Achieve your New Year’s resolutions with more efficient invoice processing
It’s that time of year again. We all want to start fresh, eat healthier, exercise more and spend more time with the family… The key is to focus on the one New Year’s resolution that can help you gain the time you need for all of the above: be more efficient at work.
Easier said than done you may think. But in this blog post I want to share with you a couple of hands-on tips on how you can make your work life a bit easier by implementing a few tactics in your AP invoice process. Small things that can have a large effect.
3 tactics that will help you be more efficient at work (and achieve your New Year’s resolutions too)
1. Study and understand your AP process data
Take some time to look at the data generated by your invoice automation solution. Identify which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you need to measure, for example:- Total invoice processing lead time
- Touchless ratio per organization and per supplier
- Lead time per process step
- Lead time per user/approver
As a next step you should compare your performance to relevant benchmarks to understand how you stack up with industry peers and where there is the most room for improvement.
2. Identify the bottlenecks and get to the source of the issue
Now, let’s see if you can identify some patterns in your data.- Are invoices from certain suppliers always getting stuck in the process because invoice information does not match up with the purchase order data?
- Do some managers always lag behind with invoice approvals, constantly causing late payments to suppliers?
- Are there issues with purchase order-based invoices not matching up because the ERP data is not updated by buyers or the purchase organization?
TALK TO THEM! Explain why this is important and that the entire organization, as well as your suppliers, will benefit from a faster and more accurate process.
3. Train users in self service
If you’re in accounts payable you probably spend a lot of your time answering questions or reminding your colleagues from other parts of the organization about things like…- Has my supplier’s invoice been paid yet?
- What is the correct coding for this type of spend?
- How much did this supplier charge last month?
With a modern and user-friendly AP invoice automation solution, you should not have to deal with all of these questions. The information is available in the solution for all users to access as easily as any Google search. Plus, nowadays everything is available in your smartphone so being on the road or working from home is no excuse.
Once you are done with these "quick wins" I recommend that you shift to a long-term focus and set a strategy for continuous improvement of your AP invoice process. Start by watching our webinar: Benchmark your AP invoice processing efficiency and feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
