Shared Services and AP Automation: Top Challenges and Solutions

Accounts payable automation promises significant efficiency gains and cost savings, yet many organizations struggle to realize these benefits. From integration complexities to change management hurdles, AP automation challenges can derail even well-planned implementations.

Understanding these obstacles—and how to overcome them—is essential for finance leaders looking to modernize their AP processes. In this guide, Basware's Senior Global Business Advisor shares insights on the four most common AP automation challenges and actionable solutions based on real customer experiences.

Key takeaways

• AP automation delivers measurable ROI when common implementation pitfalls are addressed proactively
•   Integration with existing ERP systems and legacy platforms is critical for success
• Change management and stakeholder buy-in prevent costly resistance during rollout
• Global compliance requirements demand partnering with experienced automation providers
• E-invoicing and digital workflows are becoming mandatory, not optional, across industries

What’s the problem?

As Brendan explains in the video below, AP and finance are ripe with inefficiencies. How do we solve this problem? Take a look at this video to find out more about giving spend visibility back to the organisation, reducing costs and improving productivity and efficiency. You’ll also hear why people should be optimistic about the future of invoice automation.

Why is it AP automation important?

You can throw human resources at challenges, but all you’re doing is hiding inefficient processes. But what if you could streamline accounts payable processes and get full visibility so that the only manual touches required take place when dealing with exceptions? Find out how to drive other initiatives with the money saved from early payment discounts in this next video as Brendan explains how to harmonise data and systems, automate processes and save your organisation time (and money) to get to an e-invoicing utopia.

A path forward

Once you’ve decided that e-invoicing is the way forward, the next step is to improve the processes you already have. It’s about receiving invoices in the most seamless way and getting 100% data visibility, matching back to completed goods receipts and streamlining workflows. Why not go even further and use AI and machine learning to automatically code invoices? It’s possible when you use a platform to drive better visibility in analytics, as this video explains.

Adding the complexity of global regulations…

Things become even more challenging when you have to take an entire world’s worth of finance and invoice legislation into account, as Brendan demonstrates in this video. The good news is that Basware partners with a slew of local and international players, including KPMG and Ernst & Young, to make sure we have solutions across the globe to fit your specific needs to centralise and harmonise the invoice processes. Whether you need real-time invoicing to local tax authorities or paper processing where it makes sense, Basware can help. Watch this video to discover how countries around the world are dealing with global compliance and PEPPOL.

Lastly: why paper and OCR are dead

Our customers want real-time, real-quality data. Paper just doesn’t cut it any more. Government-mandated changes were already reducing a global carbon footprint and turning towards e-invoicing standards like PEPPOL before COVID hit. Now e-invoicing is really the only route forward. Take a look at this video to see what electronic data formats people are using and how one of our clients has celebrated ‘going green’ in style.

5 Reasons why AP automation projects fail (and how to avoid them)

While AP automation delivers significant benefits, not every implementation succeeds. Understanding the common pitfalls that cause automation projects to underperform—or fail entirely—helps organizations make smarter decisions and avoid costly mistakes. Here are the five most critical failure points and how Basware helps clients navigate them successfully.

1. Choosing the wrong automation solution for your business complexity: Many organizations select AP automation platforms based on price or brand recognition without evaluating whether the solution matches their specific operational complexity. A platform designed for simple, high-volume invoice processing may struggle with multi-entity organizations, complex approval workflows, or diverse invoice formats. Basware's enterprise-grade platform is built to handle complexity at scale, supporting everything from three-way matching to customized approval hierarchies across global operations, ensuring the solution grows with your business rather than constraining it.
2. Underestimating the importance of vendor and supplier onboarding: AP automation requires supplier cooperation, yet many implementations fail because vendors aren't properly engaged in the transition to electronic invoicing. Resistance from suppliers who prefer traditional invoicing methods can create bottlenecks that undermine automation benefits. Basware takes a proactive approach to supplier enablement, offering comprehensive onboarding support and working with your vendor network to ensure smooth adoption of e-invoicing standards like PEPPOL, reducing friction and accelerating time-to-value.
3. Overlooking data quality and invoice format inconsistencies: Automation systems depend on clean, structured data, but real-world invoices arrive in countless formats—from PDFs to paper to structured electronic formats. Solutions that rely heavily on optical character recognition (OCR) often struggle with non-standard layouts, leading to manual intervention that defeats the purpose of automation. Basware's platform goes beyond traditional OCR, leveraging AI and machine learning to intelligently extract data from any invoice format while continuously improving accuracy, eliminating the manual touches that plague other systems.
4. Insufficient training and change management support: Even the most sophisticated automation platform fails without proper user adoption. Organizations often underinvest in training and change management, assuming the technology will speak for itself. The result is confused users, workarounds that bypass the system, and eventual abandonment of the platform. Basware provides dedicated implementation support and ongoing training resources, ensuring your team understands not just how to use the system, but how automation transforms their daily workflows for the better.
5. Lack of clear success metrics and ongoing optimization: Many AP automation projects lack defined success criteria, making it impossible to measure ROI or identify areas for improvement. Without baseline metrics and regular performance reviews, organizations miss opportunities to optimize workflows and maximize the platform's capabilities. Basware delivers real-time analytics and visibility into key performance indicators like processing costs per invoice, approval cycle times, and early payment discount capture, empowering finance leaders to continuously refine their AP operations and demonstrate measurable business value.