OK, so I’ve harped on this message before, but whenever I come across releases/news like the one I’ve just read on bobsguide, an excerpt from which features below, I can’t help but shake my head in wonder: 

“A majority of UK businesses are planning to automate supplier invoice processing within their Account Payable (AP) function, according to a new survey from ITESOFT, the leading developer of electronic document capture and automatic invoice processing solutions.”

I can’t tell you the number of businesses we subsequently work with that have implemented invoice processing systems in isolation and find themselves really wishing they hadn’t bothered.

Process automation can deliver huge benefit, but only if you capture the whole process, not the tail end of it.  

For a start, automating invoice capture does nothing to control spend. Sending invoices for approval is after the fact – the goods or services are already bought, the money committed.

Furthermore your approvers know this. The result is they are deluged with invoices to approve and simply do so without so much as a second glance.

A full P2P (purchase-to-pay) platform captures every stage of the lifecycle, from order – validated, authorised and audited before it is committed – to accurate goods receipting and invoicing.

Only by capturing the whole process lifecycle can you realise the benefits and genuinely drive error down, efficiency and savings up.