In earlier posts we've covered invoice processing and accounts payable automation and how it helps you cut costs and improve productivity. These posts take the viewpoint of the buyer and how the accounts payable department can benefit from scanning, data capture, content management and process automation. I won't restate the value of these technologies nor the ROI.
For this post I wanted to look through the eyes of the supplier and get back to the topic of this post which asks the question "who has my invoice?".
If you're like many companies you have many suppliers some of which are strategic to your business. These suppliers provide you with raw materials or components of things that you include in your final product, service or solution. Fujitsu, for example, is one of Yakidoo's strategic suppliers. Yakidoo solutions integrate their scanners along with capture and content management systems from Kofax, EMC, IBM or Microsoft. These are strategic suppliers or partners if you will.
In the case of strategic suppliers your company's revenue can be dependent on the stuff you buy from them. Imagine what would happen if one of these suppliers called up asking about payment and referred to a specific invoice and it couldn't be found? Believe it or not this happens! The invoice could be sitting in a pile of paper on a desk or buried in someone's email in-box. Whether you have the cash to pay the supplier or not they're not going to be impressed and it can put unnecessary stress on your relationship with them... not to mention more stricter terms of payment like COD.
Simply put, the invoice whether it be on paper or in an email in-box should have been processed immediately as part of a disciplined process that, among other things, made it simple for anyone to find a digital copy of the invoice when the supplier asked about payment. Losing an invoice is no longer acceptable and the data on the invoice needs to be actioned asap to ensure prompt payment to preserve a strong relationship with your strategic supplier and to take advantage of early discounts. Early discounts tend to be missed because the invoice has not be entered into accounting systems fast enough. In the case of a strategic supplier who's products you resell or integrate into your offerings, an early discount increases your gross margins.
In earlier posts we've provided some free advice and guidance on how and where to start in process automation, scanning, capture and content management. We suggest focusing on core processes that are manually intensive, can cause human error or delay and that cost the business money. It's possible that lost invoices and payment delays due to manual or unproductive workflow or bad work habits is not only costing you money but may impact future sales too.
We’d also be happy to act on your behalf and get answers to the key questions and concerns you have about accounts payable automation. If you have questions leave a comment below, contact us through this web form, send us a Tweet or contact me personally on Linkedin. Help us shape the editorial agenda for this blog so you can get the most value out of what we produce.
To stay up to date on new blog posts and Yakidoo’s solution offerings just subscribe via email or RSS feed.
Victor Bensusan is CEO and Co-founder of Yakidoo. He has 20 years experience in Finance and Information Technology primarily in the area of process automation, information management and business performance improvement.
In March 2012 APQC surveyed 145 financial executives from mostly large enterprises in the United States and Europe. The focus of the survey was to learn what their priorities were in improving the overall performance of their department and the financial management of their respective organizations.
The top four areas finance executives have flagged as major improvement areas are: corporate performance management (CPM), the close/consolidate/disclose process, general accounting processes, and AP transaction-based processes. The question facing these executives now is how best to move forwards? We won't publish the findings of the study word for word, we will provide a link to it when it becomes publicly available, but we will highlight where scanning and capture can fit into the major improvement picture.
Corporate performance management (CPM) - employees from large organizations work in complex and fast changing environments where access to information on market changes, days sales outstanding (DSO) forecast shortfalls, supply chain anomalies and changing customer preferences are becoming increasingly critical. This fast paced environment calls for manually intense processes, such as data input, to be automated so information can be supplied in real-time and on-demand.
The low hanging fruit to help get to this on-demand state is any unstructured data found on paper such as claims, invoices or cheques to name a few. This data needs to be posted to line of business applications as soon as possible so employees get the complete on-demand picture they need to make faster, better decisions and insights for the company. This applies to inbound electronic data as well.
Close/consolidate/disclose - companies want this process done faster, more accurately and at a lower cost. Automation of data capture reduces the amount of FTEs, reduces the number of input errors and speeds the rate in which data is posted into line of business applications.
General accounting processes - consolidation and outsourcing of data capture and validation services is being considered as a way to offload workflow and to accelerate touchless processing. Simply put, touchless processing, makes it possible for inbound data from various sources to be posted directly into the general ledger bypassing manual intermediary steps.
