Automated Invoice Processing: A Game-Changer for Modern Businesses

Invoice processing is an important function for any organisation, playing a crucial role in the efficient flow of financial transactions. It’s all part of doing business. But the daunting task of collecting, verifying, and managing information from different sources such as purchase orders and payment receipts can be a constant uphill battle. As businesses expand, the challenge of tracking invoices and ensuring proper reconciliation becomes even more overwhelming.

Thankfully, there is a better solution than the manual, paper-intensive, "old school" approach to this work: automated invoice processing.

What is Automated Invoice Processing? 

Automated invoice processing uses specialised computer software to process invoices for a company's accounts payable (AP) department. It provides instant updates of invoice data into the organisation's enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.

What Are the Benefits of Automated Invoice Processing?

Automated invoice processing offers many advantages:

• Time savings: It significantly cuts the time spent on invoice processing, letting your team focus on more critical tasks.
• Paperless operation: Not having to find and store paper invoices helps with a more efficient workflow.
• Reducing errors: By automating the process, human errors are minimised, increasing data accuracy and financial integrity.
• Centralisation and enhanced visibility: All invoices are centralised, offering increased visibility into the financial health of the business.

Processing invoices plays a key role in maintaining the financial health of any business. But the process of finding and storing paper invoices, processing them manually, and reconciling all available information takes time.

With automated invoice processing, all that changes. Not only are invoices processed quickly, but the results are far more accurate. Plus, it frees up the invaluable time of employees, so they can focus on more important, meaningful work— like strategic or revenue-generating initiatives.

In addition to the time-consuming nature of manual invoice processing, each step in the process risks introducing errors. Important documents can be lost or misplaced. Data can be entered incorrectly. Mistakes happen.

But with automated invoice processing that uses machine learning, tasks happen automatically and accurately through a predictable, repeatable process. Human error is minimised, while your employees’ time is maximised.

How Automated Invoice Processing Works 

Automated invoice processing is made possible through different technologies like general AI (artificial intelligence), optical character recognition (OCR), machine learning, neural language processing, and more.

OCR software can swiftly and accurately convert images into text, making critical data more accessible to accounting teams. Once invoices are digitised – even images of them – the data is then easily storable and searchable.

Key values like bank account information or item numbers are extracted from an invoice, then cross-referenced with data from sources like purchase orders and contracts. Other information might include addresses and contact information, tax identification numbers, quantities, individual and total costs, and more. All data is presented in a unified way, and the approval process can be automated based on predefined workflow criteria that must be met to trigger payment.

Intuitive machine learning technology recognises patterns and learns from vast data sets to identify errors, potential fraud and fill in missing information.

Your Path to Increasing Productivity Starts Here 

Automated AI invoice processing also increases productivity by streamlining the invoice approval workflow.

For an average invoice to be approved, it must go through a series of lengthy steps. First, invoices must be matched against a purchase order. Any irregularities, like improper purchase order numbers, then need to be resolved.

That invoice then needs to be sent to a manager or other team leader for approval. Once granted, the business's ERP system will need to be updated to accurately reflect this. Only then can a payment then be issued to a supplier.

Automated invoice processing helps streamline this series of steps in almost every way. By reducing manual data entry, it virtually eliminates the types of time-consuming errors most AP professionals are used to dealing with. Invoice matching happens automatically, invoices are instantly routed to the right approvers, and the company's ERP is updated in near-real time. Invoices can now be approved up to 90% quicker.

 

Three-Way Match 

Automate invoice matching to spot exceptions, stop errors, and eliminate manual tasks. 

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Mobile Invoice Processing

With mobile invoice processing, the same benefits can be achieved using the mobile devices employees already use. They can review and approve invoices on the go, or while they're working remotely.

All records are still centralised, creating a "single source of truth" for the business. The difference is invoice processing doesn't have to wait until that employee returns to the office — invoices can be easily submitted and processed from anywhere.

Automated invoice processing, like automation in general, is not about replacing human employees with AI but empowering them to work more efficiently. By streamlining invoice approval workflows and reducing errors, it ensures the financial health of the business is well taken care of while freeing up employees' time for more meaningful tasks.

To learn more about how automated invoice processing can optimise your business operations, contact us today