Why Should You Automate Your Invoice Management?

Automation has become a well-known buzzword used to define the use of technology to automatically carry out tasks with minimal human intervention. The invoice management process is no exception. Here there are plenty of opportunities for automation.

TL;DRAutomating invoice management delivers six measurable benefits: faster processing, fewer errors, reduced costs, better employee working conditions, greater scalability, and improved decision-making through real-time data. Acubiz outlines a four-step implementation path, from digitalizing invoice receipt through to ERP integration, with the final step capable of reducing invoice processing time by up to 70%.

Advantages of Automated Invoice Management

In this blog post, we take a closer look at the benefits you can gain by automating your invoice management and offer our best advice on where to start if you intend to implement it in your company.

Here are 6 advantages of automated invoice management:

1. Increases Efficiency & Saves Time: Slow and inefficient processes cost your company time and money. With automation of the invoice process, repetitive tasks can be performed quickly and efficiently with the use of artificial intelligence, thereby increasing speed and optimising the workflow.
2. Fewer Errors & Greater Accuracy: Manual work will always involve a risk of human error. Automation of the invoice process significantly reduces this risk while increasing the accuracy and quality of the work. 
3. Reduces Costs: Investing in the automation of your invoice process is an investment in your company’s future. Despite the implementation costs of the invoice management solution, automation can achieve noticeable long-term savings due to increased productivity in your invoice management.
4. Better Working Conditions: By allowing automation to handle routine tasks, your employees are freed up to focus on more meaningful tasks in your company.
5. Scalability and Flexibility: Automation makes it easier for your company to continuously adapt operations to changes in demand without significant logistical or financial challenges. Whether you receive 5 or 100 invoices, automation ensures that the process continues to run efficiently and smoothly.
6. Better Decisions: Automated data collection and analysis provide you with quick access to valuable real-time insights, enabling you to make better decisions.

Where Do I Start with Automation?

There is no doubt that you can achieve many valuable benefits through the automation of your invoice management. In short, the implementation process looks like this:

Step 1: Digitalisation and automation of the invoice receipt.

Step 2: Automation of the validation and approval process to create a better flow.

Step 3: Automation of the booking and matching of invoices, reducing processing time by up to 70%.

Step 4: Integration with ERP- and financial systems ensures a seamless flow and real-time updates.

Step 5: Through continuous evaluation and optimisation, you can achieve an automation level of 90%+.

Want to know more? Read our blog post on how to automate your invoice processing here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main advantages of automating the invoice management process?

The post identifies six: increased efficiency and time savings by eliminating slow manual steps; greater accuracy and fewer errors by removing manual keying; cost reduction through long-term productivity gains; better working conditions for employees freed from routine tasks; scalability so the process handles five or 500 invoices with equal efficiency; and better decisions through real-time data insights.

How much can automation reduce invoice processing time?

According to the post, automating the booking and matching step of invoice processing can reduce processing time by up to 70%. This is typically the most time-intensive manual step, involving matching invoices to purchase orders, coding to the correct accounts, and entering data into the finance system.

What are the four steps to automating invoice management?

Step one is digitalizing invoice receipt, eliminating paper and PDF entry. Step two is automating validation and approval workflows. Step three is automating booking and matching with the purchase order, which is where the largest time reduction occurs. Step four is full integration with ERP and financial systems to ensure the automated process runs end to end without manual intervention.

Where should a company start when planning invoice automation?

Start with the invoice receipt step: ensure all invoices arrive in a digital format, ideally EHF, and that an OCR or AI layer reads and extracts the data automatically. This single change eliminates manual data entry, which is the most error-prone and time-consuming part of the process, and creates the foundation for the subsequent automation steps.