An Ardent Partners study of more than 200 accounts payable (AP) and finance executives found that only 24% of invoice processes were fully automated. Among the respondents, 60% characterized their invoice processes as “somewhat automated.”
When it came to invoice receipt processes, the numbers were even less encouraging — 17% said their processes were fully automated, compared to 62% that were classified as “somewhat automated.”
That’s a common struggle in AP departments, which too often are bogged down by high volumes of paper and manual work that negatively affect the bottom line.
Organizations that fully automate their AP processes increase efficiency, visibility and control — often transforming AP departments from cost centers into profit centers.
AP automation: By the numbers
Ardent Partners’ study showed that the average cost to process an invoice was $9.40. The figure, which includes labor, overhead, technology and other factors, is $6.62 higher than the norm for organizations that were deemed “best in class.” The best-in-class AP departments spent an average of $2.78 to process an invoice —70% below the norm.
Best-in-class organizations had a norm of 3.1 days to process an invoice. The AP departments that didn’t fit into that category needed 17.4 days per invoice — a staggering increase of 461%.
The research also found that best-in-class AP departments had a touchless processing rate that was 2.1 times higher — 49.2%, compared to 23.4% for other organizations.
10 things to consider when automating global invoice processing What to look for in an AP solution — and what's at risk if you don't automate
This Institute of Finance & Management (IOFM) whitepaper breaks down why automation is essential for global AP teams. It explores the benefits of modernizing, the risks of standing still, common pain points, what to look for in a solution and how one multinational organization transformed its end-to-end invoice processing.
Top benefits of AP automation
In addition to cost and time savings, organizations that automate their AP processes end-to-end:
Improve efficiency and accuracy
Streamline routing and approval processes
Reduce the risk of fraud
Enhance visibility into cash position and cash flow
Reduce the number of late payments and penalties, as well as inquiries from vendors
Improve control and vendor relationships
Our AP and AR staff have grown accustomed to using OnBase. That’s what’s saving them time. They love it compared to what we used to do. It makes life a lot easier.”
Automating AP with Hyland
Hyland offers an end-to-end AP automation solution that is built on our enterprise-class Hyland OnBase™ solution.
The solution leverages intelligent data capture and workflow automation to capture paper and electronic invoices and extract necessary information. Users can quickly access invoices and supporting content, as well as make decisions, from the applications and devices they work in every day, minimizing training. Workflows automatically route documents and information to appropriate business units, perform two- or three-way matching and post to accounting applications — notifying stakeholders along the way.
This increases visibility into processes and real-time data, and improves control and tracking by ensuring consistent record-keeping.
Hyland IDP for AP Invoices
This solution delivers cloud‑native, AI‑driven intelligent document processing (IDP) that modernizes invoice capture and validation, providing a strong intelligent capture foundation of Hyland’s AP automation solution.
Built on the Hyland Content Innovation Cloud™, Hyland IDP for AP Invoices replaces legacy capture tools with a modern solution designed to reduce manual data entry, minimize exceptions and accelerate invoice throughput, without disrupting existing Hyland investments.
The solution integrates with Hyland AP workflows and ERP systems such as Workday and Deltek, enabling invoices and extracted data to move seamlessly from capture to review, approval and posting.
It’s designed as a practical first step in AP automation. Customers can modernize invoice capture and validation independently, then expand automation capabilities as business needs evolve.
Hyland delivers agentic document processing at scale
Rexel Canada, a longtime Hyland customer, achieved invoice indexing accuracy approaching 100% within 48 hours of its deployment. Utilizing Hyland’s agentic document processing capabilities, Rexel eliminated the need for manual validation on invoices and significantly reduced its processing times.
Hyland Agentic GL Coding
If your organization is looking to further reduce the manual effort associated with non‑PO invoices, Hyland IDP for AP Invoices can be expanded with Hyland Agentic GL Coding.
The solution:
Uses AI agents to recommend GL codes for non‑PO invoices
Learns from historical data and user corrections
Improves consistency and speeds invoice approvals
Hyland Agentic GL Coding is available as a standalone solution or as part of the Hyland AP Automation bundle, enabling customers to advance from invoice capture to agent‑driven AP automation at their own pace.
There’s a lot better ability for management to observe what’s going on in AP. They can just go into OnBase and look. They can see if an invoice has been paid or not, and they can get some statistics about the turnaround time and the average pay time for invoices.
How we can produce a seven-figure ROI
Hyland evaluated the AP processes of a major operator with hundreds of chains in the U.S.
The analysis showed that the company’s current cost per invoice was $8.81. By automating its AP processes with Hyland, it was estimated that the company’s average spend per invoice would be $2.43 — a 72% savings.
The company’s average invoices per FTE per day was 20.17. With Hyland’s end-to-end AP automation, it was estimated that the production would increase 268%, to 74.24.
The five-year total benefit and return on investment: an estimated $4,112,120.
(The estimated five-year total savings was based on anecdotal information gathered from customer-supplied documentation, meetings and onsite interviews. Assumptions include demonstrated averages based on key benchmarks and industry reports, as well as historical experience and knowledge deploying Hyland solutions. Validity of calculations is dependent upon the accuracy and completeness of information provided by the customer.)
Process improvements with Hyland
Data capture
Scenario: All invoice header and line-item data is manually keyed by staff.
Opportunity to improve: Implementing Hyland intelligent capture technologies can provide OCR data extraction from invoices, significantly reducing the number of keystrokes performed by AP staff.
Approval routing
Scenario: Routing and approvals aren’t automated and require several manual steps by AP staff and other contributors.
Opportunity to improve: Hyland’s workflow approval manager will assist in streamlining and automating the approval processes.
Invoice exception resolutions
Scenario: Staff incurs longer processing times and/or rework in posting invoices due to exceptions that aren’t discovered until they attempt to post them.
Opportunity to improve: Workflow capabilities will allow for automated validation, routing exceptions to those who need to review or research the information, allowing for quicker resolutions with less effort.
ERP integration
Scenario: AP staff manually posts data to the ERP for every transaction.
Opportunity to improve: A full ERP integration removes this step from the process.
Data validation issues
Scenario: Any processing and approval performed before posting to the ERP lacks the ability to compare invoice data to accounting data in the ERP system.
Opportunity to improve: With a Hyland integration, ERP data can be leveraged in all phases, including data capture and quality assurance, routing, approvals and exception handling.
Paper processes
Scenario: Remote locations are forwarding paper-based invoices to a central AP location for processing.
Opportunity to improve: A distributed document capture of invoices reduces the time invoices spend in transit and cuts down on any associated costs.
A Hyland analysis showed that a major operator could significantly reduce its costs per invoice
The projected increase in the company’s average invoice per FTE per day
The estimated five-year ROI for the company
Take the next step with AP automation
For many companies, the cost to process an invoice is going up. And while leaders say AP is very important to their organization, their actions might say otherwise.
If your AP department is struggling with manual processes that impact cash flow and vendor relationships, it’s time to get on the fast track with AP automation.
The savings can be substantial, and the ROI can extend well beyond the financial impact.
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