What to consider when automating the accounts payable process

Top considerations for accounts payable automation

You’ve heard the benefits of AP automation, now here’s what key areas to focus on when choosing a solution to automate your accounts payable process.

Easy integration with existing accounting software

If an AP automation solution does not easily integrate with existing software, it can lead to wasted time and lots of frustration within the AP team. The bottom line? The solution doesn’t resolve issues if no one can or will use it. You need to determine whether your existing accounting software works with the solution you choose to avoid unnecessary headaches.

Ease of onboarding

The more difficult a system is, the less likely an AP team is to use it. Choose an automation solution with simple steps, attainable goals and great customer support. These attributes will help your AP team navigate through onboarding without getting discouraged along the way.

Amount of process change

When changes to the AP process are incremental, working with new tools can be a minimal risk with a high reward. It’s easier to get staff and leadership to accept the change by automating pieces of the process, in a bite-sized approach, rather than a total overhaul.

Automate your AP process with a phased approach

Most mid-size businesses have budgetary considerations as well as reservations about the “all or nothing” approach of reconstructing accounts payable processes. However, there are significant business benefits to a modernizing the AP process through a phased approach in steps:

• Starting with parts of the process, such as authorization and payment execution, is budget friendly. Organizations only pay for what they need and can take the time to discover which elements of AP automation would be most helpful.
• Inertia and resistance to change are common reasons many companies don’t update their AP processes. “We’ve always done it this way,” and “Modernizing the process is too much work,” are typical responses to the request to consider automation. However, starting smaller by updating one or two steps in the accounts payable process, often feels much more manageable and less overwhelming.
• Automating payment issuance and reconciliation, for example, can serve as a test or trial for broader AP automation. When the team and leadership see a positive return on investment, they are more likely to approve the next, wider phase of AP automation.

AP automation gives your business a competitive advantage

While there are still businesses out there still doing their accounts payable processing manually, there is a lot to gain from automation. Several competitive advantages include the ability to:

• Rapidly approve and process invoices
• Eliminate incorrect information and even missing invoices
• Easily track outstanding liabilities
• Quickly approve invoices to take advantage of early pay or other discounts
• Reduce or eliminate exceptions and discrepancies
• Include remittance data with digital payments to reduce vendor inquiries
• Provide a variety of payment options which improves supplier relationships

Organizations able to keep it simple and focus on delivering exceptional experiences for both employees and vendors/suppliers have an eye on their future success. Letting go of clunky manual AP processes in favor of flexible and agile automation tools improves experiences all around. AP automation solutions can grow and flex as a company does. True innovation comes when teams are empowered and given the space to be creative.