A Webinar presented by Image Processing Systems and PayStream Advisors on challenges, opportunities and success factors in automating the approval of accounts payable, substituting digital workflow for manual, paper-based processes.
1. Keys to Success in AP
Automation
Presenters
Henry Ijams – PayStream Advisors
Greg Bartels - IPS
2. Agenda
• Current State in AP
• Challenges/Barriers
• Managed Invoice Processing
• IPS Overview
3. Henry Ijams
Henry Ijams, CAPP/APM
Managing Director
PayStream Advisors, Inc.
Mr. Ijams' 28 years of experience focuses on trends and technologies in financial
operations automation including strategies regarding the automation and
benchmarking of Purchasing and Payables processes.
Through PayStream Advisors, Mr. Ijams consults with domestic and international
organizations that want to take advantage of leading practices and automation
solutions.
Greg Bartels
President & CEO
IPS
Mr. Bartels has been in the field of electronic imaging, document management, OCR,
AP processing and electronic health records (EHR) for more than 25 years. Mr. Bartels
is a board member and former President of the NJ Chapter of AIIM International
(International Enterprise Content Management Association), and has built his career
on directing document management, invoice automation and vital records projects for
blue-chip companies, healthcare systems and large government organizations
throughout the U.S.
About the Speakers
Greg Bartels
4. PayStream’s AP Survey
PayStream’s Q4 2012 Electronic Invoice Survey of over 300 account
payable and procurement professionals at U.S. based enterprises
revealed strong opportunity in AP Automation.
Key Insights:
AP professionals are actively exploring invoice solutions with the
goals:
• Reduced processing costs, increased visibility
• Increased on-time payments and capture of supplier discounts
• Improved vendor satisfaction
• Fewer duplicate invoices
• Reduction in exceptions and discrepancies
5. Methods Used to Trade
B2B Invoices
Electronic invoicing
increases as invoices
traded via paper
continue
to decline.
6. AP Challenges
• You can’t control the vendor
• You can’t dictate to other
departments
• You can’t justify large capital
investments in AP
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7. Top Barriers to AP Solutions
Lack of budget ranked
as the top barrier to
imaging solutions
8. Top AP Benchmarking Items
Metric Laggards
Average processing time from
invoice receipt to approval
32 days
% of Payments Made
Electronically
Zero
Percentage of invoices received
electronically
3%
Percentage of invoices with
discrepancies
25%
Percentage of discounts captured 18%
Mainstream Innovators
23 days 5 days
18% 85%
9% 32%
16% 4%
40% 75%
9. What Can You Do?
• Focus on what you do control
and work within that…
– The technology you already have
– The processes you use today
– The current budget
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10. Managed Invoice
Processing
PayStream Definition: A third party company receives and processes
invoices; opens mail, scans or translates invoice information into
actionable data.
• Get rid of paper invoices to focus on value added work
• Improve and automate your invoice processing
• Move to 100% paperless invoicing day 1
• Add greater scalability to scanning processes
• Adopt best practices in capture and validation
• Enable automated matching
Benefits:
11. AP automation myths
Concerns of long ago are now unfounded:
• Presumed lack of budget
– Out of the box invoice automation are are affordable, even
for smaller organizations. Upfront costs for an invoice
automation are low.
• Concern for low ROI
– Majority of the customers who have deployed invoice
solutions see the benefits of quicker approval processes and
lower invoice processing costs.
12. Why Automated Workflow?
• Static electronic invoice isn’t much better than a paper
one.
• True value of paperless lies in how successful companies
are at assimilating invoice data into accounting systems
and management workflows.
• Integration yields best ROI
15. Assessing where you are
today
• What are your current costs?
– You need to understand your current cost of doing business
• Document the facts & figures (metrics)
– Determine the right project(s) for you
– Help you prioritize those projects
– Build your case
• Learn how to communicate AP to the Steering Committee
– Executives may not understand what you do but they understand statistics
– Measure the success of your changes
• What do the Stakeholders care about?
– Know your audience
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22. Takeaways
• You don’t need to control the vendor.
• You don’t need to dictate to other departments.
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• You don’t need to
make large capital
investments in AP.
23. How to Get Started
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Stakeholders Resources IT Support