In an ideal world, paper would be removed from the process entirely, however, this is highly unlikely given the number of suppliers and sub-contractors who still rely on it. Intelligent Automation is an ideal solution for supporting organisations through the application of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Regardless of how the invoice is received (paper or email) OCR converts the invoice from unstructured data into structured machine-readable content. Although in many instances paper will still need to be scanned, once in a digital version OCR speeds up the document preparation stage. It is, however, when this more basic technology is used in conjunction with other automation solutions such as Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) that real efficiency gains can be achieved.

2. How are invoices processed?

Data rekeying? Multiple checks? Multiple systems?

This step can take up to 10.6 days (Accountancy Age) to complete and encompasses everything from manually rekeying the data from a hard copy invoice into a Finance System, making checks in accordance with business rules, enriching the information, performing queries and authorising payment. When you consider the volume of invoices received, these tasks become repetitive, manually intensive and at risk of errors, not only reducing efficiency but also the morale of AP Clerks. In addition, there is a potential delay added to the payment cycle through supervisor checks or supplier amendments. This could further push an organisation outside of agreed terms, leading to missed early payment discounts and in some cases late payment fees which, in turn, can negatively impact supplier relationships.