Invoice Processing is a crucial process for any business regardless of industry. In fact, accounts payable issues can actually sink a company if left unattended. Did you know that even some of the top companies are still manually keying in 42 % of their invoices? Performing this task manually is extremely time-consuming and has a high risk of human error.
A Look at The Numbers
Companies that still use manual data entry take an average of over 10 days for invoice processing. Fully automated companies take 3.9 days on average to process and approve an invoice.
Aside from time, with manual processing cost-per-invoice is almost $16 – manual processing can cost companies a lot of money. The cost-per-invoice gets higher and higher as the time frame for processing an invoice increases.
Such delays could result in falling behind on payment deadlines, and could also damage your relationships with vendors.
With manual entry, a company can typically 1000 invoices per month. An automated system increases this number exponentially. Considering these numbers, it makes a lot of sense for organizations to upgrade to an automated system for their invoice processing.
AI for Invoice Processing
There are many advantages to leveraging AI for invoice processing. Such applications are:
- Fully automated
- Scalable
- Cost-effective
- Highly accurate
Here are some of the other ways how AI can drive better invoice processing:
Catching Invoice Fraud
According to a recent study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) invoice fraud is just one of several occupational fraud schemes that costs companies nearly $7 billion in 2018 alone. Invoice fraud occurs when scammers are able to identify and successfully exploit the weak points within a company’s AP process. False invoices, inflated invoice, invoice scams are few of the types of invoice scam.
AI-powered software significantly increases visibility as there is a centralized place for receipt of bills. Intelligent rules-based automation can detect fraudulent data and spot errors faster, preventing fraud.
Improving the Invoice to Cash Process
With systems that lack automation, there is often a lack of visibility as the invoice is processed. AI can track and manage invoices, so anyone with access to the system will know exactly what is going on with an invoice and what steps need to be taken to collect it. Additionally, the program will allow you to track the success and failure of the internal processes so that it can be tweaked for optimal results.
Automatic Account Reconciliation
The inefficiency of manual matching often causes delays in the reconciliation process, which results in a lot of cash left idle in organizations. Having a large sum of unallocated cash also makes it difficult to identify which of the open receivables are actually overdue, and which have already been settled by the customer but not yet allocated. With more efficient reconciliation, a company can avoid sending unnecessary reminder letters and dunning. An automated, AI-powered application can provide instant transparency and automate many tasks for greater efficiency.
If you’re interested in intelligent, automated invoice processing that utilizes reliable, efficient, AI-driven technology that can handle the task, Rapid Acceleration Partners AI can help you. Our AI application for invoice processing makes the process smooth, cost-effective and hassle-free. Please book a demo to explore how RAPFlow and RAPBot can transform your business.
