The rapid evolvement of technology, the increasing consumer demand, and the escalating competition between businesses have complicated the functioning of the companies. With costs rising every day and time consummation on workload mounting up, people are looking for ways to automate the manual data entry processes.
Accounts Payable or AP automation is one such method where the extraction of invoice data take place.
Why is AP automation important in financial services?
The financial sectors are currently facing the following challenges:
- Legacy systems which are hard copy intensive
- Escalation of costs when manually entering data
- Approval process delays due to absence of mobility feature
- Lack of visibility & control of the invoice process
AP automation aims to address these questions and guard the productivity the financial services.
Listed below are reasons why you should use AP automation in financial services.
1. Improves visibility and transparency
Lack of proper visibility in the Accounts Payable process can deteriorate the trust with the service providers. Especially in the financial services, it is important to safeguard your efficiency to maintain healthy and profitable relationships.
AP automation can capture transaction data and correspondence across the process which increases the visibility and transparency of the transaction processes. It allows employees, stakeholders, and service providers to gain visibility of the status of the invoices of the outstanding payments and purchases.
AP automation can store extracted data on cloud storage so that account teams of your financial service company and service providers can have access to it at anytime, anywhere. And they are able to modify, review, and analyze the invoice data effortlessly.
Moreover, AP automation allows the following features to enhance the visibility of the process:
- Creating financial reports
- Real-time transaction monitoring
- Tracking the flow of cash
- Providing insight for strategic partnerships with suppliers by using deep analytics
- Monitoring invoice status, purchases, etc.
2. Saves Time
The efficiency of the financial services depends on time. Therefore, time management is vital when it comes to the Accounts Payable process.
Traditionally, the Accounts Payable process was done manually where the invoices and bills would lay around on the desks for days without being entered into the database. It devours much time, leaves the employees exhausted, and is prone to error. This can be a huge drawback to the steady flow of your financial services. AP automation seeks to set a period for tardiness.
AP automation can enter data, match invoices, and code them swiftly without human interference, and cuts off the slowness. The staff can save their time and use it more efficiently for the growth of their services.
3. Accurate and efficient
The traditional method of manual AP process not only consumes time but can be erroneous as well. Manual AP processes can result in entering wrong figures, duplicating statistics, and contradictions. This can put the accuracy of the transactions at stake. Financial services cannot haggle with these inconveniences.
AP automation can reduce these errors by 99% as the automation solutions are designed to catch duplicate payments, track common errors like inconsistencies, and allows to match invoices saving the accuracy level of the process.
Furthermore, the efficiency you gained by AP automation can help you to attract more clients and business partners, and cultivate better relationships with the vendors.
4. Tackles labor shortages and reduces additional costs
Manual Accounts Payable process is not only tiring but needs human resources to enter data as well. This can be challenging due to labor shortages, plus it results in high employee payments.
AP automation addresses this issue by offering software that can easily extract data, enter data, and store them. With this, you can save your resources and time and use them more productively for the betterment of your services.
It can be cost-effective as it reduces paperwork and saves the money spent on paper and delivery processes. Therefore, automating the Accounts Payable process can cut off errors and improve the quality of your services.
5. Maintains productivity
The AP automation software is capable of invoice processing the moment the financial services receive them. It simplifies the tedious process of entering data without human interference. It helps to maintain the streamline of services of your company. This creates a positive impact on the development of your company as well as enhances the relationship between your clients and vendors.
How can ELIPO help you?
ELIPO is a product of PEOL Technologies that helps you to automate your manual invoice process. ELIPO seeks to bridge the gap between you and your vendors by assisting you with invoice processing procedures while ensuring visibility, accuracy, productivity, and save your time.
Email us at [email protected] for more information.
