If you want to automate your accounting process you probably have an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or other enterprise level accounting solution. If not, you have probably already started planning for one. But you need end-to-end automation and accounts payable is one of the key places to focus your resources for your automation project. While a purpose-designed accounts payable automation solution is essential to automated accounting, it is critical that your AP automation solution integrates directly with your ERP software. In this post we will look at some of the benefits of truly integrated AP software. We will also offer a few tips on how to find out which solutions work best with your ERP.
No matter how well an invoice approval workflow performs, without deep integration into your ERP system the solution could actually require added data entry, increasing the amount of total work it takes to approve an invoice.
It's important to note that while many AP automation solutions on the market claim to integrate into virtually any solution, it is critical to choose a solution that was designed for your specific ERP accounting software. Many one-size-fits-all packages can't deliver the performance you need. Ideally you want a service that communicates directly with your ERP system, enables your standard internal controls, provides a log of failed items and updates your list with items that were successfully imported. For more information on what to expect from AP automation, check out this post: Why Didn't I Automate Payments Sooner
Now you know what to ask, let's find out why…
Integration to your ERP software will greatly increase your time to benefit and return on investment from your AP automation software. Here are four reasons:
Like we said above, without integration to your accounting system, your AP solution will not be able to reduce manual tasks as efficiently. This will shrink your ROI. Fewer manual tasks, fewer dollars spent. Learn about other cost benefits of AP automation.
When you can run your AP department digitally you can greatly reduce your accounting department's paper usage. When you can run your AP software right inside your ERP software, you reduce steps and paper that much more.
You can massively increase the speed of approvals with workflows and software that allows you to import invoices directly into ERP without any additional data entry. Even better if you can then pick what you want to pay right out of the accounting software.
When decision makers have an end-to-end view of accounting data, all from one place, they are better equipped to lead the business toward success.
AP automation with your ERP software is a critical time and money saver, but make sure you ask the solutions provider about their integration points. The last thing you want is to end up with a “paperless cloud-based solution” that actually makes managing AP more labor intensive, especially since reducing manual tasks was your whole reason for getting the solution in the first place.
Fidesic AP offers the tightest integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP and QuickBooks available.