- What is a Paperless AP System?
- Why Implement a Paperless Accounts Payable Processing System?
- How to Transition to Paperless Accounts Payable
- ACI’s Solutions to Help Convert Your AP to a Paperless System
Most business leaders are continually looking for ways to improve efficiencies, cut costs to maximize profits, and optimize office workflows. Embracing digital transformation technology is an optimal way to achieve those goals, even with your accounts payable team, who have traditionally employed paper-based processes to manage invoices.
A paperless accounts payable system is the perfect solution for modern businesses to optimize their AP systems, make their accounts payable department paperless, and create sustainable invoice processing cost savings.
What is a Paperless AP System?
Paperless accounts payable systems are just what they sound like: having an accounts payable process that eliminates the need to process or print hard copy paper documents. You can achieve this by adopting technology that can support every step of the invoice processing workflow from beginning to end. These steps include capturing incoming invoices, manually typing data, reviewing and approving invoices, and processing payments.
Adopting a paperless accounts payable system is easier than one might imagine. It simply involves leveraging automation technology to keep your AP running smoothly, improving efficiencies, reducing human error and redundancies, and creating better relationships with suppliers.
Why Implement a Paperless Accounts Payable Processing System?
Implementing a completely paperless accounts payable process opens your company to many benefits that solve the errors and efficiencies you may have experienced with manual paper processes.
Many of our clients have told us that once they’ve experienced the benefits of a paperless process based on AP automation, they wish they had made the switch years earlier!
Here are just some of the benefits when switching from a manual invoice processing AP system to a paperless accounts payable process.
More efficient invoice processing
An automated AP system includes paperless accounts payable software that makes the entire system “touchless”. Invoices can be quickly reviewed and sent for approval with just a few keystrokes. Easy integration into your ERP means no interruption to your accounts payable workflow, leading to faster approval and processing of invoices.
Improved data accuracy
Most automated AP systems include advanced scanning technology that ensures accurate invoice capture and stores the electronic invoice into a secure cloud system for easy editing, reviewing, and approval. Scanning ensures that data is captured more accurately than manually entering it, which is prone to human error. Whether working with a single invoice or batches of invoices, paperless invoice processing offers completely accurate invoice capture, eliminating the need for human intervention.
Optimized internal controls and compliance
Quickly set permissions by setting robust access controls to your automated AP system. Paperless AP systems have built-in audit trails to track transactions in real-time. Digital files are available at your fingertips to simplify audit compliance and mitigate the risk of fraud. It’s like having a reliable paper trail – without the paper.
Improved supplier relationships through faster processing of invoices
When you use a manual AP process, physical documents are moved slowly through the invoice approval process before payment is issued. An automated invoice management process speeds up the payment process with digitized invoices and electronic payments that help your suppliers get paid faster and improve your relationships.
Take advantage of early payment discounts
Some suppliers offer early payment discounts to their customers. An automated AP system improves your chances of paying invoices sooner to qualify for these discounts, increasing your cash flow. You’ll also avoid late payment penalties associated with missing payment deadlines due to process delays, and minimize the chances of making duplicate payments.
Save on labour costs
With a paperless invoice process, your AP team won’t spend precious time on manual tasks such as data entry or managing paper files. There won’t be any chance of paper invoices becoming lost or misfiled, saving your accounting team time in recovering them – plus they’ll get fewer paper cuts rooting through the filing cabinet!
Cut costs on office supplies
A paperless transition brings you significant cost savings on office supplies, including paper, printers, printer ink, file folders, filing cabinets, and more. You’ll also cut costs in services such as printer maintenance, paper shredding, and off-site storage for paper. Less paper can also lead to less office clutter, creating a more streamlined appearance which will make your employees and visitors more comfortable.
Better resource allocation
With an automated AP workflow, your accounting team can leave the repetitive tasks behind and concentrate on projects that build your business. You may even find that you can move your AP staff to roles that further develop their careers, such as finance and accounting, analysis, process development, and business strategy.
