Ricoh explores six reasons why you should consider automating accounts payable and how to find the right implementation partner

We asked John Chambers of Director - IT, Communication & Business Process Services Ricoh UK to explain the principle benefits of automating your accounts payable and demonstrate how you can reduce costs by as much as 80%.

Enterprise organisations achieve several proven benefits by automating their accounts payable, these are; 

• Dramatically reduces costs: 71% of organisations maintain a fully manual accounts payable process. The savings costs gained by moving to an automated process can be as much as 80%. Enabling organisations to allocate this expenditure into other areas.
• Reduces processing time: 70% of time is typically spent trying to reconcile invoices and as many as 62% of organisations experience inaccuracies. So a reduction in manual intervention means fewer errors, emails and phone calls. Resulting in a time saving of up to 95%.
• Limits fraud: Replacing manual intervention with automation makes fraud much less likely, and greatly reduces the pool of potential suspects, should fraud occur. 
• Scope for scalability: The potential to scale up, or potentially down, is unlimited and comes with a minimal cost implication, plus it avoids the financial implications of hiring, training or layoffs.
• Real-time data visibility: Automation brings accurate and timely data by digitising all physical invoices and simultaneously updating records, budgets and forecast projections.
• Improved cash management: As data updates in real time, cash management becomes more accurate, meaning you know the exact cash position, what’s still owed, and the ability to confidently embark on new financial opportunities.

All of these are major advantages over the time-consuming and clunky manual systems that many companies have traditionally employed.

John continued

The questions you should be asking when automating accounts payable

There are many software solutions available that promise the efficiencies of a digital accounts payable system. Who are the companies behind these solutions though? It is always worth digging a little deeper to establish the answers to a number of important questions. Consider the following questions:

• What is the history and background of the company in question? Locating an experienced and larger accounts payable partner will provide many benefits. Not only will they have the scale and resources required, they will also have knowledge gained across many industries and a depth of experience.
• What experience does the company have in this field? You want a supplier that doesn’t just say it understands your business needs, but has shown that it can understand and meet such needs over many years and for many customers. A proven track record in financial IT should be a key requirement.
• What capabilities does the supplier have in terms of support and training? This will be important both during the initial scoping and implementation stages, and also on an ongoing basis, as you use the accounts payable system. An experienced partner with real scale should have existing solutions in place for support and training. Indeed many have dedicated change management solutions as part of their service offering.
• What is the culture of the prospective partner like? Companies approach the market in different ways. Some adopt an aggressive sales-based approach; others look to be more consultative and are keen to get to grips with your specific requirements. This should become apparent when speaking with a sales rep, plus it should also be reflected in your entire experience with the partner.

Hear from Ricoh CFO, Rachel Stokes on the importance of accounts payable