AP transactions-based processes - performance metrics are now being applied to measure the productivity of AP FTEs. The high performing AP departments are 60% more productive than their peers according to a recent study, based on number of invoices processed per AP FTE. They are achieving this success via three primary ways: receipt settlement automation; advanced data capture, scanning and OCR, and workflow automation.
Finance organizations have ambitious plans to make major improvements that can stand to benefit companies by making them more agile, responsive and informed while raising their stature, as a department, as a strategic contributor offering more business value to internal and external stakeholders. We wish these organizations great success and as you can imagine we're here to help!
We’d also be happy to act on your behalf and get answers to the key questions and concerns you have pertaining to this subject. If you have questions leave a comment below, contact us through this web form, send us a Tweet or contact me personally on Linkedin. Help us shape the editorial agenda for this blog so you can get the most value out of what we produce.
Victor Bensusan is CEO and Co-founder of Yakidoo. He has 20 years experience in Finance and Information Technology primarily in the area of process automation, information management and business performance improvement.
More companies are reducing paper, cutting costs and seeing ROI but many more opportunities exist especially in process automation.
A growing number of companies, especially large organizations, are finally making some real progress in reducing paper documents and forms from their business processes. Much of this reduction appears to be focused on near-term document storage cost reductions and on improving document access, according to a recent survey by AIIM.
The survey of 477 individual members of AIIM was conducted between Nov. 2011 and Jan. 2012. It showed that companies are increasingly using electronic data capture and scanning technologies to reduce their dependence on paper. Such scanning and capture is key to process automation and is a linchpin of all accounts payable and other financial transformation projects.
Close to one in four of all companies surveyed by AIIM said they scan more than half of their incoming documents upon arrival. More than 40 percent of these companies have established at least the beginnings of an all digital mailroom. Meanwhile, about 25 percent of the companies in the survey said they do the scanning when a document enters a specific process department while close to 30 percent scanned half or more of their paper documents in the post-process phase.
According to AIIM, companies are turning to electronic data capture and scanning primarily to enable better document searches and document sharing. Other major drivers included reduced storage costs, faster response times and regulatory compliance. More than 20 percent of the large enterprises in the AIIM survey also identified reduced postage costs, and reduced transportation and document logistics as major reasons for adopting electronic document capture and scanning technologies. About 22 percent of the smaller businesses surveyed meanwhile said that one of their primary drivers was to enable better remote access to enterprise documents.
A majority of those surveyed said that document scanning and capture technologies had improved the speed at which they responded to customers, business partners and their own staff, by six times or more. Companies that funneled all their incoming mail through a digital mailroom reported even greater improvements in their ability to search for, share, and access corporate documents.
The AIIM survey also showed that companies could save significant storage space by moving to electronic-only document filing. More than 60 percent of the businesses surveyed said they currently use between 2 percent and 15 percent of their office space on paper storage. Most of these companies expect to reduce their storage space requirements by as much as 50 percent, and cut back on their operational costs by eight percent over the next five years, simply by moving to all-electronic document filing.
Interestingly, close to 50 percent of all the documents that were electronically captured were scanned exactly as they came out of the printer suggesting there was little need for a paper output in the first place. For instance, though a growing number of companies have begun electronically transmitting invoices in the form of a PDF file or a fax, more than 80 percent of these invoices were printed out on paper and then fed back into a scanner again. A majority of the remaining documents were also near-exact replicas of the original printed output, except for the addition of a hand-written signature.
Somewhat disappointingly, most organizations are still continuing to scan documents for the somewhat narrow purposes of archiving and routing documentsto appropriate departments. A majority of companies do not yet appear to view electronic document capture and content management technologies as key enablers of broader process automation. In fact, only 37 percent of the organizations that were surveyed, or less than one in four companies, actually captured text and data from scanned documents and fed it back into a business process for accomplishing tasks such as accounts payable transformation.
Importantly, the survey showed that while pre-process scanning can help reduce paper-handling costs dramatically, it does not eliminate paper costs entirely. The survey showed that companies on average still spend $3.50 on each paper form before it becomes an image file. Even paper forms and documents that are scanned incur costs such as those related to preparation, printing, mailing, distribution and sorting, the AIIM survey noted. Such costs can be eliminated only when companies go to direct electronic data entry and e-forms.
On average, companies that implemented document scanning and capture technologies reported returns on investment in 18 months or less. About 42 percent reported a payback period of 12 months or less while more half reported an 18-month period. Companies that did a lot of back-scanning of old documents generally took longer to report a payback compared to companies that adopted a “day-forward” approach to using the technologies, AIIM noted.
