AP automation whitepaper
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This document summarizes the benefits of Coupa's invoice automation solution. It discusses how Coupa can reduce the manual work involved in processing paper invoices by enabling touchless, electronic invoice processing. Customers that have implemented Coupa report increases in productivity within their AP departments, cost savings from reduced invoice processing fees and early payment discounts, and improved visibility and controls over spending. The document provides statistics and testimonials from Coupa customers to support these claims.
AP automation whitepaper
- 1. Making AP Automation A Reality True Stories from the Path to Touchless Invoice Processing Discover the Power of
- 2. 2 Make touchleSS a Reality: AUtomAte AccoUnts PAyAble with coUPA invoicinG in the world of accounts Payable, paper has traditionally been king, but it hasn’t always been a benevolent ruler. Receiving and paying paper invoices requires a lot of printing, mailing, matching, and filing. All that manual data entry and paper management slows down your people, your processes, and your progress. every time someone touches a piece of paper, it takes time and creates the possibility for errors, such as duplicate payments. approving invoices can take weeks, and invoices have to be matched to contracts or Pos by hand. Perhaps worst of all, with paper-based processes, you rarely know what you’ve spent until weeks after the invoice is processed. end the Reign OF PAPER AP AuTOmATIOn less PAPeR. less TOuCH. less PAIn.
- 3. 3 The Options Available to AP Departments have typically left a lot of paper and manual work in the mix. Optical character recognition (OCR) scanning, a common ‘solution’, reduces the quantity of paper but has high rates of scanning errors, requiring additional time and money to resolve. To simplify, AP departments may forgo line-level capture on OCR-scanned invoices and make due with summary data, but then the business loses critical visibility to what was actually purchased. PAPER ISN’T GREAT FOR SUPPLIERS EITHER. After all, paper invoices can be lost and result in late payments. If payments don’t arrive when expected, suppliers are forced to chase down the status by phone and email, which ends up taking even more of your AP department’s time. As for capturing those early payment discounts your company negotiated? Forget about them. Inefficiency and Inaccuracy Have Even Larger Consequences. It can take extra days and weeks to close the books. For companies on track for an IPO, the lack of predictability, clean books, and verifiable audit trails can create major problems. You’ve Probably Felt These Pains. But are too busy keeping up with day-to-day fire drills to find a way out. Say hello to Coupa. Our solution can automate your AP processes, boost efficiency, and drive savings across your organization. And you can be up and running in as little as two to three months with minimal IT effort. . 53% of AP departments list AP automation as a top priority. Ardent Partners Inefficiency And Inaccuracy Have Even Larger Consequences
- 4. 4 With Coupa Invoicing, electronic invoices flow into the system from the supplier, are automatically matched to a PO or contract (two-way or three-way matching), channeled for approval, then routed for payment. There’s less paper to touch, less time required, and less chance for error. That’s what we mean by “The Power of Less.” Coupa Invoicing is a true cloud-based solution. With full mobile access, it delivers visibility into the AP process for stakeholders anywhere—you can get the invoicing data you need on any connected device, whether you’re sitting at a desk or on a plane. Coupa is agile, scales seamlessly as you grow, and delivers the fastest time-to-value rates in the industry. THE FIRST 12 MONTHS OF COUPA, WE DECREASED OVER 35,000 INVOICES THAT WERE HAND-KEYED THE PREVIOUS YEAR David NewVine FirstMerit Bank 80% OVER 80% OF OUR INVOICES ARE RECEIVED ELECTRONICALLY VIA THE COUPA OPEN BUSINESS NETWORK. NO PAPER. Donna Webb Home Retail Group The Power of Less OUT OF THE 25,000 EMPLOYEES WE HAVE, 24,000 WORK IN THE FIELD. SO THE ABILITY TO APPROVE INVOICES ON THE FLY WHILE TRAVELING WAS A GREAT WIN. WE FIRST STARTED SEEING RESULTS FROM COUPA ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. WITHIN 30 TO 60 DAYS WE HAD LINE ITEM VISIBILITY. Rone Luczynski Service Corporation International
- 5. 5 As your AP processes become more efficient, every member of your team becomes more productive. All your suppliers can submit their invoices electronically and receive email updates on payment status automatically. There’s less paper to manage, fewer calls to answer, and less data to enter. Your invoice exception queue shrinks and your team gets more done. 250% WE SAW RESULTS PRETTY MUCH RIGHT AWAY, ESPECIALLY IN STAFF EFFICIENCY. IN ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, WE’VE GONE FROM 12 PEOPLE TO 14 PEOPLE WHILE TRIPLING OUR VOLUME, SO THAT’S A GAIN OF AT LEAST 250% EFFICIENCY. Bryce Berg Molina Healthcare We Have Reduced Our Invoice Approval Time From 72 to 8 HRS Hyrum Kirton Avalon Health Care WE’VE DECREASED THREE FTES WITHIN THE AP DEPARTMENT DIRECTLY BECAUSE OF HOW WE’RE PROCESSING INVOICES IN COUPA. THEY WERE EITHER PROMOTED OR MOVED LATERALLY WITHIN OUR GROUP. David NewVine FirstMerit Bank Increasing efficiency, enhancing productivity. With Coupa Invoicing, the accruals process is automated too—no more chasing down each department to find out what they spent each month. You can close the books faster and with greater accuracy. Plus, AP automation can shorten approval cycles, giving you greater flexibility in payment timing. With all these increases in productivity, your teams are freed up to focus on more strategic activities. They can move from data entry to financial detective-work, handling exceptions and finding innovative ways to reduce costs such as catching invoice padding or consolidating shipments from vendors. And as your company grows, you can handle the additional workload without adding more people to your AP team.
