Today, customer-facing technology is the hot topic of retail industry conversations. Behind the scenes, accounts payable (AP) automation technology is emerging as the latest tool to help top management stay ahead of the competition.
AP automation technology offers tools to retailers using which they can make quicker, better, and smarter business decisions using the latest data with the customer in mind. The best thing is that everything happens while enhancing operational return on investment and eliminating the inefficiencies and blind spots of traditional paper-based processes.
How AP Automation Comes To The Rescue Of "Paper And Process?"
Individuals who are entrusted with the task of managing retail AP processes usually find themselves entangled and buried in papers and process challenges. The task of analysing different invoices in different formats that are received anytime and from anywhere is, without a doubt, a challenging task that doesn't add value to the bottom line of the organisation.
Managing an endless paper and process trail is a huge obstacle and poses a serious threat to the competitiveness and performance of an organisation in today's cutthroat marketplace. This is simply because data is not readily available on time or in a usable format that, in turn, compromises the ability to make smarter and quicker business decisions. This is where AP automation steps in as it transforms challenges into opportunities that help organisations empower comprehensive and swift decision-making and competitiveness.
Organisations that leverage AP automation technology can expect to reap the following advantages:
Better Decision Making
Let us assume that a clothing retailer has just wrapped a successful holiday season and now wants to plan for the next quarter and year. Decision-makers would want to gain insights about how the retailer fared, usually, by product, against last year's numbers, against competitors, and more. Analysing a range of strategies and data manually in a non-automated environment would have taken a lot of time and effort, with possible doubts on the accuracy of the data.
In contrast, automated paperless AP technology leverages access to invoices as well as supporting documentation that facilitates comprehensive and quick analysis of the cost of goods sold, incurred expenditures, efficiency, supplier accuracy, and more within multiple locations and across the entire supplier base of the retailer, with just a few clicks. It is this kind of clear and precise visibility that enhances the brand and product-level decision-making, especially in the context of a decentralised operating environment.
Streamlines Strategic Planning
Imagine the same clothing retailer is trying to complete the month-end close to benchmark performance against different competitors. Using AP automation technology, the retailer can easily gain access to month-end information without going through the endless trail of paper and processes that are generally an integral part of a traditional paper-based accounting environment. AP automation technology would help the retailer assess and compare performance over time and leverage alerts and dashboards to ascertain the overall health of the accounting processes.
In addition to these advantages, paperless AP automation helps in accelerating two- and three-way invoice synchronisation to eliminate days of extracting and reviewing data from disparate spreadsheets.
Adds real value
AP automation technology helps retail businesses make better, faster, and smarter business decisions and delight customers by consistently delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Want to achieve seamless accounts payable automation within Dynamics 365? Contact C.I.G. Consultants to find out your organisation can overcome the cost, time, risk, and errors associated with manual processes.
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