Incorporating automated billing software can improve the efficiency of your organization’s accounts payable department in many different ways, including the following:
- Reduce the cost of processing payments to suppliers
- Increase the efficiency of your accounts payable process
- Improve financial security throughout your organization
- Enhance relationships with your organization’s suppliers
- Improve the scalability of your accounts payable process
- Enable remote access for the accounts payable team
- Boost visibility with digital reporting and record-keeping
Benefits like these make it clear that billing software should not be overlooked by accounts payable leaders. While it’s possible to run an entirely manual accounts payable process, a digital process introduces numerous advantages of using SaaS billing software. Trading in the paper invoices and physical checks for the best SaaS billing software is one of the best ways to upgrade your accounts payable team’s efficiency.
Even if you don’t feel that the scope of your accounts payable needs is wide enough to warrant billing software, it’s important to plan ahead for future growth. A manual accounts payable process usually can’t support a growing supplier list for very long. Keeping an eye on the different kinds of accounts payable software on the market and educating yourself about the various benefits of each is generally a good place to start if you’re considering a full digital transformation in the near future.
Throughout the rest of this article, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits of SaaS invoice software and break down the different ways it can aid your organization. We will also evaluate some of the different types of digital accounts payable tools, such as payment approval software, that you should consider adding to your accounts payable tech stack.
Saas Billing Software
One of the major benefits of using automated SaaS billing software is how it can streamline your accounts payable workflow and increase the efficiency of your accounts payable team. An accounts payable system that relies on physical paper invoices and checks leaves a lot of room for inefficiencies. Even if these are just small inconveniences here and there, the lost time can add up significantly. Sorting invoices, waiting for checks to travel through the mail, and tracking down colleagues every time you need them to sign off on a payment are all time-wasting tasks that can be streamlined with the best invoice approval software.
By switching to paperless accounting software, you can greatly increase the efficiency of your accounts payable team. Automated bill payment tools remove many of the manual tasks from the process, which enables your accounts payable team to focus on the most important tasks and be as productive as possible.
Another worthwhile benefit of implementing SaaS billing software is that it improves the scalability of your accounts payable process. When you use an entirely manual process, the strain on your accounts payable team increases as the number of suppliers you use increases. Paperless accounting software can support increasing numbers of suppliers without slowing down or sacrificing accuracy.
B2b Billing Software
B2B billing software can also benefit your organization’s relationships with its suppliers. Avidxchange maintains a network of over 825,000 suppliers who trust the AvidPay system. This makes it simple to get your organization set up with B2B SaaS billing software. It won’t require any kind of difficult transition for your suppliers. AvidXchange is continually enrolling new suppliers in the network. Then you can start sending payments to suppliers using the AvidXchange system — there’s no extra work required on your part or your suppliers to get your supplier enrolled in the system.
The benefits of B2B billing software, like increased efficiency and better supplier relationships, can have a real impact on an organization’s success. According to a report from Goldman Sachs, most organizations that switch from a manual process to an automated accounts payable system spend approximately 65-70 percent less time on accounts payable tasks. This is a major improvement to the process, considering the recent Quickbooks report that indicates the typical office employee spends 1.8 hours per day searching for documents in filing cabinets and digital folders. Clearly, an effective vendor invoice management system introduces the potential to save a lot of time for your accounts payable team.
Online Billing Software
Online billing software like Avidxchange uses the cloud to store accounts payable records and any relevant billing information. This makes the whole system remotely accessible. Your accounts payable team can view records or the current statuses of payments and complete accounts payable tasks from anywhere as long as they have access to the internet. This is another one of the ways cloud-based billing software can save time and improve efficiency for your accounts payable team. Offline billing software doesn’t usually have the same dramatic effect on productivity because it doesn’t allow you to access accounts payable systems via the cloud.
Thanks in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work is on the rise. This has been a common topic of discussion throughout nearly every industry over the past year or two. Many employees switched to remote work during the pandemic, and it’s led many people to rethink the relationship between productivity and commuting to the office each day.
Since remote work looks like it’s here to stay, it’s likely going to become increasingly important to adopt tools that support a remote workforce in the future. Cloud-based billing software like AvidPay and the other products available from AvidXchange can make it possible for your accounts payable department to embrace remote work culture.
Invoice Billing Software
Another one of the most important advantages of using the top invoicing software is that it can save your organization a substantial amount of money in the long run. According to research from Goldman Sachs, switching to an automated accounts payable process can save medium size businesses a significant amount of money per invoice.
The report shows the average cost of processing a single invoice is $16 for a medium-sized business and $22.26 for a small business. In contrast, when a business implements automated invoice billing software, the average cost per invoice goes down to $5.89 for medium-sized businesses and $6.89 for small businesses. This represents a 60-70% decrease in cost to process a single invoice just by implementing simple invoicing software.
The research also indicated that the majority of top-performing accounts payable departments use an automated invoicing and bill payment system. Another source, the Institute of Finance & Management, suggests that the cost savings of switching to an automated accounts payable process are even more substantial. According to this report, organizations that use little or no automation in their accounts payable workflows spend an average of $8.78 to process each individual invoice, while organizations that do have an automated accounts payable system in place spend an average of only $1.77 per invoice.
Best Accounting Software
SaaS accounts payable software often uses automation to reduce your accounts payable team’s manual workload and streamline productivity throughout the department. However, even the best accounting software can’t improve productivity unless it’s intuitive to use. If you don’t implement easy billing software, it could actually harm productivity, not help it.
When the accounts payable software you use is clunky, confusing, or doesn’t fit with your existing workflows, the implementation process can become a major obstacle. All of Avidxchange’s products are easy to use and can seamlessly integrate with your existing workflows. Choosing simple billing software like this can eliminate the headaches that sometimes come along with implementing a new software tool.
In order to choose the kind of automated billing software that will integrate well with your organization, you can start by considering your current accounts payable process. It’s usually a good idea to seek out an automated solution that can work with, not against, the way your accounts payable workflow is set up. That way, you don’t have to redesign the entire system from the ground up — you can simply roll automation into the current process.
Paperless Billing Software
Adopting accounts payable software, like a paperless invoice approval system, is one great way to improve your accounts payable process. There are all kinds of benefits to using paperless billing software instead of relying on a manual system. To sum up, some of the most prominent advantages of implementing automated accounts payable software include:
- More efficient, less time-consuming invoicing and bill payment
- Lower cost per invoice, which translates to major savings over time
- Better visibility into the status of invoices and other accounts payable information
- Increase the scalability of your accounts payable process
- Improve relationships with your organization’s suppliers
By switching to an automated billing approval system like Avidxchange, you can pave the way toward benefits like these and many more as well.
