On a Journey to 100% Automated, 100% Compliant and 100% Protected Invoice Processes

Behind the Scenes of our own Invoice Lifecycle Management Journey   

Welcome to the third chapter of our series exploring Basware’s journey to 100% touchless, compliant, and protected invoicing.  

Since launching the series in April 2024 with ‘From the Office of the CFO: The Path to Touchless Invoice Processing’,  I’ve explored why transparency, reflection and shared experience matter, and  why now is the time to rethink Invoice Automation. In this next instalment, I’ll take you behind the scenes to show how we’re making it all happen – and what it means for you. 

By tackling the same challenges our customers face, we’re not just talking about value, we’re leading the way in realizing value for businesses through Invoice Lifecycle Management.  

Leading by Example 

We lead by example, mastering our own Invoice Lifecycle Management to set the gold standard. By proving its power in-house, we want to inspire our customers to join the journey towards a world where invoices are fully automated, compliant, and protected. 

At Basware, we don’t just advocate for invoice automation, compliance and protection, we live it. We’re committed to solving the same pain points in our own Invoice Lifecycle Management Operations our customers face. Our goal is simple: to create a world where invoices flow seamlessly, with maximum efficiency, full control and zero surprises, every time.  

But more than that, we aim to unlock meaningful value for the enterprise – delivering quantifiable ROI, strengthening supplier relationships, empowering finance teams, laying the groundwork for AI-driven transformation, managing compliance and risk and preventing fraud. For today’s CFO, Invoice Lifecycle Management is not just a process improvement, it’s a strategic lever for long-term enterprise value creation. 

Our Progress So Far

Since Q2 2024, we’ve made significant strides and while we’re encouraged by this progress, we also recognize that there is still room for improvement  

• Association Rate: As of March 2025, nearly 90% of invoices were successfully associated with POs and Spend Plans – providing a strong foundation for automation.   
• Touchless Match Rate: We reached a good rate of 77% in March 2025, marking a solid performance that we know can be improved further.
• Touchless Rate: On track to mid-40s% in April 2025. 
• Compliant Invoices: We successfully went live with the German e-invoicing mandate, marking another milestone in our ongoing journey toward achieving 100% invoice compliance across all regions. 
• Protected Invoices: In addition to meeting country-specific compliance mandates, we're focused on enhancing invoice security. As part of this, we’ve implemented our own solution, AP Protect, designed to prevent overpayments and detect potential error and fraud - not only for current and future payments, but also by running an analysis on past transactions to identify and recover any duplicate payments. 

Full Automation, Compliance and Protection is Not an Overnight Achievement 

Full invoice automation, compliance and protection takes time. We’re refining our approach and overcoming challenges along the way. Here’s how we’re doing it, starting with the why: 

• Define the target and value we aim to create: Every transformation begins with a clear North Star. For us, long-term vision is about reaching 100% touchless, 100% compliant and 100% protected invoice processing. And it’s about unlocking enterprise-wide value. We’ve defined the impact we want to achieve for the business and for the CFO: quantified, targeted ROI, operationalizing end to end invoice compliance, protecting every invoice transaction, and improved finance employee engagement. This clarity shapes every decision that follows.  
• Resource alignment: In every transformation, ensuring the right expertise and focus is essential to success. We’ve been strategically aligning our resources to drive this transformation forward, ensuring we have the right teams and skills in place to scale our automation efforts effectively. Make no mistake – this takes time. 
• Change management: Achieving full automation isn’t just about getting the right technology in place – it’s about making sure our internal processes, workflows, and supplier relationships are set up to fully support it. Continually and actively working to improve these foundational elements will ensure systems and people are ready to scale efforts. 

These are ongoing steps, and just as our customers are on their own paths to automation, we’re walking alongside them, leading by example.    

The Action Plan 

At Basware, we don’t stand still. Where we are today is not where we’ll be tomorrow. Our internal target is clear: improve touchless automation to 80% by year end. With our North Star vision clearly defined, here’s how we’ll make it happen: 

1. Communicate the Why and Reinforce the Vision: We continuously anchor our transformation around a clear North Star: achieving 100% automated, 100% compliant, and 100% protected invoice processes. This vision guides every step we take and reinforces the value we aim to create – not just for our finance function, but for the enterprise as a whole.  
2. Leverage Insights to Guide Action: Improvement starts with clarity. That’s why we use the same powerful analytical tools our customers rely on – including BasBoost and Insights, driven by our V360 methodology – to pinpoint gaps, track performance trends, and prioritize the actions that will deliver the biggest impact. Recently, our AP Team worked together with Customer Success to get up to full speed with the NEW Basware Insights PRO – quickly identifying which reports would highlight the gaps and guide targeted action. 
3. Invest in Continuous Optimization: We’re committed to driving long-term success, not just one-off implementations. That’s why we invest in a structured, ongoing cadence between our AP team and the Customer Success team, supported by all Basware functions – from solution experts and consulting, to product specialists – as needed. This collaborative approach ensures continuous improvement, fast issue resolution, and steady progress towards the goal of full automation, compliance and protection. For instance, the team holds regular weekly/monthly meetings, involving relevant stakeholders depending on the actions required or decisions to be made, ensuring priorities are aligned and that progress is on track.  
4. Optimize the Solution we Already Have: We’re closing the gap between what the Basware solution is capable of and how we are using our own solution by changing the way we work, reconfiguring workflows and strengthening cross-functional collaboration. We’ve enhanced operations, for example, by leveraging the solution to allow us to automatically transfer our invoices from our AP automation solution to our ERP.  
5. Drive Process Change and Engage Suppliers: We’re not just improving processes – we're making bold changes to unlock automation at scale. That means tightening internal processes, aligning stakeholders, and working closely with suppliers to ensure we receive high-quality data and preferred invoice formats, every time. For example, the AP Team has adopted a stricter approach in collaborating with suppliers (in receiving good quality and complete data) and procurement specialists (in being compliant with P2P processes). The benefit? By ensuring accurate information from the start, the AP team can avoid manual work and enable smooth automation.  

Why This Matters to Our Customers  

It’s important to stress, this is our approach, and it’s what we’d encourage all our customers to consider. However, the final decision rests with you. We understand that the bigger changes may feel challenging at first – they can also be stressful and take time – but by working together, we can unlock the opportunities that lead to greater efficiencies and long-term savings on our journey to 100% automated, 100% compliant and 100% protected invoice processing. 

This isn’t only an internal transformation story: it’s a proof point. Every step we take improves our understanding of the challenges our customers face. It helps us develop our solution and our approach on how we create value for our customers, and deliver results grounded in reality.  

Invoice Automation, Compliance and Protection aren’t a flip of a switch; they are about alignment, commitment, execution and iteration. 

Ready to rethink your Invoice Lifecycle Management journey towards a world where your invoice process is 100% automated, 100% compliant and 100% protected?

If you’re facing challenges around low automation rates or are finding e-invoice mandates and compliance topics, or fraud prevention matters a tall order, you’re not alone. We’re here to help.  Connect with us to explore how Basware can support your journey to 100% Touchless, 100% Compliant and 100% Protected Invoice processes. 

Let’s uncover the hidden potential in your invoice lifecycle, together.