Expand the role of AI in your AP process from the very beginning—with Basware SmartPDF

Watch our on-demand webinar in partnership with Executive Leaders Network, ELN, as Peter Dorrington (ELN), Newsha Neishaboory (RSM), and Basware’s Kevin Zirkle discuss the evolving landscape of accounts payable (AP), and how artificial intelligence (AI) can help your business drive accuracy, speed and control in invoice handling – boosting your efficiency and ROI.

AI in the personal and professional spheres

No longer a futuristic concept; AI, including Machine Learning (ML) and Generative AI is becoming increasingly woven into the fabric of our day-to-day and professional lives—transforming the way we interact with technology and perform routine tasks.

AI-powered virtual assistants, such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant help us manage our schedules and control smart home devices. Generative AI tools including ChatGPT provide instant and increasingly accurate responses to all kinds of queries.  And AI recommendation systems on Netflix, Amazon, TikTok and many other platforms, curate ever-ending content and products based on our preferences and browsing history, creating a personalized user experience.

Professionally, we know that AI can help us automate repetitive tasks, enhance our decision-making processes, and improve efficiency. AI tools can analyze large data sets to identify trends and insights and forecast market trends. And AI chatbots can provide instant customer support.

But how can you harness the power of AI to enhance efficiency, accuracy and user control across your AP function—all while driving ROI? Let’s start at the very beginning…

Automate your invoice capture/invoice ingestion

One key place AI can make a huge difference across your AP process is at the invoice capture or invoice ingestion phase.

In North America, almost 60% of companies say invoices arrive to them in non-digital formats, with the predominant format being PDF. In the past, this meant completing manual data extraction on each invoice, wasting time, and increasing margin for error. Today, however, Basware SmartPDF and its advanced AI capabilities, can help you.

5 ways Basware SmartPDF’s AI will improve your AP process

1. Enhance efficiency: With SmartPDF, you’ll easily identify and accurately extract invoice data, significantly reducing manual data entry and enhancing processing efficiency and achieving automation rates exceeding 92%. And this is not only for machine generated, machine readable PDF invoices, but also for image-based PDF, for instance when a small business takes a photograph, converts to PDF and then emails it to you.
2. Improve accuracy: By removing manual data extraction, you’ll eliminate the inevitable human errors that comes with this repetitive task. The model is pre-trained using extensive data sets, so you’ll see immediate enhanced accuracy and efficiency from day one of implementation. But the most powerful thing about AI is its ability to learn. The more SmartPDF’s AI system sees, hears and listens – the more it learns.

   The quality of your extracted data is assessed through confidence level calculations, and when data quality falls below a certain threshold, manual validation is prompted. These manual corrections feed back into the system, further training the AI model and leading to continuous improvements in data quality.

3. Empower your team: By automating repetitive, mundane and time-consuming tasks, you’ll free up time for your AP team to focus their efforts on more strategic, high-value jobs that further your business goals.
4. Ensure compliance: When it seems like tax regulations are ever-changing, it’s never been more important to ensure your data is captured and recorded accurately. SmartPDF’s advanced AI technology facilitates easier compliance with regulatory requirements, while enhancing your peace of mind.
5. Enhance supplier collaboration: What’s the number one way to enhance supplier relationships? Timely, accurate payment for goods and services. SmartPDF will speed up processing of invoices, allowing exactly this.

See how SmartPDF AI instant learning transformed financial operations at Billerud a global leader in the high-performance paper and packaging materials.

Keen to learn more about how SmartPDF can advance your AP function? Watch our on-demand webinar.