January 27, 2023

A strong relationship with the value chain is essential for achieving good business results and staying competitive. One of the points of friction between companies and suppliers arises from managing invoices to be paid: poorly prepared or lost documents, inadequate controls over payments made, invoices processed late and rejected close to the payment date…

The application of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) to invoice processing eliminates all these issues entirely.

This is one of the areas with the most global experience in terms of automation and fully data-driven processes, so there is usually no risk in implementation, while, on the contrary, the benefits are immediately evident.

One of the great advantages of automating invoice processing lies in the quick return of value, which in turn provides an additional benefit that is often overlooked: automating the processing of one area immediately energizes other sectors of the company that interact with it.

Can Invoice Management Be Automated?

Invoice management is a process that can be automated end-to-end. This means that human intervention is minimal, and efficiency in results is optimal.

Nothing is left to chance in supplier payment management. Monitoring of received invoices is streamlined (currently, most arrive in digital format or are easily digitizable, but the large volume of paper invoices still in circulation remains a real pain for businesses), their processing or the extraction of key data like amount or supplier name (this aspect requires integration with machine learning tools).

Invoices are also compared against purchase orders and the arrival of goods or the provision of services requested to confirm the data is correct, detect and eliminate duplicates, or distribute all relevant data to bank reconciliation systems, accounting, and tax systems. The process continues until the payment is made to settle the document or generate the reimbursement of internal expenses.

The systems can automatically detect when an invoice is nearing its due date and take the necessary actions: sending a push notification to the finance department or, directly, activating the payment in the management systems.

Benefits of Automating Invoice Payments

The benefits of automating supplier payment management range from a reduction in the cost of processing invoices to the near elimination of errors through cross-verification with other systems or databases, as well as a greater focus from historical department managers on value-added tasks for the organization: personalized interaction with suppliers, negotiating better terms based on good payment behavior, improving the value chain processes, or identifying alternative suppliers.

With the right alerts, it is possible to capitalize on early payment discounts offered by some suppliers and avoid penalties for late payments imposed by others. Even when there are no rewards or penalties, paying on time ensures a good relationship, reduces supplier complaints (which also requires human resources to handle them), and, of course, ensures on-time deliveries.

In an era where customer experience and satisfaction are key topics, RPA applied to supplier payment management not only improves management, generates savings, and increases productivity but also—and perhaps most importantly—enhances experience and satisfaction across the supply chain.