hours are simply too valuable to be spent on routine, labour-intensive things such as solving exceptions and approving invoices for payment. Doing away with opening envelopes, keying in numbers, and cutting checks can be a game changer for various reasons, from reducing errors and saving costs to boosting job satisfaction.
An intelligent AP process helps:
- Cut processing cost per invoice by 80% or more
- Shorten cycle times from weeks to days, or sometimes mere hours
- Unlock early pay discounts and other rebates
- Reduce fraud and overpayments
- Save more than 20% of AP staff’s time since vendor inquiries drop significantly
In addition, the accounts payable automation process doesn’t stop once a payment has been initiated. Yooz has spent two decades developing and constantly refining an intelligent workflow. That means all the invoices aren't simply matched with purchase orders but also automatically marked as paid. No more manual exports or time-consuming reconciliation required. Leveraging advanced business process automation tools ensures that every step is seamlessly integrated, enhancing overall efficiency and accuracy.
With a cloud-based platform all the documents are securely stored and can be accessed at any point in time by searching with keywords just like when consulting a search engine. This kind of AI-powered automation makes strategic decision-making and any review and audit process a snap. It also simultaneously cuts down on archiving and storage costs.
An intelligent AP process lets every business save big on time and money
Yooz has spent two decades developing and constantly refining smart automation that starts the second an invoice for an order comes in, regardless of its format. The cloud-based system has indexed more than 100 million invoices from over one million vendors and learned to understand, word for word, amount for amount, what suppliers bill for and with what templates.
Right out of the box, Yooz will automatically process 80% of all incoming invoices. They are automatically GL-coded, matched with purchase orders and forwarded to the right people for approval. An AP staff only needs to come into play when the system has flagged duplicates, erroneous or fraudulent invoices. Additionally, they can review and sign off on any invoice from their mobile device, triggering automatic payment through the payment provider of their choice.
Don't wait any longer, reach out to Yooz today to find out how any finance department can quickly optimize the end-to-end game.
Unlocking Efficiency: Choosing Yooz for P2P Accounts Payable Process Automation
Yooz stands out in automating P2P Accounts Payable processes, utilizing AI, Deep Learning, and RPA to achieve an impressive 80% invoice automation rate effortlessly. It seamlessly combines real-time AI with user-friendly features, facilitating swift deployment within just an hour without extensive training. Yooz offers a comprehensive solution, streamlining the entire P2P workflow from purchase requests to payments on a unified platform. With a large client base and extensive document processing experience, Yooz has demonstrated its effectiveness. It integrates smoothly with a wide array of native connectors across numerous countries, supported by a team of experts catering to diverse needs. Yooz is committed to innovation, allocating a significant portion of its income to R&D annually, resulting in substantial advancements in the field. As a result, Yooz is recognized as a symbol of efficiency in P2P automation.
