Every invoice processed manually adds significant costs, including labour and processing fees. And one manual invoicing error can quickly ruin a company’s reputation. With invoice processing automation, teams can rapidly extract and process information without manual data entry. It translates to faster processing, reduced costs, and increased accounting accuracy.
Better Relationships with Suppliers
Regarding supplier relationships, focusing on quality and reliability, value for money, and excellent service is essential. However, focusing too much on price could lead to choosing a supplier that doesn’t meet your quality and delivery requirements. Instead, it would help if you concentrate on building strong, long-term supplier relationships that add value to your business. The best way to do this is by treating suppliers as partners rather than simply a source of goods and services. It means communicating from a place of mutual understanding, identifying opportunities for innovation and collaboration, and focusing on overall business goals and objectives. It will help you develop a more trusted partnership and improve your cash flow, productivity, and financial success.
Manual processes require time-consuming follow-up and often result in misunderstandings or missed payments. You can eliminate many of these problems using payment automation tools like Paystand and ensure that invoices are sent, received, and paid on time. It will significantly enhance your cash flow and enable you to expand your business without compromising the essential resources required for day-to-day operations. Integrating an invoice payment solution into your ERP will allow you to take your AP process to the next level and unlock the potential for better cash flow management, strategic growth, and financial success.
Increased Visibility
Invoices, payments, and accounting data are critical for any business. Still, many owners dreamed of creating world-changing products and taking financial risks for enormous profits — not managing a paper-pushing operation. With invoice payment automation, these administrative tasks are lightened and can be done with incredible speed, accuracy, and transparency. Manual invoice processing increases the likelihood of costly errors. Whether it’s incorrect data entry, missing a required signature, or failing to apply early payment discounts, these errors can add up. With automated invoice payments, these mistakes are mitigated or eliminated, slashing the cost per invoice processed by up to 80%.
An invoice-to-pay platform provides valuable financial insight that helps businesses make more informed decisions that improve the bottom line. For example, the platform may provide a real-time view of the status of an invoice, including how much has been paid, when it is due, and any outstanding issues. This information can help finance teams prioritize payments and focus on the most pressing matters. Another benefit of a fully integrated invoice-to-pay solution is the ability to extend credit terms for suppliers. Investing in new products, services, and growth initiatives can increase a business’s cash. In addition, best-in-class solutions offer built-in tools for rationalizing supplier payments and can help turn the AP function into a profit center.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Aside from slowing down invoice payments, the manual AP process often leads to errors. A single billing error can cause a customer to have a low opinion of your company—and it doesn’t take long for that to spread on social media and other digital channels. With automated invoicing, you can eliminate the possibility of billing errors, such as a misplaced zero or a missing amount, while simultaneously saving time and money on manual data entry. Automated invoicing also reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings, which can delay a payment. For instance, a system can alert clients when it’s time to pay their bills so they don’t forget, saving your business the hassle of following up on late payments.
Automation can help speed up workflows by allowing users to match their purchase orders and delivery receipts with the invoice—and flag any issues. Similarly, it can do away with laborious chores like distributing paper copies by automatically forwarding an invoice to the right team member for evaluation and approval. In a turbulent economic environment, businesses must maintain a healthy cash flow. However, much money is wasted manually processing invoices and chasing payments. The good news is that invoice-to-pay automation—integrated platforms that automate, optimize, and monetize the entire AP and AR process—can significantly reduce these costs while improving cash conversion cycles.
Reduced Late Payments
Accounts payable (AP) processing is enhanced by invoice payment automation since it reduces the time required for manual operations like data entry and invoice matching. It also reduces errors and enables real-time visibility into invoice and payment statuses. It helps to ensure that payment is received on time, which is crucial for cash flow health. When a company does not pay an invoice on time, it can incur late payment fees that drain financial resources. It can even affect supplier relationships, impacting operational efficiency and cost. 82% of businesses that fail cite poor cash flow as the reason. Many companies need help with their invoice payments because of manual processes and a need for more technology. Invoice payment automation can keep track of outstanding payments and reduce the amount of money lost to late fees.
Moreover, it can allow organizations to take a more proactive approach to invoice payments by sending automated reminder messages. These can be sent out before the due date of an invoice and reduce the likelihood of a payment being missed. For companies of all sizes, keeping a healthy cash flow is more critical than ever as the economy faces high inflation, erratic global supply chains, and complex labour markets. Invoice-to-pay automation — which offers streamlined invoice processing, the ability to avoid late penalties, and data-driven insights — can empower finance leaders to make strategic growth decisions to propel their organization forward.
