At Advanced, we believe unlocking accurate data enables businesses to realise their potential. Problems in your company’s invoicing function can damage your relationships with suppliers, make it impossible to trust your own data to make decisions and strategies, and hold you back from growing and excelling at the speed of your competitors.
Let information flow freely
Our Advanced Data Automation solution provides straight-through, no-touch invoice processing. It captures, extracts and validates data from email invoices with 100% accuracy, before automatically inputting it into your financial software.
Because Advanced Data Automation extracts data straight from the data layer of a PDF or other data-rich file, it doesn’t make character recognition mistakes – guaranteeing precise information, every time.
Here’s how it can solve the seven most common invoicing issues facing businesses today:
Problem #1: High operating costs
The average cost of processing an invoice manually can be very high – and only increases with errors, delays, and approval lag.
The solution:
Advanced Data Automation processes documents within minutes and with 100% accuracy, dramatically speeding up invoice processing and reducing the associated staffing costs. Fewer hours means fewer temporary staff are required, and your full-time people are free to focus on the tasks that really make a difference to your business.
Problem #2: Errors
One study found that around 25% of accounts payable time is spent on resolving problems related to invoice data entry and processing. It’s not surprising: manual document handling is prone to errors, which are usually only identified later down the line in the invoicing process – and fixing these means pulling your people away from processing other invoices.
The solution:
Advanced Data Automation extracts data straight from the data layer of a PDF, or other application-generated documents, then automatically carries out validation checks to ensure it’s captured all the relevant details. Any documents that don’t meet your predefined standards will be sent to a member of your team for review. You’re guaranteed maximum accuracy with minimum human intervention.
Problem #3: Paper invoices and mail
Handling and mailing paper invoices is a slow and laborious process, and one of the biggest reasons for delays in invoice processing. The cost – and environmental impact – of printing and sending documents, and sending your team to the post office, is likely more than you realise.
The solution:
Research has found that processing a single paper invoice can cost anywhere between £4- £25 but switching to electronic invoicing can reduce costs by as much as 60 - 80%. Advanced Data Automation brings your entire invoicing operation online, making it simple for your AP department to manage, and lowering your business’ carbon footprint.
Problem #4: Fraudulent invoices
With organisations around the world handling thousands of supplier payments every month, it’s all too common for criminals to exploit vulnerabilities in their processing. In a recent study, finance professional estimated that over £295,000 was lost to invoice fraud per business. It’s essential to identify and remove these documents from your system as soon as possible.
The solution:
Advanced Data Automation can identify fraudulent documents before they enter your business software. Our invoice fraud protection add-on service identifies suspicious files and sends them to a member of your team, who can decide how to proceed.
Because Advanced Data Automation extracts the data directly from the invoice before being processed, it is not dependent on templates or image-based comparisons, increasing accuracy and identification rates – and putting your business in control.
Problem #5: Approval lags
How long does it take your business to approve an invoice at all levels before it can be processed for payment? Complicated billing approval processes slow invoice processing – a problem that is compounded in bigger departments, with more hands for documents to pass through.
This can lead to delays in payments that deteriorate your relationships with suppliers, as well as missed opportunities like vendor discounts.
The solution:
Advanced Data Automation processes inbound invoices within minutes of receipt, giving your business much more time to work through the approvals required before payment. During implementation, Advanced works with your finance technology provider to allow you to create workflows that will direct approvals to the appropriate departments or individuals, so the right persons sees them each time.
Problem #6: Slow payments
Paying too slowly doesn’t just put your business at risk of late payment fees. A history of slow payments can also make suppliers reluctant to work with you, or even refuse transactions altogether. The reputational risks have never been higher, with the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) publicly naming businesses responsible for late payments, and social media offering the public a place to air their grievances with companies.
The solution:
Late payments are usually caused by problems in the invoicing process – not individuals. Manual processing is slow and error-prone, while fixing mistakes and getting approvals can take even longer.
Automating your document handling can help you process around 60 times more invoices each day. Advanced Data Automation can process invoices in near-real-time, enabling timely payments and better trading relationships.
Problem #7: Inability to scale
Manually processing inbound documents requires a large team to handle the workload. If your invoice processing capabilities are restricted by your team’s availability and size, your business can only scale up when you can afford to hire and train additional staff.
The solution:
Increase your productivity and lower your operating costs with Advanced Data Automation. Our solution gets it right every time, and there’s rarely the need for human intervention, so your people are free to carry out more impactful, valuable work. And your business is free to scale, with a solution that scales with you.
Talk to Advanced
Advanced Data Automation is accurate, reliable and flexible. It’s been designed to solve common invoice processing problems and provide organisations with the accurate, easily accessible data they need to succeed.
Get in touch today and discover how Advanced Data Automation can help you achieve your goals.