- 6. 6 With Coupa Invoicing, you get dramatically better visibility into your payables. Everyone from the CFO on down can view relevant information directly—on any device. That visibility lets you manage working capital better—the sooner you have the information about your cash flows, the sooner you can act on it. With increased control, you can look for strategic ways to save. See your process. Control your process. COUPA HAS ALLOWED US TO CONTROL SPEND IN WAYS THAT WE’VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO IN THE PAST. THE LAST YEAR, COMING UP ON YEAR-END, WE REALLY WANTED TO RATCHET DOWN OUR EXPENSES, AND HAVING ALL OF OUR SPEND ON A SINGLE PLATFORM WITH DYNAMIC WORKFLOWS INCLUDING APPROVALS HAS BEEN INVALUABLE. Cliff Gott The Fresh Market COUPA HAS ALLOWED US TO REDUCE OUR OVERPAYMENT TO SUPPLIERS BY JUST UNDER $1.3 MILLION Rone Luczynski Service Corporation International $3M+ WE IDENTIFIED OVER $3M IN RECOVERY CREDITS FROM OUR LARGE SUPPLIERS. THIS WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT COUPA. Philip White OLX
- 7. 7 WE’VE SAVED A LOT OF PROCESSING COSTS PARTICULARLY THROUGH THE CENTRALIZATION EFFORT. WE’VE SAVED OVER $400,000 ON OUR INVOICE PROCESSING. Hyrum Kirton Avalon Health Care Reduce costs and streamline processes. By automating AP processes and increasing efficiency, you can control costs across your organization. You save on man-hours with every automated invoice. At most companies with paper-based processes, the benchmark cost to process a single invoice is $10. With Coupa, it’s $3—a 70% reduction. THE WAY WE PAID FOR COUPA WAS WITH ACCOUNTS PAYABLE. Bryce Berg Molina Health Care
- 8. 8 Take control and manage your cash. With paper processes, 30-day invoice approval cycles are the norm. That limits how much you can really manage your cash. Coupa Invoicing customers, because they process less paper, have an average invoice approval time of less than 60 hours. Faster cycles enable you to take cash flow management to a whole new level. Many vendors will offer early payment discounts— either pre-negotiated at the time of the contract or offered up at the time of invoicing via a dynamic process such as Coupa provides. $500,000 FROM AN EARLY PAYMENT DISCOUNT PROCESS, WE’VE SEEN JUST A TAD BIT OVER HALF A MILLION DOLLARS IN SAVINGS. Rone Luczynski Service Corporation International COUPA HAS DEFINITELY IMPROVED OUR CYCLE-TIME CAPABILITIES. UTILITIES FOR EXAMPLE: WE’VE BEEN ABLE TO TURN ALL PAYMENTS AROUND LITERALLY WITHIN 24-48 HOURS AFTER RECEIVING IT IN THE MAIL ROOM. Rone Luczynski Service Corporation International Now you have the power (and the time) to pay early and capture those discounts. On average, you can realize a 2% discount on 10% of your addressable spend. Coupa Invoicing manages all your discounts and automatically prioritizes your AP workload so that your team focuses on invoices that have discounts first. Combine this with fast approval cycle times and cash management becomes a reality.
