Tradeshift: AI Updates Demonstrate Value Of Automated AP Systems

Tradeshift, a provider of automated accounts payable (AP) and invoicing systems, has announced in a press release that artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements to its platform provide “a powerful set of tools designed to help [accounting teams] visualize the impact and effectiveness of Tradeshift’s payables automation capabilities compared to human-operated processes.”

New features tied with the company’s platform include an automation dashboard designed to help teams forecast whether processes will be more efficient if carried out by computers or by humans, according to the release.

Referring to its AI system, the release stated: “Ada’s invoice coding functionality is constantly learning from valid historical transactions — even when it is not in use — to achieve complete, accurately coded documents that are ready for approval and posting.”

The information is intended to guide teams as they choose how much to rely on AI systems, according to the release.

“Understanding that most are not comfortable with fully handing over the keys to artificial intelligence, customers can select one of three presets: conservative, balanced, progressive,” the release stated.

The San Francisco-based company stated in the release that early adopters using the system have reduced manual re-coding of transactions by 60 percent on average.

“We don’t believe in building ‘black box’ technology,” said Lloyd Humphreys, Tradeshift’s principal product manager for analytics and artificial intelligence, in the release. “Trusting machine learning with something as important as ensuring your company’s suppliers get paid is not something that should be done behind a curtain. That’s why we believe that the Automation Dashboard’s transparency and ability to ease into Ada is the key to supporting exception-free payables departments, and teams that can be liberated to do more meaningful work.”

Customers using the company’s Tradeshift Pay tool “can process tens of thousands of invoices per month,” the release stated.

Tradeshift Chief Product Officer Raphael Bres said in the release: “The best processes to automate are tedious, like coding invoices for a successful [enterprise resource planning (ERP)] ingestion. Even the most passionate data entry clerk would tell you there are more valuable things they could be doing with their time. Ada is the ultimate partner for payables departments looking to move up another level.”