More internal storage space
Because the paperless invoice processing eliminates paper and stores incoming invoices in a secure cloud-based digital document storage system, you won’t need as much internal storage space for rows of clunky filing cabinets. Use this valuable space for activities that generate revenue instead of perpetuating ongoing costs.
Better visibility into cash flow
AP automation tools offer detailed reporting tools with real-time analytics. Your AP team can easily see metrics such as how many invoices you process per month, your cost per invoice, and how much money you are saving. Use this information to boost AP productivity and enable you to make additional adjustments and optimizations.
Seamless transition to the hybrid office model
The hybrid office is becoming more commonplace as many companies allow their employees to work remotely. However, a manual AP process requires AP staff to attend the office regularly. With automated AP processing, your team can now work securely from any location with digitized invoices, helping to preserve business continuity while benefiting from the cost-savings associated with the hybrid workplace model.
How To Transition to Paperless Accounts Payable
When you’re ready to transition your office away from paper invoices and reap the benefits of a paperless accounts payable solution, there are some key steps you should take to make the implementation go as smooth as possible:
Audit your accounts payable department
Before you begin, take a complete audit of your current workflows. Measure different KPIs, such as how many days go by between receiving and approving an invoice, how many mistakes are made per invoice, and how much time is spent revising invoices. You can use these benchmarks to track the success of your touchless process later on.
Identify your goals
Before you start recycling all that paper, you should determine the reasons you want to make the transition. This will be a significant change to your organization, and getting everyone on board will be much easier if you identify your goals. Some reasons for changing AP automation could be to cut costs, reduce data errors, streamline your manual processes, increase efficiencies, save money, or free up your staff for more revenue-generating tasks.
Be transparent about your objectives
Once the goals are identified, communicate them clearly and openly to each department, including accounting and finance, IT, and C-level. This will help set expectations for the transition to the automated AP system and foster buy-in, collaboration, and support throughout the integration process. Always be ready to answer questions, especially from people who are uncomfortable with change, ensure that all stakeholders’ concerns are addressed, and keep a positive, goal-focused approach to problem-solving along the way to implementation.
Find the right service provider
Connecting with the right service provider is crucial for a successful transition to an automation process that results in a paperless workflow. Make sure they have the technical skills and accounts payable automation software that’s compatible with your system, with the capacity to handle batch processing of payments, invoices, and transactions.
Create and execute your implementation strategy
The final step is to create your implementation strategy and then put it into action. The implementation strategy should include onboarding all internal users and stakeholders of the new system. You should also advise your suppliers about the new AP system and process and provide training, if necessary, on intersecting with it. This is also the time to make adjustments as needed to ensure the efficient performance of the automated AP system. This entire process is made much easier when you partner with an automated AP solution provider.
Track your new AP system’s performance
Once your new system is operating, use the automated AP system’s software to quantify improvements on the benchmarks established during the AP audit phase. You can also use the information to fine-tune the system for maximum performance. Carry out these reviews regularly to identify and solve any inefficiencies that may arise down the road.
Of course, your success with your paperless accounts payable process depends on the service provider you choose. That’s where Ash Conversions International can help with robust business solutions that are a perfect fit for your organization.
ACI’s Solutions to Help Convert Your AP to a Paperless System
For over 40 years, ACI has specialized in transforming how companies run their daily business processes with efficient, cost-effective solutions, including accounts payable automation.
As experienced accounts payable solution providers, our team of automation experts helps you at every step of the way, walking your team through the implementation step-by-step to have you up and running in as little as 30 days.
Our AP Assistant™ solution provides complete end-to-end AP automation that eliminates manual AP processes and reduces operational costs. AP Assistant processes invoices automatically using optical character recognition (OCR) technology, reducing the processing time by up to 17 days.
Invoice data files are securely stored in FileManager™, ACI’s secure, cloud-based document management platform that enables real-time remote visibility into your AP system. All of our systems interface easily with your ERP platform, increasing the overall efficiency of your business while making AP processing more effortless than ever.
Contact us today to learn more about how ACI’s invoice imaging and AP automation services can help make your business more profitable.
