e-Invoicing

Electronic invoicing reduces invoice processing costs substantially.

IOMA asked companies that tracked their processing costs before and after installing an electronic invoicing solution to report on the results. In every case, there were significant savings in several areas, such as invoice capture costs and the cost of routing and circulating invoices for approval. The average net cost reduction was 41%. The economic benefits of electronic invoicing are widely accepted in the A/P community, but A/P managers are not yet convinced that they can achieve an adequate return on investment from these solutions. IOMA consultants help you approach electronic invoicing with confidence that the savings will be substantial and the pain minimized.

AP Departments are adopting key elements of e-invoicing at an accelerating rate.

In one segment of the electronic invoicing marketplace – imaging systems – solutions have already penetrated the market to a significant degree and are quickly gaining acceptance at additional companies. Fully 40% of IOMA survey respondents report that they have installed this form of digitization equipment, although it is not as widely used to replace other methods of invoice processing. Many of these managers figured among the 11.6% of respondents that say they have an electronic invoicing solution in place and they plan to add electronic invoicing capacity. The expected acceleration in adoption was confirmed by the high percentage of respondents who definitely plan to implement or upgrade electronic solutions. Responding to an IOMA survey question about their attitudes, 20.3% of respondents said they are definitely planning to install or upgrade electronic invoicing capabilities.

Based on these conclusions and other data, IOMA recommends that A/P departments with at least 3 employees familiarize themselves with the wide array of possible ways to automate invoice processing. Smaller departments may also benefit from electronic solutions, but their options will be more restricted and their potential for return on investment more limited.

Using IOMA consultants, you can determine with certainty whether your department’s performance is meeting the right targets in terms of cost and cycle time. “Pain points” in the cycle, such as problem suppliers, inefficient processes, and unnecessary steps can be brought to light through careful analysis.