Time out, you might be thinking. Is this really a blog about basketball and AP automation?
Yes, it is.
How could these two dramatically different things have anything to do with each other? You may be surprised.
Please play along and enjoy this enlightening game of comparative conceptualizing.
Basketball lingo blends hoops and AP automation
Basketball lingo, you may be surprised to learn, blends all this together. If you’ve ever played or watched basketball, you may have heard the term “nothing but net.”
That’s when a player takes a shot and it swishes through the net without hitting the rim. Smooth and spot on, the shot was well executed and aesthetically beautiful. No friction. No errant shooting. No banging off the fiberglass backboard.
What’s the connection with AP automation?
OK, fine, you might be thinking. But what does this have to do with AP automation?
You’re undoubtedly not reading this to become a basketball guru.The tie-in weaves together like this:
In the world of AP automation, one of the biggest challenges is integrating AP software within accounting software in one consolidated, friction-less dashboard system.
Successfully integrating these software technologies takes precision, discipline, intelligence and practice.
A consolidated platform saves you time
Why does scoring this integration matter? Because you don’t have to spend your valuable time shifting in and out of different software packages to do your AP invoice and payment processing.
You can do all of that within the accounting software, one cohesive system. This saves you time. Your job becomes easier.
You’re using nothing but one network, the accounting system dashboard, to speed up and simplify invoice and payment processing.
What if your shot misses?
Now let’s reframe this. Think about this situation from a basketball perspective. If you shoot a basketball and it doesn’t achieve the “nothing but net” result, that means it either hit the rim and bounced out, clanged off the backboard or in some other way did not go in.
Your attempt failed. You missed.
The same mishaps occur when you don’t integrate your AP software seamlessly with your accounting software. When that happens, you can’t send and receive invoice and payment information quickly and easily.
Attempts to transfer information fail. Your data transmission shots get, in a sense, blocked.
Integrated systems: basketball nets and consolidated AP automation
Let’s keep unwinding this. Think about a basketball net. The strings weave together to form a unified whole. In a physical sense, the net embodies an integrated, all-in-one system.
Conceptually, this is like when AP software is effectively merged within a consolidated accounting system with all invoice and payment information in one place, connected and tied together neatly.
Like a basketball net, the information is well-organized, unified and easy to use. The net is customized to latch onto the hooks on the rim.
Connectivity is easy and effective because of the cohesive net and customized hooks on the rim.
Likewise, the one network is configured so all connected “hooks” make the software execute functions smoothly.
AvidXchange plays up “Nothing But Net” at SuiteWorld 2021
This event convened members of the NetSuite community including AvidXchange. The company’s AP software integrates within the NetSuite accounting software for easy “Nothing But NetSuite” usage by finance pros.
These business leaders can use one NetSuite dashboard for more efficient invoicing, payment and utility financial processing.
They use one system. No longer do they need to hunt around in disaggregated dashboards and dispersed software packages.
Final thoughts
So when you’re watching a basketball game or playing pick-up at your gym, and you hear someone say “nothing but net,” your mind will, hopefully, shoot straight to the AP automation arena.
You’ll think about that perfect swish and equate it to the seamless blending of AP software and accounting software in a single, smooth system.
You’ll think about accuracy and an easy flow of information through the system, just like the friction-free flow of the basketball through the net.