This posting is in Bdaily News and was penned by someone at the India-based BPO firm hitech. The article is all about the benefits of electronic invoicing versus paper-based invoices.  It is likely unclear to many readers why companies would be continuing to send out paper invoices in this day and age, but it certainly remains relatively commonplace, especially in certain verticals such as healthcare.  We have released many member reports that discuss the positive impact of automating the billing process, which they supports:

Your tried and tested manual invoicing error-prone, outdated, chaos-causing and results in ineffective accounting mechanisms and minuscule improvements. But, equipping your accounts payable team with power of automation can help you smartly address these issues. Technically, automated invoicing or e-invoicing uses robotic process automation (RPA) to facilitate seamless data extraction, accurate data entry and storage. In a few clicks, the payment process can be completed securely with a way-high accuracy. The need for redundant checks is eliminated, which greatly optimizes time and cost.

The article goes on to point out some of the issues with paper invoices, such as the high incidence of processing errors and costly rework, as well as the poor invoice matching capabilities.  There is also a detailed list of seven e-invoicing benefits, an example of which follows:

Business-critical tasks receive increased focus: Scrambling with invoices in manual processing can leave your accountants tired; and not only entire operational productivity is hampered but their expected involvement in strategic initiatives doesn’t become possible. Automation helps achieve the basic aim of optimization, and the saved time and efforts can be devoted to core progressions. Here are more insights.

– Finance team members can brainstorm on bettering financial control policies and improving budgetary forecasts.

– Financial analytics to derive valuable insights from cash-flow can be made a part of concerned team members role.

– Employees can be made accountable for customer success, with revamped initiatives leading to enhanced internal and external stakeholder satisfaction.

Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group