Key Features to Look for in AP Software

Automating your accounts payable solutions can be challenging. Understanding what questions to ask during the selection process will help you understand the essential components of a solution. In this article, we will explain the key considerations that you have to look for in the solution.

End-to-End or point solutions—which is better?

Invoice capture, approval, payment authorization, and execution are the four steps involved in the AP process. Some AP solutions can automate the invoice capture process but do not automate the routing process or vice-versa. These kinds of solutions are termed “point solutions” and can streamline specific aspects of AP.

On the other hand, end-to-end solutions are those that streamline every aspect of accounts payable, allowing invoices and other associated data to flow from one step to another. They streamline transitions between various processes, which in turn reduces the costs associated with AP processing. End-to-end solutions provide real-time visibility into the status of every invoice and payment. Having all invoices on one centralized platform makes it easy to locate invoices upon request and keeps your vendors informed about the payment status. This transparency improves relationships with vendors and plays a crucial role in delivering products and services.

Integration

Integrating with existing solutions can help increase efficiency, improve payment time, and provide controls that mitigate fraud risk. Choose a solution that not only integrates with existing processes but also streamlines the entire accounts payable process.

Today, AP solutions should be:

• Seamlessly integrated with ERP

• Allow the free and continuous flow of data between the systems.

Direct payments

Gaining visibility and control over the status of each payment is essential, and you don’t have to oversee bulk debit transactions. Choosing a solution with such integration can help you save time while maintaining payment transparency.

Features

Investing in an accounts payable solution requires you to consider some key functions. You should choose an end-to-end solution, not a point solution.

Let’s take a look at some of the key features:

Invoice capture and approval

Automation streamlines various processes such as capturing, coding and gathering approvals. Once the invoice is imported, the data is automatically captured and routed to the approver based on the predefined rules.

Duplicate invoices

Eliminate paying the same invoice twice by detecting data redundancies in invoices at the time of approval.

PO matching

Automatically match invoices to POs so you don’t have to check the documents for data discrepancies manually.

Payment schedule

The AP department doesn’t have to manually track payment deadlines and discounts, as they are automatically scheduled for payments. AP managers can now schedule payments and optimize cash flow while eliminating the fees from late payments.

Auditing

Access approval details of every invoice as they get centralized and stored in a single repository. This will not only restrict employees from attempting fraudulent activity but also provide required documentation during audits.

These are the key features that redefine accounts payable automation and its capabilities. Investing in a solution with the features mentioned above will improve your team’s efficiency.

Implementation & Support

How fast can the implementation be done? Do your AP and other teams adapt to the solution? How is your telephone support? These are some of the best questions to ask vendors. The best accounts payable solution providers can roll out an end-to-end solution that can easily integrate with existing applications.

You have to understand how the deployment will be done. Vendors should offer ongoing training to help your staff understand how best to use the solution. Your service provider should give you the option to access support anywhere, anytime through phone, email, or chat. Also, having a knowledge base portal can help you find answers to questions with ease. Evaluate the technical capabilities of your vendor and the impact of integrating AP with IT systems.

Automation

Taking the best approach and choosing an end-to-end solution can help businesses benefit from the highest levels of efficiency, flexibility, and security.

SutiAP will not just automate the complete AP workflow but also help you with the following:

• It saves time normally spent manually entering the information.

• Automatic invoice-PO match

• Automatically routes invoices for approval.

• Easy access to multiple payment methods

• Simplified payment authorization

• Real-time access to invoice data

• invoice log for easy audit trails.

Besides these, SutiAP will be there at every step of the implementation and provide the support you need to adapt to your changing business needs.