Yakidoo solutions and services make it possible for companies to capture and digitize unstructured data found in paper invoices, waybills, insurance claims etc and other formats such as email, fax and PDF documents. Yakidoo On-Premise, Managed and Cloud Solutions extract the data from these scanned documents and pass it on to backend ERP systems, content management systems and other core line of business applications.
We’d also be happy to act on your behalf and get answers to the key questions and concerns you have pertaining to this subject. If you have questions leave a comment below, contact us through this web form, send us a Tweet or contact me personally on Linkedin. Help us shape the editorial agenda for this blog so you can get the most value out of what we produce.
To stay up to date on new blog posts and Yakidoo’s solution offerings just subscribe via email or RSS feed.
Victor Bensusan is CEO and Co-founder of Yakidoo. He has 20 years experience in Finance and Information Technology primarily in the area of process automation, information management and business performance improvement.
Congratulations to CGA Ontario for a successful CGA of Ontario’s Controllers Congress on March 8and 9, 2012. This was Yakidoo’s second time exhibiting and we had a great time, met many delegates and learned what’s on the minds of accounting professionals when it comes to reducing costs and obtaining a quick ROI on their investment.
left to right: Howard Coles (Sr. Account Executive) Kofax, Phil Scarfone, Michael Goba
Many thanks to our business partner Kofax who sponsored Yakidoo at the event and was well represented there that day by Howard Coles (Sr. Account Executive).
The CGA of Ontario’s Controllers Congress which was attended by more than 300 members agenda included subjects such as Inspire Public Trust and Confidence; Increase Value of the CGA Designation; Excel at the Things that Drive our Strategy; and Foster Loyalty, Productivity and Personal Growth.
We look forward to supporting the CGA endeavours moving forward and to providing its members with Capture, Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Automation solutions.
Phil Scarfone is Vice President of Sales for Yakidoo. He has over 22 years experience in document management and technology. He has worked for top brands, such as Xerox, IBM and Canon, and held Senior Marketing Positions in all three.
The Yakidoo Team was represented by 5 staff members, and by Mark Star – Sales Specialist at Yakidoo’s Bermuda partner (AF Smith) and representation from a major Canadian Banking customer during the annual Kofax Transform Event in San Diego California.
Phil Scarfone (VP of Sales for Yakidoo), Joseph Haroun (Director of Technical Services) and Rodrigo Zefferino (Technical Specialist) attended formal ECMp designation training while Alfredo De Vanna (CTO and Co-founder) and Victor Bensusan (CEO and Co-founder) received certifications for Kofax latest product acquisition TotalAgility.
Other courses and training received included:It was not just about learning and networking, the Yakidoo team also toured the California Coast and the Mexico/USA border a day before the event started and attended a cocktail party organized by Kofax at the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
left to right: Mark Star (AF Smith), Victor Bensusan, Alfredo DeVanna, Joseph Haroun
Several blogs will follow shortly to introduce you to what Yakidoo learned during the 2012 Kofax Transform event.
Please do not hesitate to call your Yakidoo Sales Executive to learn more about Yakidoo or to discuss what Kofax products offer.
Victor Bensusan is CEO and Co-founder of Yakidoo. He has 20 years experience in Finance and Information Technology primarily in the area of process automation, information management and business performance improvement.
This is likely a question CFOs and finance leaders ask themselves as they look for ways to improve overall business performance. Seeking answers to this question can be a challenge however! For instance what does productivity mean? What are key productivity related work activities and outcomes should you measure?
Fortunately, the PRGX Productivity Index (recently updated for 2012) is a great resource to help you answer these questions. This report is issued bi-annually in partnership with the Institute of Financial Operations and APQC.
APQC is the leading source anywhere for best practices and performance benchmarks. With one of the world’s largest databases—based on more than 8,500 benchmarking and best-practice studies and growing—our members have access to data they can’t get anywhere else. We've spent years perfecting a rigorous research process and represent a track record of innovation in developing models, tools, and frameworks to help members improve.
Productivity is about two things: being effective and efficient. Efficient is how fast your staff can do something and effective is how good they are at doing it. It's about how AP functional tasks get done fast, at the lowest cost while producing the desired result (report, payment, resolution etc.).
