The Essential Guide to AP Automation

The pace of business is faster than ever, and your customers, partners, vendors, and employees have increasingly high expectations. When they have questions, they want answers – immediately – so they can navigate the decisive moments that help move business forward. To take advantage of those moments, people need reliable data and insights into business spending, budgets, forecasts, and cash flow. Is your manual process for managing vendor invoices and payments able to deliver the level of visibility they need? 

During a typical day in Accounts Payable (AP), you’ll hear these questions asked with regularity. Think of them as the three Ws of invoice management. Can your team answer them in nearly real time? 

• Where is that invoice? 
• When can we expect payment? 
• What is our cash position? 

All too often, companies lack a comprehensive view of their overall vendor invoices and payments, preventing them from answering the three Ws. Consequently, finance and accounting staff spend as much time chasing down answers as they do on their regular work. 

Dig into the reasons why you can’t easily answer the three Ws and you’ll find multiple opportunities to improve your invoice management efficiency. Manual tasks, bottlenecks, and errors give way to faster payments, improved cash flow, and optimized profitability. 

Download this eBook to explore the three Ws – plus a fourth one gaining new importance for businesses – and the ways automation for business can help you reach the state of always having answers at your fingertips.