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Palette Software has published an insider’s guide to accounts payable automation. The paper discusses various approaches companies take in automating their AP department, and how those approaches compare.
Despite a plethora of accounts payable (AP) automation tools, email and paper still dominate the North American market, with 80% to 90% of invoices received via one of those two mediums. Many companies are still committed to paper processes, a practice that results in wasted time, lost invoices, inefficient approval processes and an inability to work virtually.
According to Gartner, extra work caused by human error in finance departments could be reduced by up to 30% annually by deploying robotic process automation (RPA). Only 30% of finance departments have taken advantage of this technology, according to the report.
Fragmented finance systems, deeply entrenched error-prone manual processes, and high employee turnover results in increasing the cost, complexity, and audit concerns for already overwhelmed AP departments.
The challenge is exacerbated by globalization. Global companies require the normalization of core business operations across borders, while remaining flexible enough to meet local requirements. Any new business solutions must include currency, language, and tax regulation functionality that contributes to seamless purchase and payment operations.
In North America, manual data entry accounts for 75% of invoice data capture, with legacy OCR technology—with limited functionality and integration capabilities—used to capture the bulk of the remaining 25%. This is another area companies where companies can boost productivity, reduce manual errors, and cut down on fraudulent practices. Capture solutions that complement the Palette approval workflow can work hand in hand to create a “touchless” invoice accounts payable environment.
Palette’s white paper explores the various business models for AP software companies and how their specific approach works. It includes in-house and offshore methods for creating approval workflows, software platforms that offer a toolkit, and SaaS solutions like Palette that are a hybrid SaaS solution.
“Hybrid SaaS solutions offer the best of both worlds with both speed and flexibility,” said Michael Cichy, Palette Software, “as they provide immediate access to most of the required functionality, while providing a platform easily tailored to meet unique requirements of every accounts payable department.”
Palette AP automation is designed and built by AP professionals for AP departments and speaks the language of accounts payable. Invoice capture, invoice processing, PO matching, and audit and archive functions reflect best practices in a flexible, SaaS model.
The white paper, The Insider’s Guide to AP Automation, is available for download:
https://www.palettesoftware.com/whitepaper/insiders-guide-to-ap-automation-software/
About Palette Software
Palette Software is a market-leading vendor of financial process automation for domestic and global corporations. Palette solutions automate the connecting and matching of purchase orders, invoices and contracts, on-premise or in the cloud. Customers experience significant and measurable cost savings, productivity gains and operational excellence. Palette solutions are GDPR compliant and optimize financial management for more than 4,000 customers in 50+ countries. With 25 years of experience, Palette and its partners offer automation solutions for organizations of all sizes worldwide.
palettesoftware.com
Release ID: 88964948