Many businesses can benefit from AP automation. Think of the accounts payable person in your life (or, if you don’t know one personally, just imagine them). Their desk can look like a cyclone disturbed the file cabinets; papers piled or strewn about everywhere. Depending on the business, it can cost anywhere from $2 to $10 per invoice to process it, if you consider the amount of time it takes to manage the paperwork.
What’s the solution? AP automation, which can dramatically shorten the amount of time and effort it takes to manage the accounts payable paperwork. Here’s how AP automation can benefit your business.
Streamline Core AP Business Functions
Software such as ALTEC DocLink can help you streamline core AP functions through AP automation. Consider the following common scenarios in an accounting office:
- A manager stops by the AP person’s desk to ask if an invoice has been paid. The AP manager must stop what they’re working on to look up the invoice, which can take a few minutes depending on where in the payables process it is.
- The approving manager is at a trade show for four days. During this time, a stack of invoices piles up on their desk waiting for signature. In the meantime, a few vendors are becoming anxious, asking if the check is in the mail. Meanwhile, the document still awaits the manager’s approval.
- Each evening, the accounting office staff pauses fifteen minutes before quitting time to manually file the mountains of paperwork that have accumulated during the day. An entire wall of file cabinets contains a full fiscal year’s worth of paid invoices.
These three scenarios alone are clear indications of:
- Wasted time
- Wasted money
- Wasted effort
With AP automation using software such as DocLink, each of these situations would look quite different.
- Instead of asking the AP person for assistance, the manager can log into DocLink and look up the invoice on their own. They can view on the screen where the invoice stands in the payment process and make any necessary notes.
- The approving manager receives notification from DocLink that invoices are waiting for approval. They can log into the system via an internet connection, review the invoices, and approve them daily, thus avoiding a backlog of approvals and ensuring the accounts payable document flow remains steady and unimpeded.
- The accounting team can move the excess file cabinets into storage, or give them to charity, because they won’t be needed. Instead, all files are kept on the cloud, with DocLink providing access to anyone who needs the files. Paperwork can be automatically routed. Tedious data entry is eliminated, and workers gain another 15 minutes of productivity daily. That may not sound like much, but over the course of a 5-day workweek it adds up to one hour and 15 minutes per employee of added productivity.
DocLink Integrates Easily with Business Systems
Another plus of adding DocLink to your workplace is the ease with which is integrates with your business systems. It’s made to work with a wide range of common productivity and ERP applications, providing you with a fast ramp-up to a truly paperless office.
AP automation doesn’t have to be a far-off dream. You can make it happen with DocLink. If your office struggles to tame its mountains of paper, or your accounting team is spending too much time filing and manually adding data to the accounting system, consider adding DocLink to your business applications.
Emerald TC
Emerald TC provides software and consulting for companies seeking to improve their productivity and solve common business problems. We can help you choose the right accounting software, ERP system, payroll, or other software for your needs. Contact us or call 678-456-6919 for more information.