The PRGX Productivity Index is a benchmarking report that uses the following key performance indicators (KPIs) for Accounts Payable productivity. Companies are surveyed regularly in order to find out how productive they are and what they are doing in order to be more productive. Below is the chart from the report that shows you what KPIs are measured and how they are weighted.
Yakidoo is helping organizations capture and digitize paper invoices as well as invoices received in other formats including those received via email or as PDFs, faxes and images. Automating this function alone can help companies eliminate costly inefficiencies that exist with manual keying and data entry.
Lean Finance and The New Normal
Cutting Invoice Process Costs Through Automation
Accounts Payable Automation and the C-Suite
Invoice Management and Manual AP Processes Continue to Plague CFOs
ECM in Action: Accounts Payable Electronic Processing
Alfredo De Vanna is CTO and Co-founder of Yakidoo. He has over 10 years of international experience deploying over 80 critical information technology and enterprise content management systems. He is fluent in English and Spanish.
With growth comes change and one of our biggest changes is our new digs! In November Yakidoo moved to our new home in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. For our international customers Oakville is located about 30 minutes west of Toronto, Canada and falls within the eastern timezone. Don’t worry we’re here for our customers 24/7.
We’re proud to be new corporate citizens of Oakville but still have family roots in Milton where Yakidoo was started by Alfredo and I. As we learn more about our new home we want the companies in Oakville to know that we are open for business!
Victor Bensusan is CEO and Co-founder of Yakidoo. He has 20 years experience in Finance and Information Technology primarily in the area of process automation, information management and business performance improvement.
I’d be surprised if you didn’t agree that the only certainty today regarding our economy is uncertainty. We’re all faced with the reality that we don’t know where the economy is headed.
As business leaders this means the decisions we make need to be careful and with low to no margins for error. We all need to find and preserve cash, cut costs and improve productivity.
These are challenging times! Investing in major transformation projects, ones that can be disruptive or perceived as such, are most likely on the back burner. Who’s going to recommend something radical and put themselves at risk?
But, isn’t now the time to think differently in order to get better? Is the status quo acceptable given this time of uncertainty? Shouldn’t we strive forward and focus on improvement and making next year better?
I recently read a White Paper from AIIM and Kofax that led me to ask these questions of my business and our customers. In “Capturing Data to Multiple Business Processes - what’s holding you back?” we learned that the companies that are scanning and capturing information are saving money, improving customer responsiveness and productivity. But, a few things jumped out at me.
First, scanning to archive remains the most popular application of scanning technology. Simply put this means at some point a document is scanned and the image is electronically stored so it can be retrieved faster than a paper version. The troubling statistic is that 60% of respondents manually index these documents. This means that someone manually inputs key information from each document in order to classify and find the document. They likely manually input the data into other line of business applications like CRM, accounting and ERP systems. Indexing and inputting should now be automated with manual intervention being used for exceptions only.
Second, many organizations aren’t adopting scanning to process strategies. What does this mean though you may ask? It’s simple really. A document (electronic or paper based), such as an invoice or a lab requisition form, is an integral part of a business process. The invoice is part of the accounts payable process. The lab form is part of the service delivery process. In both cases a scan to process strategy makes it possible to capture the data from the document and automatically input it into a line of business application and store the document electronically for future access and compliance, etc. Many businesses can make their processes more efficient and information handling more reliable simply by adopting scan to process strategies.
Third, the two major barriers preventing companies from adopting scanning to process strategies are, lack of IT resources and a lack of awareness amongst line of business owners on the value of implementing the strategy. IT resources are always constrained, so this is not a surprise, nor is the lack of awareness to be honest. However, those organizations implementing scan to process projects are seeing IT resource constraints being reduced and increased productivity in the affected departments.
Now could be the time to transform parts of your business. (Side note: We suggest taking baby steps in this post.)Scan to process projects that focus on cutting costs, improving productivity and easing pressures on staff may be a good New Years resolution for 2012.
Getting Substantial ROI on a Capture and Automation Project
Scanning and Indexing Tips For Waybills and Healthcare Records Using Kofax Express
Invoice Management and Manual AP Processes Continue to Plague CFOs
To stay up to date on new blog posts and Yakidoo’s solution offerings just subscribe via email or RSS feed.
Alfredo De Vanna, is CTO and Co-founder of Yakidoo. He has over 10 years of international experience deploying over 80 critical information technology and enterprise content management systems. He is fluent in English and Spanish.
