Lack of visibility into invoices and documents is sited in 45% of cases as the leading driver for change by companies looking at reducing the inefficiencies in their accounts payable departments, according to the latest research by the Aberdeen Group published in their report AP Invoice Management In a Networked Economy. (May 2012)

The best in class companies in the Aberdeen report found that their costs were just 20% of the laggard companies for invoice processing and it took just 25% of the time.

Top actions taken by best in class companies are:

• that they invested in technology that enabled the automation of invoice receipt and workflow processes
• they integrated this technology into their ERP systems.
• Taking these actions ensured that these best in class companies had the capability to manage a centralised invoice management process, match purchase invoices with purchase orders, receipts and contract documentation.

The two main technologies adopted by best in class companies are:

• Electronic approval workflow
• Image repository for invoice archival

Interestingly Scott Pezza from the Aberdeen Group found that one of the challenges facing best in class companies was the level of collaboration available internally between finance and purchasing departments with substantial improvement needed in these areas to catch up with the top two technologies.

For any company wanting to destroy inefficiency in accounts payable processing this document is worth reading as it demonstrates clearly the technology, actions and capabilities that major companies who perform as best in class within the study are all taking.

Aberdeen’s research shows that the core functionality available within PaperLess Software is consistent with the technology choices that best in class companies are using.

Organisations that implement PaperLess can benefit from:

• Electronic approval workflow
• Image repository for invoice archival
• Integration with ERPs system
• Collaboration between different departments
• Secure remote access to centralised server