Daniel Yergin, the Pulitzer-prize winning author, speaker, energy expert, and economic historian once said that “people always underestimate the impact of technology.” One group not taking anything for granted are the ‘Best-in-Class’ performers in the world of accounts payable. Ardent Partners defines ‘Best-in-Class’ performance in our research reports as the 20% of enterprises with the lowest average invoice processing costs and shortest average invoice process cycle times. Perhaps the most critical attribute of the Best-in-Class AP function is their ability to leverage technology, automation, and innovation to drive value, lower costs, increase productivity, help manage risk, and improve cash management.
As reported in Ardent Partner’s State of Accounts Payable 2020 market research report, Best-in-Class AP teams set themselves apart from others in their adoption of technology. The ePayables automation market is a multi-faceted arena, which includes diverse types of solutions for invoice sending, approval, and payment. Highlighted below are three key areas (invoicing, B2B payments, and complete P2P solutions) where the ‘Best-in-Class’ exhibit a distinct technology adoption advantage:
eInvoicing (68%) – Leading organizations long ago realized the disadvantages of receiving paper invoices from suppliers and have taken major strides to eliminate them from the process. To this end, ‘Best-in-Class’ AP groups are over 2x more likely to have eInvoicing in place. These solutions allow top-performing organizations to streamline both buying, invoicing, payment, and reconciliation processes are interconnected in such a way that improves total spend management and financial visibility.
ePayments (64%) – ePayments represent the current focus for many AP teams as well as the next wave of AP innovation. B2B payments can no longer be overlooked. There is inherent value in automating payment management. ‘Best-in-Class’ organizations are over 200% more likely than all others to leverage ePayments.
Complete procure-to-pay (P2P) automation (59%) – There is, and always will be, a transactional link between procurement and finance. P2P automation ensures that the buying, invoicing, payment, and reconciliation processes are interconnected in such a way that improves total spend management and financial visibility. ‘Best-in-Class’ organizations are over twice as likely as all others to leverage complete P2P technology.
The evidence is clear: the organizations that leverage technology to automate the AP process perform better and deliver greater value. What is also obvious is that automating the core processes of the ePayables Framework can open up new doors of opportunity for the AP function to move on from the tactical endeavors of the past and present. The AP teams that achieve automation can then turn their focus to higher-level activities, such as capturing and sharing intelligence and data that can enhance AP, stakeholder, and enterprise performance. ‘Best-in-Class’ organizations have shown what can be achieved when AP performs to its full potential.
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