In 2022, we know that teams work most effectively in highly collaborative, engaging environments with clear goals and the tools to execute –which rings true for both in-office and remote environments.
Imagine having in-depth experience in finance and accountancy, strong educational background, and intimate knowledge of your organization's financial structure and operations.
You know exactly where the company could reduce costs; you even know how to present this information from a strategic and tactical perspective. But you can't, not because you need more technical knowledge or skill, but because you are assigned to manual scanning and reconciling invoices which takes up most of your work day.
This scenario probably sounds all too familiar. But, as backward as it seems, it is true that countless AP teams continue to struggle through these old-aged processes and challenges.
Staying Competitive: Why Winning Finance Leaders Avoid Scanning
In the past, management put barcodes on invoices to improve the tracking and visibility of the accounts payable and accounts receivable process. The invoice barcode would connect the invoice to the respective customer. An accountant can scan the invoice barcode to ensure they credit the correct account or perform AP debits.
While this may have worked historically, surely there are better uses for a seasoned accountant's time. Finance and accounting teams are waiting for the day that leadership no longer relies on them to do tasks they know technology can do better and faster. Accountants don’t want to spend hours on performing 2 and 3-way matches or trying to make sense of unstructured data sets.
Manual work simply isn't fun to do day in and day out, and it is one of the fastest ways to burn out and disengage from work.
Letting Go of Lagging Accounting Systems
Considering the turbulence of the market and the risks of global talent shortages, it is essential to ensure that the objective of the finance function aligns with that of the CEO. We are confident that manual processes and slow-to-move decision-making are hard no's for the C-suite.
According to The Gartner 2022, CEO Survey, the business priorities for CEOs in 2022 and 2023 are cost management, digital transformation, and corporate culture.
With these issues being top areas for improvement, the CEO looks to the CFO and their teams to execute strategies that drive these areas in the right direction. When looking at these objectives, it boils down to "...technology and analytics. Respondents believe they need to increase the use of technology and analytics to improve customer retention and acquisition, increase operational capacity, and direct employee effort and organizational resources to where they will be most useful." Gartner says.
For 92% of CFOs, this directive led them to increase investment in technology to replace manual processes with powerful automation that allows their finance staff to do more despite limited time and headcount.
Increasing Speed in the Accounts Payable Department
Thanks to machine learning and artificial intelligence, finance leaders can streamline traditionally manual processes like invoice capture, digitization, reconciliation, and payments with little to no manual intervention.
AI for Accounts Payables offers significant benefits that align with the objectives being set by the C-suite, like:
- Releasing staff from manual work and opening opportunities for high-level activities specific to the organization's unique business goals.
- Immediate access to digitized data for real-time strategic planning and analysis.
- Reduced processing times and costs to support transitioning the accounts payable from a cost to a value center.
As business processes become increasingly digital, it is concerning when organizations continue to rely heavily on manual finance processes or dated systems. CFOs and finance directors are battling top-down pressures, and the last thing delivering value to your organization is manual invoice processing and reconciliation.
The answer to your next cost-reduction initiative or revenue-generating project is likely sitting in the accounting staff's strategic and critical thinking capabilities. If you want to uplevel your AP function and stay competitive in 2022, it is time to drop barcode scanning and invest in a solution that will deliver cost and time savings.
Ready to ditch manual processes and reclaim your accountant's workday? Schedule a demo with an OpenEnvoy expert today; visit https://openenvoy.com/contact-us/
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