Procure-to-pay is an essential yet often time-consuming process in business financial operations. Issues like data entry errors, duplicated payments, and delays frequently happen when most steps in the procure-to-pay process are still manual. However, things can now move faster. Automating data capture from purchase orders and invoices provides significant benefits in speeding up the P2P lifecycle.
This is where Fintelite becomes the tool your business needs, transforming slow data entry to faster data retrieval with automation powered by AI and OCR. In the explanation below, you’ll learn how to accelerate the procure-to-pay process with automated data capture, including how an AI-powered solution like Fintelite can help and make a real difference.
Breaking Down the Procure-to-Pay Process
While the procure-to-pay process may vary across businesses, the common steps start with receiving purchase requests and finish with the settlement of invoices. To see which part of procure-to-pay takes the longest, we’ll walk you through the process in three main steps.
Step 1: Raising Purchase Requests
The process begins when a department identifies a need for specific goods or services and submits these purchasing requests for approval.
Step 2: Sending Purchase Orders
Then, the operations and finance departments follow up on these submitted requisitions by reviewing them and generating purchase orders to be sent to the supplier.
Step 3: Invoice Processing
Once a supplier receives purchase orders, they will send back an invoice as a formal document that details payment. This is where the process gets time-consuming. The finance and operations teams have to manually retype and match these transactions with the previous purchase orders, ensuring everything is correct before proceeding with the payment.
The Drawbacks of Manual Document Processing in P2P Workflow
Invoices are crucial documents that must be inputted and processed during the procure-to-pay workflow. Manually handling them is acceptable, until it’s not. A high volume of invoices can become increasingly difficult to manage and poses several challenges, such as:
Error-prone
Entering data from invoices to spreadsheets or a business’s ERP system by hand is very likely to cause human error, oversight, and mistakes that can lead to even longer processing.
Spend too much time
When invoices are processed manually, staff must sort through documents, review details line by line, retype them into systems, and verify information across multiple records—all repetitive tasks that take a lot of time every day.
Operationally inefficient
In a business, time is as important as money. Ineffective procure-to-pay processes can drag down employee productivity and disrupt their operational performance.
Read also: Why Manual Data Entry is Bad For Your Business
How Automated Data Capture Speeds Up P2P Workflow
In this fast-paced business landscape, automating data capture has become an essential initiative for making procure-to-pay processes more efficient by reducing time lost on manual errors and repetitive work. Leverage AI-powered OCR data extraction to quickly capture and deliver data from invoices and other transactional documents into the processing system, all without the manual grind. Here’s a look at how automated data capture plays a key role in speeding up the P2P workflow:
The Advantages of Automated Data Capture in P2P Workflow
The benefits of automated data capture are wide-ranging, but it all starts with choosing the right tool. Powered by AI-powered OCR, Fintelite equips you with seamless automation that can extract data from varying invoice formats and designs. It also can be custom-integrated to your workflow by delivering the structured data right to your spreadsheet or ERP systems. Experience various benefits such as:
Faster turnaround time
Automation turns hours of manual work into minutes, shortening processing time for timely payments. The faster invoices are processed, the sooner payments can be finalized to maintain good relationships with vendors and suppliers.
Reduce unnecessary manual cost
Manual errors are not only burdensome but also costly. By automating data capture, businesses can experience cost savings from the reduced manual labor and delays, enabling better resource optimization.
Improve data accuracy
AI OCR extracts transactional data with high accuracy, which is crucial for procure-to-pay processes where precision is important. It helps ensure correct payment amounts, prevents duplicate transactions, and maintains reliable financial records throughout the workflow.
Read also: How and Why Automate Data Extraction With AI-Powered OCR
Ready to unlock 10x efficiency in processing transactional documents?
Fintelite AI-powered OCR is a solution designed to automatically extract, categorize, and route structured data from documents like purchase orders and invoices into the next step of your workflow. It’s a suitable solution for businesses looking to scale seamlessly without extra work and staff.
