Time to Rethink: Accounts Payable and Invoice Automation for the Age of AI, Compliance, Risk and ESG

Welcome to this next instalment in our series exploring Basware's own journey towards 100% Touchless, 100% Compliant and 100% Protected Accounts Payable and Invoice Automation. In this second instalment, I will dive deeper into both the ‘why’, and the ‘why now’ it’s the time for finance leaders and teams to Rethink Invoice Automation, profoundly. And to start leveraging this highly underutilized strategic asset to accelerate value creation for all stakeholders and constituents equally and fairly.

Now, the world around us is very different today compared with even just a few years back. And it's no secret that finance teams are faced with more pressures than ever before. Cyclically, economic and geopolitical uncertainties, ongoing supplier chain crunch and current and future labor market considerations add to the challenges. Secularly, more long-term, the role of technology, increasing and expanding regulation as well as fraud in the digital economy give rise to concerns - yet also to opportunities - which CFOs are to address, if they are to be successful. The Office of the CFO is at the crossroads of these pressures, tasked not only with maintaining financial integrity but also driving strategic value creation.

And, it’s not only that these forces that exist but it’s also the convergence and strengthening of these short-term and long-term secular drivers concurrently that are propelling, even forcing us towards a complete Rethink when it comes to invoice automation. Traditional, manual processes can no longer keep up. Now is the time to act, as finance leaders around the world have a unique opportunity to turn invoice automation into a powerful lever for value creation and enterprise transformation. It’s time for a new Accounts Payable and Invoice Automation narrative.

Unlocking Hidden Value with Invoice Automation

An invoice is clearly the most underutilized document for transforming the CFO impact and yet, when approached holistically, invoice automation offers very clear and significant avenues for accelerated value creation:

• Quantifiable ROI: Invoice Automation offers fast time to value, efficiency improvements and hard savings. This, together with the ability to drive improvements in working capital whilst continuously improving quality of earnings, is a strong combination to respond to the tactical pressures of short-term P&L and Cash Flow management.
• Supplier Satisfaction: In the post pandemic world, the power dynamics between suppliers and customers have changed for good. Through Invoice Automation, you ensure you pay your suppliers on time and provide proper supplier self-service. All of which is targeted at eliminating the non-value add interactions from your supplier relationships, and allowing you to develop the partnerships needed to succeed in today’s fast-changing business environment.
• Employee Engagement and Workforce Evolution: By eliminating mundane tasks, automation allows finance teams to focus on more strategic, high-value activities. Think of it as giving your team superpowers – suddenly, they’re solving complex problems instead of battling spreadsheets. With 77% of CFOs thinking about talent engagement amid a skills shortage, empowerment will be critical in attracting, retaining and developing the right team.
• Laying the Foundation for AI and Enterprise Transformation: Invoice Automation done right creates a structured foundation for AI and ML applications, offering up the ability to drive innovation across the enterprise. It’s not just about today’s efficiency: it’s about future-proofing your business, based on having the right data and the relevant technologies at hand to use appropriately, to be ready for whatever disruption hits next.
• Compliance and Regulation: Invoice Automation ensures compliance with minimal effort, adapting to changing regulations and audit requirements, and keeping you compliant. The evolution in this space is not about to slow down anytime soon, it will actually accelerate, so let the technology work hard for you and prevent you from slowing down and being non-compliant.
• Fraud Prevention and Cash Protection: In today’s digital economy, it is a fact that there are a lot of operators out there who look to exploit even the smallest of opportunities to capitalize on processes and systems which are not protected appropriately against fraud. Having these fraud prevention capabilities is not a nice-to-have – it’s business critical and a must. And yet, the current metrics for understanding payment fraud shows a very low level of awareness, readiness and capability across enterprises. Enhanced, automated, real time, AI-based controls greatly reduce the risk of fraud and keep your stakeholders safe.

The Path Forward: A Call to Action 

Accounts Payable and Invoice Automation offers great potential to accelerate enterprise value creation, for all stakeholders fairly and equally. The convergence and strengthening of both the short-term - as well as long-term - secular trends are making this potential and opportunity more significant than ever before. The time to act is now, to place a greatly stronger focus on invoice as value creation engine.