Even with eInvoicing solutions becoming more commonplace within the enterprise today, there is still a significant amount of paper and PDF invoices being submitted by suppliers. In fact, the average company still receives the majority of its invoices manually (i.e., paper, PDF, fax). These invoice formats require manual data entry and are generally inefficient from a processing perspective. However, if these manual invoices are put through a scan and capture process which extracts invoice data and converts it into a digital format and then processed using an automated workflow solution, efficiencies are gained and visibility is improved among many other benefits.
Here is a brief re-cap on Data Capture and Workflow solutions:
Data Capture – Using the scanned image of an invoice, a data capture solution uses OCR (optical character recognition) and self-learning algorithms to conduct document classification, separation, and data extraction. This process converts data into a digital format which can then be processed more effectively and used to gain more intelligence around AP activities.
Automated Workflow – The ability to route invoices for approval is critical for improving efficiency within the AP process. Routing and approval workflow solutions allow organizations to establish business rules to manage the approval process for both PO and non PO-based invoices. PO-based invoices that are validated and match all of the pre-configured business rules can be processed “straight-through” without any human intervention and scheduled for payment. If there are exceptions that need to managed, they are routed to the appropriate users for resolution.
Below are two global solution providers that have already had success in the AP market and are expanding their presence in the US market over 2014. I wanted to provide a brief overview of these companies (who I recently received briefings and demos from) and a very high-level overview of their capabilities, these are two providers to watch this year.
Top Image Systems
Top Image Systems™ Ltd (TIS™) is a global provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions. The company was founded in 1991 and is publicly company traded on NASDAQ (TISA) and the TASE (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange). The company has offices in Germany, UK, US, Latin America, Singapore and Japan with local representatives across Europe and the Pacific Rim.
The TIS offering for AP includes both data capture and workflow solutions but also offers additional capabilities including a supplier portal and reporting dashboard. The TIS capture solution offers advanced recognition capabilities that identifies and extracts invoice data from paper or PDF without the need for templates. In order to achieve a high level of accuracy, TIS combines different OCR technologies taking advantage of various strengths within each. Additionally, the solution is also able to ingest EDI/XML invoices and include them within the same workflow.
The workflow solution offered by TIS enables automated routing and approval of non-PO invoices and automated validation and matching of PO-based invoices. (Note: TIS also offers a PO processing solution). Additionally, as part of the workflow solutions users have the ability to create business rules to reduce exceptions and improve processing efficiency.
Medius Group
Medius is a Swedish software solution provider founded in 2001 with than 200 employees working out of offices in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, UK, France, Netherlands, Poland, USA, Malaysia and Australia. Medius has approximately 1300 customers across the globe. The company has been present in the US market for the last couple of years with plans to expand their presence over 2014. I had a chance to meet a few of the Medius folks here in the New York office. The Medius solution caters to both mid-sized companies as well as large and the cloud-based solution can be used on various mobile devices.
Overall the company offers a competitive workflow solution for processing PO and non-PO invoices. (Note – solution providers that compete in the Scandinavian market have to offer strong capabilities in order to be successful due to the maturity of the market. For example, it not uncommon for companies to compare the number of clicks it takes to code an invoice.) The solution includes interesting capabilities such as a ‘link’ feature which allows the user to ‘link’ an invoice to a contract for example. The rules engine is sophisticated and flexible allowing for 3 and 4-way matching and line-item matching, for example, a user can create a rule that triggers an exception if the word ‘freight’ appears on an invoice and if the freight amount is over $10. Using Medius allows for automated validation, matching and ultimately straight-through processing of invoices.
Medius also offers a Procurement workflow solution (which includes the ability create and approve of PO’s) and a Contract Management solution (stores contract information and enables contract data to be matched to invoices).