- 9. 9 With Coupa Invoicing, compliance is built into the system. Coupa’s “smart” e-invoices are designed to comply with country-specific electronic invoicing regulations, so you can trust that you’re meeting government regulations with every invoice you pay. Every action is automatically recorded, time- stamped, and saved in the change log, so audits are painless. Review processes are simplified through automated matching. Cycles become predictable, and can be changed as needed. Compliance by design. BEFORE COUPA, WE HAD SOME OF OUR SPEND THAT WAS COMING TO US FROM VENDORS WITHOUT ANY TYPE OF MATCHING PROCESS TAKING PLACE. WE WOULD GET A SUMMARY INVOICE FROM THE VENDOR, AND WE WOULD JUST PAY THE INVOICE. NONE OF THAT SPEND HAD ANY TYPE OF REVIEW PROCESS TAKING PLACE. WITH COUPA, WE NOW HAVE THREE-WAY MATCHING OVER THE SPEND, SO THAT WE ARE MATCHING THE INVOICE TO THE PURCHASE ORDER, AND THEN ALSO TO THE RECEIPT OF THAT ORDER. Cliff Gott The Fresh Market COUPA HAS REALLY HELPED US WITH OUR SOX COMPLIANCE. BECAUSE WE CAN LOCK DOWN THE SYSTEM, WE HAVE ALL KINDS OF AUDIT RECORDS. OUR AUDITORS WERE VERY HAPPY WHEN WE PUT THE SYSTEM IN PLACE. Bryce Berg Molina Healthcare BUILT-IN COMPLIANCE
- 10. 10 Suppliers love Coupa because it’s easy to use and requires no fees. Getting started with the Coupa Open Business Network is painless and fast: all they need is an email address. There are no contracts, no commitments, and even options that require no pre-registration. Suppliers can start using the system in minutes. “Smart” invoices simplify the payment process for suppliers, another reason they love Coupa. They can submit electronic invoices directly into the system, no manual data entry required, and check the status via the portal whenever they want. Unlike other platforms, however, Coupa Invoicing also emails suppliers proactively to notify them of the status of each invoice as it moves through the process. Either way, “mail and pray” is a thing of the past. When your suppliers are happy, things run more smoothly throughout your organization. And fewer calls or emails to your department or other employees simplifies life for your team and enables them to focus on productive tasks. Happy suppliers make good partners. IT EMPOWERS SUPPLIERS BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THEY WILL GET PAID AFTER A CERTAIN TIME BECAUSE THEY HAVE SUBMITTED THEIR INVOICE THROUGH AN E-INVOICING CHANNEL. Mike Van Gerven NEC EMEA I THINK SOME OF THE SUPPLIERS THAT HADN’T UTILIZED COUPA BEFORE COULDN’T BELIEVE THAT IT WAS FREE AND DIDN’T BELIEVE IT. YOU HAD TO TELL THEM A SECOND OR A THIRD TIME: ‘THERE ARE NO HIDDEN FEES.’ David NewVine FirstMerit Bank OUR OLD MANUAL INVOICE PAYMENT PROCESSES OFTEN ALLOWED OUR VENDORS NOT TO GET PAID IN A TIMELY WAY. WITH COUPA, THEY’RE ABLE TO LOG INTO THE SYSTEM, see the status of their invoices, see whether it’s pending receipt, and see whether it’s approved. That’s been very beneficial for them. Cliff Gott The Fresh Market
- 11. 11 Shed the paper weight — experience the Power of Less Paper used to be the only choice for Accounts Payable processes. But with the automation and connected workflows of Coupa Invoicing, you can achieve greater visibility into your processes, gain greater control, and improve efficiency. If your AP department is buried in paper, it’s time to get out from under that weight and reap the same benefits as the other customers quoted here. With Coupa, you can shift your Accounts Payable department from a cost center to a strategic advantage for your entire enterprise. Welcome to The Power of Less. Touchless e-Invoicing can be just the beginning. Coupa offers a complete suite of applications for growing enterprises. Start with Invoicing, then add Procurement, Sourcing, Expenses, or other modules when your business is ready. Together, our integrated modules, quick implementation and relentless focus on your success deliver Savings-as-a-Service— immediate, meaningful, hard dollar and efficiency savings. Savings-as-a-Service: The Power of Coupa TURN ON COUPA AND TURN ON SAVINGS. www.coupa.com/why-coupa
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