The Benefits of Invoice Processing Automation

How many invoices do you think your business processes each month? How long do you think each one takes from receipt to entry to your accounts software to checking to approval to payment?

We think you’ll be surprised by the answers to both questions.

Data suggests that 550 BILLION invoices are generated annually worldwide. In addition, each invoice can take between 30-90 days to be dealt with to completion and in Great Britain alone 50% of invoices are outstanding at any one time.

Digitalisation is no longer a “like to have” – it’s a “must have”. That’s why Keeley Travis have partnered with DocuWare to help businesses with their digital transformation.

But what are the real benefits of invoice processing automation?

Time Saving

As stated above, the amount of time between a supplier raising an invoice, sending it to you, printing, data entry and review, approval and payment can be around a month, 90 days if there are discrepancies that need sorting out.

With an automated solution this time can be cut drastically, to a matter of MINUTES in some cases. Imagine this scenario.

An invoice arrives as a PDF attachment to your inbox. DocuWare immediately recognises who it’s from and gets to work. First, it uses Intelligent Indexing, its full page character recognition software, to capture all the data (eg. supplier name, order number, invoice amount). Second it files the document in its rightful, predetermined place (either in the cloud or on your servers). Thirdly, it matches the invoice to your purchase order.

Then, again based on your predetermined business rules, it requests approval for payment from the appropriate person or it can even automatically approve payment based on value of the invoice, supplier or other criteria.

The time from receipt of the invoice to at least the approval stage is achieved in seconds.

Save Money

You can start saving money almost immediately via reduced labour requirements, reduced printing costs and less late payment fees. The cost of invoice processing automation would almost certainly be more than balanced by what you’ll save over the course of a year.

Improved Efficiency

When you take the human out of the invoice processing equation you immediately eliminate the chance of costly mistakes being made, which in turn lead to longer processing times as invoices have to be treated as exceptions until resolved.

Not only is automation more efficient in this way, but it frees up time for your staff to focus on other areas of the business, improving efficiencies outside of the accounts payable department.

Transparent, Up To Date Finances

DocuWare gives you a clear, accurate picture of where your business is in terms of cashflow and performance. And with the money saved and improved efficiencies you will be able to invest more into your business, into innovations, new staff, training and more.

Security & Compliance

DocuWare is completely secure with every document fully encrypted. In addition, access to files can be limited to only those who require it, so you can enjoy peace of mind.

If you’re ever called upon to produce your financial paperwork you won’t have to panic, sending staff to root around in long forgotten filing cabinets. Every document stored through the invoice processing software is instantly available via search.

In short, the benefits of invoice processing automation and document management far outweigh any cost you might imagine. Besides, DocuWare is extremely affordable, starting from as little as £195 a month.

Want to know more? Take a look here.