How AP Automation Transforms Cost Management and Insights for Finance Leaders

As with many other departments, the role of the finance team has changed immensely over the past couple of decades. With the advent and uptake of AI, regular changes to regulations and the complexities surrounding growing businesses and communities, it can be difficult to feel like you can get ahead. Not to mention, organisations have the objectives of optimising financial processes, driving cost efficiencies, and making strategic decisions that propel organisations forward. 

However, despite these objectives, according to CPA Practice Advisor, just 10% of organisations have fully automated their accounts payable (AP) processes. Based on our own research, this number appears to be even less for organisations that use TechnologyOne, with respondents reporting only 1% of organisations have fully automated their digital processes.¹

The manual management of AP – while essential – is not only time-consuming but also prone to human error, leading to increased operational costs and missed opportunities for savings. Human error also increases reputational and compliance risk, creating a chance to optimise AP processes and cost efficiencies. As the demand for more precise and insightful financial analysis grows, the limitations of traditional AP processes become more apparent, highlighting the need for strategic decision-making and business growth.

This is where AP automation comes into play – a transformative solution that goes beyond just process efficiency. By leveraging advanced technology, AP automation can significantly reduce cost, enhance accuracy, and provide valuable customer-specific insights that empower finance teams to make informed decisions.

Current Challenges

Manual accounts payable processes are fraught with inefficiencies that can significantly impact an organisation’s bottom line. Industry benchmarks suggest the average cost to process an invoice manually is $9.87, considerably impacting the bottom line for organisations handling large volumes of invoices. This cost is driven by labour-intensive tasks, paper-based workflows and the time-consuming nature of manual data entry and approvals.

Integrating AP Automation into Your Financial Strategy

According to a recent Gartner survey, leading transformation initiatives ranks as the top priority for CFOs in 2024. This result is also reflected in a recent survey Lánluas conducted of TechnologyOne users, whereby 46% of organisations ranked process automation as their top priority in 2024.¹ As organisations increasingly prioritise agility and efficiency, the integration of Accounts Payable (AP) automation plays a pivotal role in achieving these objectives.

Implementation Tips

Implementing AP automation is a strategic decision that can transform your financial operations. To successfully integrate AP automation into your organisation, you should consider the following practical steps:

Assessment and Planning

Conduct a thorough assessment of current accounts payable processes and identify pain points that automation can address. Develop a clear implementation roadmap with defined milestones.

Vendor Selection

Choose a reputable vendor whose solution aligns with your organisation’s needs and integrates seamlessly with your existing TechnologyOne CiA or Ci Financials system.

Cross-functional Collaboration

Involve key stakeholders from finance, IT, and procurement departments early in the process. Foster collaboration to ensure goal alignment and smooth integration.

Change Management

Proactively manage change by communicating the benefits of AP automation to employees. Provide training and support to facilitate adoption, self-service and mitigate resistance.

Maximising ROI

Achieving maximum return on investment from AP automation requires ongoing strategic initiatives:

Continuous Monitoring

Regularly monitor the performance of the automation solution to identify areas for improvement and optimisation. Use analytics to track metrics such as processing times, error rates, and cost savings.

Leveraging Advanced Features 

Explore advanced features of AP automation, such as AI-powered data extraction and OCR technologies offered by market-leading AP automation solutions. These features further enhance accuracy, reduce processing time, and further streamline financial processes.

Benchmarking and Optimisation

Benchmark your AP automation performance against industry standards and best practices. Continuously optimise workflows and configurations to adapt to evolving business needs and technological advancements.

By following these implementation tips and ROI strategies, finance leaders can effectively integrate accounts payable automation into their financial strategy, driving efficiency, accuracy, and strategic decision-making capabilities within their organisations.

The Cost-Saving Potential of Accounts Payable Automation

Cost Reduction Through Automation

By reducing manual intervention, AP automation reduces errors, accelerates invoice approvals and enhances payment accuracy. This not only lowers operational costs but also improves cash flow management and vendor relationships through timely payments.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that hard – automating your AP process can transform these inefficiencies into substantial cost savings. Automation works to streamline the entire workflow and reduce costs. On average, clients of Lánluas achieve their return on investment (ROI) within 6 months. 

Read how we partnered with Warrnambool City Council to achieve their ROI below.

Enhancing Decision-Making with Supplier-Specific Analysis

Importance of Data-Driven Decisions

Now more than ever, data-driven decision-making has become essential for finance teams. The ability to leverage detailed insights from data analytics enables more informed and strategic decisions, ultimately driving organisational success. With the increasing complexity of financial management, the need for precise and actionable insights has never been greater.

Advanced Analytics Capabilities

Lánluas’ AP automation solution, Datamation™, is designed to meet these needs by offering advanced analytics capabilities. Automation can provide detailed supplier-specific analysis, enabling finance leaders to understand spending patterns, identify cost-saving opportunities, and forecast financial trends with precision. These insights help in crafting tailored financial strategies that can significantly improve an organisation’s financial health and operational efficiency.

Seamless Integration with TechnologyOne Financials

One of the standout features of Datamation^TM, Lánluas’ AP automation solution, is its seamless integration with TechnologyOne CiA and Ci Financials. This integration is designed to enhance efficiency and simplify operations, providing a centralised platform for all of your financial processes.

Enhanced Efficiency and Ease of Reporting

By integrating directly with TechnologyOne CiA or Ci Financials, our AP automation solution eliminates the need for manual data entry and cross-checking between disparate systems. This not only reduces the risk of errors but also significantly speeds up the entire accounts payable process.

With a single, integrated solution, your finance team can access real-time data and generate comprehensive reports with ease. This streamlined approach ensures that your AP processes and reporting are accurate, timely and insightful, enabling better decision-making and strategic planning.

Simplified Operations

Our customisable TechnologyOne connector integration also helps to simplify daily operations, enabling your team to focus on higher-value tasks rather than getting bogged down by routine work. 

Automated workflows and advanced data extraction capabilities mean that invoices are processed quickly and accurately, reducing delays and improving cash flow management.

Conclusion

Automating your AP processes offers substantial benefits to your organisation, including significant cost savings and enhanced capabilities for supplier-specific analysis. By automating accounts payable processes and integrating them with your TechnologyOne system, finance teams can streamline operations, reduce manual errors, and improve financial visibility.

The implementation of AP automation enhances operational efficiency and empowers finance leaders with real-time data insights that support informed decision-making and strategic planning. This strategic adoption can lead to improved financial management and better resource allocation.

Take the next step towards transforming your financial operations with Datamation^TM – an AI-powered optical character recognition (OCR) and customisable TechnologyOne connector integration solution developed by Lánluas. Explore the capabilities of our solution and discover how it can benefit your organisation. 

Contact us today to learn more about how our AP automation solution can specifically address your organisation’s needs and contribute to your growth and risk management strategy. 

Embrace the future of finance with confidence and drive business success through advanced automation technologies that seamlessly integrate with TechnologyOne and other ERP systems.

1. Independent survey of 92 TechnologyOne users in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, July 2023 ↩︎