Are Too Many Industries Manually Processing Invoices?

According to a recent report, the answer is: yes.

Tradeshift’s research, titled “ePayables 2014: The Quest,” showed that 70 percent of invoices within surveyed enterprises are still manually received and processed, which adds significant costs and slows down access to critical information.

However, 37 percent of respondents said it was “very likely” that they would move to a largely automated AP process in the next two to three years.

According to a Tradeshift press release, approximately 200 AP, finance, and other professionals were surveyed for the report.

“…the speed of business today requires a different level of engagement and alignment with trading partners than what was once required,” the report’s author’s noted, according to a company press release. “Leveraging the collective strength of a supply chain to the benefit of all participants has become the hallmark of the agile and progressive businesses who understand that an increasing dependence on third-party partners and suppliers is not just an inevitability, but a pre-condition of success.”

The report also showed that the average cost to process an invoice is approximately $14.21. But, by introducing AP automation, companies can potentially reduce costs by 60-80 percent. This was according to Best-in-Class enterprises that report costs around $2.42 per invoice.

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