Getting rid of the office paper is worth while May 24, 2007
Posted by Jani Kaskinen in : Market trends , trackback
We can’t just talk the talk, we also have to walk the walk. That’s certainly the case when it comes to complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Companies may feel good to have compliance policies on paper, but if the policies can’t be enforced, what good are they? Probably worth as much as the paper they’re written on. Combining technology with the policies you’ve put in place addresses these concerns by enforcing agreed-upon rules.
Technology not only helps companies achieve compliance, visibility, accuracy and internal controls, but there are spillover benefits as well. For example, automation cuts on the tremendous amount of paper invoices generated by companies all over the world, every year. We are lucky not to be buried alive by piles of our own office paper! When you consider all the trees that need to be cut down and the impact on global warming, the idea of reducing paper is not just good business - it’s good for us all.
And then there’s a real dollars and cents advantage to automating invoicing and purchasing processes. Imagine the cost savings you can drive with more efficient processes. Aberdeen Group estimates cost savings from automating invoice processing alone can reach from 40-60 %. Then consider what employees can do with their time if they don’t need to manually input invoices. All kinds of things can happen. They can focus on strategic issues – which invoices to pay first, how to collect early payment discounts, etc. All of a sudden information is visible and available to business units. Information on cash flow, spend analysis. They can make better decisions based on real-time information. Supplier relationships are improved because vendors are being paid on time.
You see where I’m going here. By freeing up the time of your AP staff, they can do great things. By providing visibility into your system, better decisions can be made. Knowledge is power, and you have the ability to positively impact your business in ways you may not even have thought of.