Efficient financial management is crucial for maintaining the health and growth of any organization, and the accounts payable process lies at the heart of this.
Infor Accounts Payable is a comprehensive solution designed to streamline and optimize the management of payable processes by automating invoice processing, enhancing accuracy, ensuring compliance, and providing real-time visibility into financial transactions.
In this article, we explore the key features and benefits of Infor Accounts Payable, highlighting how it transforms the traditionally time-consuming and error-prone accounts payable function into a smooth, efficient, and strategically valuable component of financial operations.
Key Takeaways
- Infor Accounts Payable Automation enhances efficiency and reduces costs by automating invoice processing, integrating seamlessly with existing ERP systems, and providing real-time data visibility.
- Key features such as automated invoice capture, invoice matching and validation, and exception handling streamline workflows, minimize manual data entry errors, and improve overall accounts payable processes.
- Enhanced payment processes, including automated payment voucher creation and approval routing, improve payment accuracy and timeliness, fostering stronger supplier relationships through consistent and reliable transactions.
Understanding Infor Accounts Payable Automation
Businesses are making a significant leap forward from traditional methods to Infor Accounts Payable Automation for invoice processing in the modern enterprise landscape. Embracing Infor’s solution means saying goodbye to tedious, manual data entry and welcoming an era of streamlined, cost-effective payables management.
This intelligent system is tailored to streamline the procure-to-pay process, bringing a new level of efficiency and cost reduction to your operations. Adopting this technology provides companies with an AP solution that automates invoice approvals and aligns with their unique business needs through a robust, role-based system.
Infor AP Automation offers the following benefits:
- Faster access to complete invoice information
- Enhanced efficiency and a clear view of company’s cash flow
- Streamlined, cost-effective payables management
Key Features
Infor AP Automation stands out with a few critical features designed to tackle the challenges of traditional invoice processing. At the heart of its capabilities is the automated invoice capture, ensuring every document is tracked and processed with precision. The system leverages advanced technologies to facilitate document creation, PO management, and invoice approvals, dramatically cutting costs and boosting supplier performance.
Automation extends beyond capturing invoices to syncing invoice coding and payment data, ensuring a smooth collaboration between Infor’s technology and other external systems. This holistic approach to AP automation means more than just cost control; it provides businesses with the support and visibility needed to manage paper-heavy processes effectively.
Integration with Infor ERP Systems
The power of Infor AP Automation is magnified by its seamless integration with other Infor ERP systems. Businesses integrating directly with Infor Lawson Financials can streamline invoice processing to fit perfectly into their existing workflows.
Cloud-based ERPs are the backbone for this integration, acting as a central hub for all operational and financial data. Applying AI and machine learning to this data enables companies to achieve end-to-end visibility across their operations, a key advantage of integrating Infor ERP systems with AP automation.
Benefits for Businesses
Infor AP Automation is more than a technological solution—it’s a business transformer. The key benefits for businesses are significant, with improvements in efficiency and accuracy leading to an impressive reduction in costs by up to 90% and accelerated approval times. These gains are not just numbers but real, tangible improvements that can reshape a company’s core processes.
Beyond efficiency, the system incorporates compliance checks, which relieve the burden of verifying vendor compliance and assure consistent adherence to regulations. Infor’s AP solution streamlines accounts payable processes, enabling businesses to confidently navigate the complex landscape of payables for smoother, more compliant, and efficient operations.
Streamlining Invoice Processing
Diving into the heart of invoice processing, Infor AP Automation emerges as a beacon of efficiency, eliminating manual, paper-based steps that have long plagued businesses. This automation transforms the processes into a well-oiled machine that propels invoices from receipt to payment, requiring minimal effort for maximal productivity. The benefits of such an automated approach are clear:
- Fewer human touchpoints
- Better management of exceptions
- Acceleration of the entire accounts payable workflow
- Improved cash flow management and control
- Instant access to up-to-date financial data for better transparency and decision-making
- Increased efficiency through automated AP processes
- Minimized risk of errors
Automated Invoice Capture
The Automated Invoice Capture feature is the linchpin of Infor AP Automation’s effectiveness in invoice processing. Utilizing OCR technology, the system digitizes invoices to eliminate manual data entry and associated errors effectively. As invoices are scanned, stored, and tracked with minimal human intervention, data accuracy is dramatically improved, laying the foundation for a reliable AP process.
Artificial intelligence further enhances this system as it learns and adapts to organizational needs over time, increasing operational efficiency with each invoice processed. This eliminates paper-based processes and propels productivity to new heights, ensuring that the data captured is as accurate as it is timely.
Invoice Matching and Validation
At the crossroads of accuracy and efficiency lies Invoice Matching and Validation, a critical component of Infor AP Automation’s approach to streamlining invoice processing. Through N-way, multi-document matching, the system validates invoices against purchase orders and receipts, ensuring the accuracy of every document processed, including matched invoices. This meticulous matching process minimizes discrepancies, reducing the need for time-consuming manual verification efforts and paving the way for a more touchless workflow.
