Are you a small business owner looking for means and ways to achieve growth and expansion? Have you heard of AP automation and wondered what its benefits are? How can AP automation support your small business, and can it help your business at all?
An invoice automation solution is a must-have for any business, irrespective of the company size. It is already proven how much automated invoice scanning or an automated billing process etc., can bring to the table while managing the accounts payable team. Digitalization has already marked its dominance in the trading landscape, and business dealings are influenced and dependent in one way or other.
Coming to the small businesses, it is rarely swift and sorted for them to thrive. A lot of persuasion and planning goes into building and running a business and the right tools and support. Investing in AP automation can be the right move for your small business.
SMEs have long struggled with cash flow issues, workforce shortages, and technological adoption delays in accounting. So, it's the kind of situation where implementing accounts payable automation in a small business makes sense.
· Tight Operations
Small and mid-sized businesses are struggling with more than just money these days. Accounts payable automation for small businesses can assist a department that may consist of a bookkeeper, an owner, or someone else managing a one-person division.
It may appear like AP automation is prohibitively expensive for a one-person accounting firm. Accounts payable automation small business solutions, on the other hand, can be constructive for small firms that process enormous amounts of invoices, as we'll discuss in a moment. Furthermore, it is not just the invoice automation we are looking at but a great deal more.
· Lower risk of fraud
One of the risks that small businesses face is the possibility of fraud. Billing fraud was twice as common in small firms as in large enterprises, as was payroll fraud, and payment and check tampering were four times as common in small businesses. One of the most effective anti-fraud controls is proactive data monitoring and analysis.
Accounts payable automation for small businesses can help organizations protect against fraud by using AI and machine learning to detect any questionable invoices, such as duplication.
· Better Cashflow
Accounts payable automation can help a small business increase cash flow for various reasons.
If you are wondering what ways an invoice automation solution or an automated AP process can save money? They reduced invoice processing time from weeks or even months to days. They can utilize AI and machine learning to process invoices into general ledgers and highlight invoice errors, saving human staff time.
Then there are early payment discounts, frequently granted by vendors if companies are ready to pay their invoices early. These discounts are typically uncollected, while technology can help organizations collect them more efficiently, and the automated billing process can deal with the deadlines.
While the above are a few advantages of AP automation for small businesses, how can you determine if AP Automation is right for your small business?
Small and mid-sized enterprises with at least 100-200 invoices per month are likely to benefit from an automated invoice processing software, ideally with enough volume that the savings offset the program's cost on invoice processing. Companies that have purchased enterprise resource planning, ERP, and software are also the most outstanding candidates.
Anyone whose time is valuable enough that they would make more money providing their company's primary service or product than sitting in their back-office manually processing invoices is an exception to this rule. In this situation, the nominal cost of a simple ERP system and AP automation may be more than compensated for by the time savings they can invest in their company.
Finding the solution that works best for your business
An inadequate invoice automation software would compel businesses to follow their rules. So instead, they'll try to push solutions that only work with specific ERP systems, require particular payment methods, or require programming skills. Then there are the AP automation providers who present themselves as actual accounts payable automation technology while still having workers manually coding invoices for their customers.
Make sure not to fall for that invoice automation software as you are investing in the growth of your business. Skyscend, for example, makes it a point to understand the prerogatives of the companies and offer the services that benefit their trading workflow.
If you are a small business looking for the best AP automation partner, connect with us, and our experts will help you understand the benefits better with a live demo.
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