Control Company Costs
How Are Forward-Thinking CFOs Using Modern AP Automation to Drive Efficiencies and Cost Savings?
From the expectations of investors and CEOs to the challenge of managing diverse workforces who submit invoices, expenses, and purchase requests through inefficient and disparate systems, CFOs in growing companies face more challenges than ever before. Automating accounts payable (AP) can help CFOs meet those challenges head on by bringing efficiencies to their company’s invoice management system and giving greater visibility to drive better financial business decisions.
In February 2017, A study conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) on behalf of SAP Concur found that companies that automated their accounts payable process with a cloud-based solution were able to offer greater visibility into accurate accruals and spending to their CFOs. At the same time, they also realized efficiencies in various teams throughout their organization.
The best AP automation solutions for CFOs provide visibility that helps drive smarter financial decision-making, reclaim time, and are business-ready.
Modern automated invoice solutions are business-ready and scalable, while modern solution providers focus on developing intuitive mobile and desktop interfaces that engage employees “where they are” – at the level of spend under management – to offer easier invoice submission and encourage adoption. As a result, these solutions provide better visibility and insight into non-PO spend and give business leaders the ability to act more quickly through deeper reporting on a wider set of data.
With this new visibility and insight into non-PO spend, CFOs can drive smarter decision-making and reclaim time. In fact, in a five-year period, participants spent 68% less time processing invoices with a cloud-based invoice automation system compared with traditional invoice management processes.
Your company could increase compliance and find other savings by automating accounts payable.
The organizations surveyed have reduced the risk of fraudulent invoice approvals and have seen a 32% increase in the percentage of employees who can now see and follow their procurement policies. By automating their invoice process, companies have been able to drive greater compliance with the terms of payment provided by vendors, and in doing so have realized significant savings by avoiding penalties and interest fees on late payments. Vendors are receiving payments 51% faster, and the number of delayed payments has been reduced by 67%.
On top of these savings, companies have reduced the IT staff time required to administer their invoice management technology and have seen an increase in overall user productivity.
The IDC survey analyzed the costs and benefits associated with Concur Invoice based on in-depth interviews with eight organizations that use Concur Invoice to manage and process invoices. On top of the benefits listed here, in a five-year period those surveyed organizations are projected to achieve benefits worth a discounted average of $2.75 million or $54,647 per 1,000 invoices, and streamline their invoice management systems to achieve substantial business value.
Read the report today to see how automating invoice processes leads to increased efficiencies, savings, and greater visibility that drives smarter decision-making. Then, visit this page and see how an integrated solution helps modern finance leaders gain increased employee compliance, productivity, and visibility.