Invoice management software will save your organization time and money by automating your accounts payable.

In this post, we’ll go through what the software does, how it automates invoice management processes and what to look out for when you’re choosing software.

What does Invoice Management Software do?

Invoice management is a critical back office function that keeps a company running. It involves the processing and approval of POs and invoices from vendors/suppliers.

Sometimes called invoice processing, invoice management steps include the receipt of an invoice from a vendor, invoice approval, payment to the supplier or vendor, and payment. Using AP best practices, invoice management can improve your bottom line, so automating invoice processing and approvals is a no-brainer.

Did you know that in 2019 the total number of invoices exchanged around the world exceeded 500 billion? 500 BILLION invoices that had to be processed, approved and paid.

In fact, you can use our invoice management software cost savings calculator to see exactly how much your company could save.

Automated Invoice Data Capture

Invoice automation begins with invoice data capture.

Capturing invoice data and invoice images are tedious tasks. No one actually enjoys spending hours a day entering invoice data into an accounting, ERP system, or even an AP automation solution. And manual invoice data capture is incredibly prone to data entry errors.

Invoice imaging isn’t a lot of fun either – although it’s a heck of a lot better than getting paper cuts filing paper invoices into folders in metal filing cabinets!

And make no mistake, the overhead involved in having staff manually capture invoice data adds up quickly. There’s salary, benefits, overhead, and equipment. And what happens when staff are sick or on leave? Bills still need to be paid!

Meanwhile, automated data entry can be expensive. Especially OCR technology. And at the end of the day OCR is only 60 to 85 percent accurate for data capture.

So if you are seeking AP invoice automation data capture that is more accurate AND cheaper than OCR then consider verified data capture.

Rather than investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in OCR technology, you can get automated and verified AP invoice data capture with accuracy rates approaching 100% with minimal upfront costs and a simple small per-invoice fee.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not!

Because whether you select our A/P One AP automation solution designed for small to midsize companies or our CoreIntegrator Enterprise solution designed for large corporations or organizations’ workflows, you can use our CoreIntegrator Data Capture Service to automatically enter and verify key AP invoice data into your system.

Here’s how it works:

Whether you choose OCR or Verified Data Capture, automating invoice data capture is a critical requirement in invoice management software.

Automated Invoice Approvals Process

The next step in invoice management is approving invoices.

Previously, before the technology was available, this meant stapling a cover sheet to a paper invoice and physically passing that invoice around to the various approvers in a manila folder for managers to initial or sign.

These folders would often get lost or sit on the bottom of in-boxes for ages, which is not good for any business.

A slightly improved process is to use email to manage invoice approvals. But emails get ignored or accidentally deleted. Meanwhile, the AP department has to manually keep track of who has approved what.

With an AP department that is automated, once invoice data and images are digitized they can be passed around electronically. This gives the AP department total insight into where each invoice is in the approval process.

Invoice management software tracks the entire approval process. Accounting staff can see exactly where each invoice stands in the approval hierarchy and who the bottleneck is for each invoice – all at the click of a mouse.

And from the approving manager’s side, AP automation transforms the tedious chore of approving invoices into a simple task they can do on any device from anywhere in the world! All with a single click or tap!

Read more about Why Every Manager Loves Invoice Approval Software.

Creating and Managing POs with Invoice Management Software

World class invoice management software also streamlines the PO process. This is critical because, in the wake of the pandemic, many companies are moving to PO purchasing to control costs and mitigate supply chain issues.

With the right AP automation software in place, you will be able to create POs either in the system or in your own ERP. Then you’ll have the same ability to electronically route those POs for approval the same way you can route non-PO invoices.

Best of all, most AP automation include automated PO matching based on SKUs.

But truly world class invoice management software like  A/P One or CoreIntegrator Enterprise include a revolutionary advance in PO matching called SmartMatch.

Through proprietary algorithms, SmartMatch determines if the PO document line items match or not.

How?

First, SmartMatch looks at what items or services have been received. Then it checks the extended totals of the lines. Using our algorithm, the system then calculates what combinations of lines are being invoiced against – based on subtotals. Finally, the system automatically uses this calculation to perform the 3 way match for you.

Because it is using math rather than looking at characters, SmartMatch cuts out an enormous amount of manual intervention from the automated 3 way match process.

Best of all, SmartMatch is so smart that it works just well on partially received orders as it does when all items or services are delivered at once.

And it works equally well with SKU or non-SKU POs!

Paying Invoices with Invoice Management Software

This is the last step of a purchase is payment.

For many companies this means a paper invoice approval goes to an accounting clerk who writes or prints a paper check that has to be signed then be mailed.

Manual systems are slow, inefficient and time consuming. And are also highly susceptible to fraud.

Payment automation solves all of those problems.

Payment automation is the final step in full end to end procure to pay automation.

And you can choose to have approved invoices sent to your ERP for payment.

Or you can choose to use CoreIntegrator’s ePay solution to set up autopayments by eCheck, ACH, wire transfer or Virtual Credit Card.

If you use virtual credit cards to pay your invoices and earn cash back for every invoice that your company pays!?

Look for Invoice Management Software that is Powerful yet Simple

So what should you be looking for in invoice management software?

• Automated invoice data capture – with verified data capture if possible
• Automated invoice approvals
• PO management including automated creation, approval, and matching
• Payments that are not only automated, but that provide cash back for each purchase

But you also want to look for a system that is powerful yet simple to use.

At CoreIntegrator, our customers rave about how intuitive our invoice management solutions are. They are straightforward and require minimal training, leading to a easy user adoption.

So why not contact us today for a free, no pressure demonstration of our invoice management solutions!

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