NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Many accounts payable (AP) departments remain overrun by paper and burdened by manual invoice processing according to a new survey report issued today by Canon Business Process Services. Both elements increase inefficiency and the potential for errors and late payments. For these organizations, outsourcing invoice imaging and indexing and automating invoice approval and exceptions workflows represent significant opportunities to advance their AP function.
The Canon survey, “2014 Accounts Payable Optimization Study” was designed to investigate steps AP departments are taking to eliminate inefficient paper processes, determine their biggest challenges in processing invoices and highlight some of the solutions AP professionals are considering in order to drive higher performance. In one key finding, despite the growth of document imaging and electronic invoicing, most organizations (nearly two-thirds of survey respondents) still manually handle the vast majority invoices that arrive as paper documents, fax documents or email attachments.
In addition to manually processing paper invoices, two-thirds of respondents also indicate that less than 10 percent of their suppliers submit invoices electronically so that no manual handling is required for input into the organization’s ERP system. These findings raise the following question: with so much paper being manually processed and so few suppliers submitting invoices electronically, how can AP departments begin to decrease paper usage, increase processing efficiency and contain costs?
Ending the “Paper Chase”
One answer is to end the “paper chase” by outsourcing—particularly the “receipt-to-ERP” phase of invoice processing that surveyed executives indicate cause their department a major pain. It’s a phase that comprises such activities as receiving paper (or paper equivalent) invoices via mail, fax and email attachments and converting the information into ERP-formatted data. This stage also includes prepping, scanning, indexing and extracting data from the invoices.
Because the receipt-to-ERP phase is an acknowledged pain that requires data conversion, special expertise and technology, survey respondents agree on a prime solution: outsource it. A majority of surveyed executives specified that the receipt-to-ERP process (particularly invoice imaging, indexing and data entry) is the number one activity that they are most interested in outsourcing.
Canon’s survey spotlights other potential outsourcing solutions that include working with a service provider to automate invoice “pre-approval validation” activities as well as the “approval and exception processing” phase of AP workflow. Outsourcing all three phases, the survey report points out, can ultimately create a more efficient, lower-cost AP function than if one or two of the phases were managed internally.
For additional insights contained in Canon’s latest survey report and other key industry trends visit Canon Business Process Services AP.
About Canon Business Process Services
Canon Business Process Services, Inc. is a leading provider of managed services and technology that enable organizations to improve operational efficiency while reducing risk and cost. Experts apply quality management principles and tools such as Six Sigma to advance performance to a higher level. The company offers services including BPO, imaging, records and information management, print, mail and eDiscovery, and is an IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 Leader in 2014 for the eighth consecutive year. Based in New York City, Canon Business Process Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc. Learn more at www.cbps.canon.com and follow us on Twitter.
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