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Deliver Results, Not the Mail: The ROI of Automated Invoice Workflow

As an AP manager, the term “workflow” can almost seem oxymoronic: all of the work prevents any kind of flow.

In the life cycle of a single invoice, you might play several roles. First, you’re “capturing” the invoice data, which is far less exciting than it sounds. You’re not nabbing a suspect or caging an escaped zoo animal (though maybe it feels as if you’re wrangling a wild gorilla at times). No, you’re capturing data, and precision is the name of the game.

You’re then validating that invoice and your captured data against a purchase order to ensure it is accurate. That complete, you route the invoice to be coded properly or you code it yourself.

Then comes the approval process. This might require that you mail the invoice to someone else in another location for approval, or that you physically track that person down in your office. So, here's the problem that might sound all too familiar - the invoice needs to be paid, and the person who needs to sign off on it is nowhere to be found as you roam the halls clutching a sheet of paper.

At this point, that gorilla might seem a more preferable adversary. You are no longer operating as the AP guru that you are, but as a glorified mail carrier.

Don’t get us wrong: mail carriers are lovely people, but as an AP professional you want to deliver results – not the mail. The easiest way to deliver these results is by implementing an automated invoice workflow that eliminates steps in the process that unnecessarily consume time and money.

Automated Invoice Workflow

As you can see above, AvidXchange’s accounts payable automation process gets rid of the manual steps involved in a typical invoice workflow. We scan the invoices in digitally for you to see in your customized portal, through which the invoice is automatically routed to the appropriate person.

Note, though, that you are still entrusted with the critical steps of coding, approving and promoting the invoice to your general ledger. These are the steps that truly require supervision and are worthy of your time; by automating, you are granted more control and a greater visibility of your entire AP process. Best of all, these steps will be integrated seamlessly into your existing accounting system.

You will be spending less time on manual tasks and more time creating efficiencies and improving your processes. Instead of entering data and roaming the halls, maybe this means you are using time previously spent punching in data by negotiating contracts or capturing vendor discounts.

And that’s the true ROI of an automated invoice workflow: when you start delivering the results instead of the mail.

To calculate the ROI you can experience from implementing an automated invoice workflow solution, try our free ROI Calculator.

by AvidXchange

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