[Editor’s Note: Ardent Partners recently published its Accounts Payable-themed report, “Accounts Payable 2022: Big Trends and Predictions”. Over the next few weeks, this site will feature articles highlighting the key discussion points from the report.
The third year of the new decade begins much as last year did: with great uncertainty and a global pandemic that will not fade. COVID-19 appears to be something that must be dealt with for the foreseeable future. As such, 2022 will see the business world continuing to operate in a new and yet, seemingly similar, ‘new normal’ that will be driven by new realities, new ideas, accelerated digital transformation, and new leadership. Here are Ardent Partners’ top predictions for the year.
The global pandemic over the past two years has helped highlight the critical importance of the AP function to ensure business continuity and an organizations overall well-being. Overlooked by many for years, the importance of an automated and well-run AP department was on display for all finance and enterprise executives, as well as suppliers to see.
Big Trend – AP’s Growing Impact
Over the past two years, the AP function has been put in the spotlight and asked to deliver like never before. Work from home mandates, a new and expanded remote workforce, increased demands for AP reporting and data analytics, amplified focus on payment terms and timing, and automating paper-based and manual processes, were some of the many responsibilities thrust upon AP. By and large, AP organizations responded strongly and they faced pressures at hand. Many AP teams, in fact, came out stronger than before with higher levels of automation and greater levels of stakeholder engagement and respect.
This past year, according to Ardent Partners’ research, a full 89% of organizations indicated that AP is ‘valuable’ to the organization with 67% describing that value as ‘exceptional’ or ‘very.’ The idea that AP is becoming more strategically valuable dialogue has been percolating within the walls of business for the past several years as more finance, treasury, and procurement executives have been able to view first-hand the impact that AP can deliver to their departments and to the greater organization. This remains a newer phenomenon, as most organizations are just beginning to realize the impact that AP can deliver. AP’s momentum continues to build as more AP departments continue to transform and be viewed as a value-adding strategic function that can play a critical role in an overall company’s success.
Big Trend – More Enterprises Accelerate AP’s Digital Transformation
Work from home mandates, hybrid staffing models, and managing a distributed workforce has forced many AP organizations to confront head-on the challenges of maintaining business continuity with no (or outdated) technology and manually-intensive processes. The issues with manual processes could not have been more apparent and obvious to finance executives and other AP stakeholders during the pandemic when many AP workers were designated as essential employees and required to go to their offices to literally sort mail and look for and process incoming paper invoices. This work included manually entering invoice data into their systems and determining how to route invoices for approval to a newly distributed workforce. The need to pay suppliers is critical to business continuity. Taking unnecessary risks to open snail mail should not be.
Make sure to check back over the coming weeks as we share more Accounts Payable BIG Trends and Predictions for 2022.