The result is a process that is not only faster but also more reliable, giving businesses the confidence that their invoices are matched and validated with precision. It’s an assurance that each payment is backed by the right documentation every time.
Exception Handling
However, even the most streamlined systems encounter discrepancies, and this is where Exception Handling comes into play. Infor AP Automation is equipped with mechanisms to effectively manage these discrepancies, ensuring document verification is both prompt and exception-based. With a system that learns from past exceptions, the touchless processing rate improves, and companies can improve efficiency across core business units.
Timely notifications and assistance throughout the invoice lifecycle mean that discrepancies are handled and become learning opportunities for the system. The result is a continuously improving process that excels at managing exceptions and maintains a high rate of touchless processing.
Enhancing Payment Processes
Transitioning from invoice processing to payments, Infor AP Automation again demonstrates its prowess by optimizing payment workflows and reducing the propensity for errors. Diminishing the need for manual intervention streamlines payment processes, leading to timelier payments and enhanced visibility into payment statuses and alerts. Automation isn’t just a path to efficiency; it’s a bridge to a more strategic handling of cash flow.
As businesses look to enhance their payment processes, digitizing invoice approvals is a significant step forward. Infor AP Automation facilitates this digitization, ensuring that the process is faster and imbued with earlier cash-flow visibility for businesses and their suppliers, fostering a more harmonious financial ecosystem.
Payment Voucher Creation
A key feature in the enhanced payment processes is Payment Voucher Creation, which significantly shifts from manual payment documentation to automated efficiency. Infor AP Automation automatically generates payment vouchers for verified invoices, eradicating delays and securing timely payments.
The system’s Auto Voucher feature can be tailored for each vendor, adding an extra layer of customization and ensuring that vouchers are generated in alignment with specific business requirements.
The Generate A/P Transactions form aids in the automatic creation of vouchers for received purchase order lines, further streamlining the open transaction process and ensuring payments are punctual and accurately documented every time.
Payment Approval Routing
With Payment Approval Routing, Infor AP Automation redefines the payment approval process. Automated invoice approvals increase accuracy and compress approval times, making the system an invaluable tool for businesses aiming to maintain a swift and precise payment cycle.
Customizing approval workflows to fit organizational policies ensures that the necessary documents are always ready for review, which, combined with the system’s real-time notification of discrepancies, enables a rapid and informed approval process.
This level of control and efficiency is not just about keeping the payments on track; it’s about providing a seamless experience for those involved in the approval process, ensuring that every payment is made with confidence and backed by a robust system.
Integrated Payments
Integrated payments are the capstone of Infor AP Automation’s enhancement of the payment process. The system ensures the automated creation and delivery of payment-related documents, establishing a foundation for a smooth and transparent payment execution.
With Infor Nexus at the helm, integrated payments are not just a feature but an experience, enhancing cash flow visibility for both buyers and suppliers and ensuring that global supplier payments are managed efficiently.
Compliance with local laws and regulations during payment transactions is another cornerstone, ensuring businesses can navigate the complexities of global payments without compromising on efficiency or legality. This integration of payments within the AP process is a testament to the system’s ability to provide a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for modern businesses.
Real-Time Data Integration
In today’s fast-paced business world, real-time data integration is not just a luxury but a necessity. With Infor AP Automation, the system integrates data in real-time with Infor ERP systems, reducing errors and bolstering efficiency, making manual data entry a thing of the past. The benefits of such integration are clear: up-to-date records are critical for accurate financial reporting and informed decision-making.
This integration enhances more than just record-keeping; it promotes better decision-making and operational excellence by enhancing visibility and transparency across the supply chain. With real-time data at their fingertips, stakeholders can navigate the complexities of the supply chain with greater agility and insight.
Syncing Invoice Data
One of the most impactful aspects of real-time data integration is the ability to sync invoice data, and Infor AP Automation ensures record accuracy and streamlined operations with this feature. Cloud connectivity is pivotal in allowing this seamless data flow, providing enterprise-wide visibility and ensuring the latest information is always available.
The continuous sync of invoice data between Medius’s cloud-based system and Infor ERP, including Infor CloudSuite, is a prime example of this feature in action, guaranteeing that businesses have access to the most up-to-date invoice information at all times. This real-time synchronization is not just about keeping records straight; it’s about enabling companies to act on the most current data, a critical advantage in today’s competitive landscape.
Periodic Updates
The dynamism of Infor AP Automation is further exemplified through periodic updates. Regular updates to ERP systems are essential for maintaining data accuracy and system efficiency over time. Software updates, delivered through integration tools, maintain the system’s efficiency and security and equip it with the latest features and improvements.
Staying current with these updates is not just about having the latest technology; it’s about ensuring that the system continues to meet the evolving needs of the business and maintains its position as a reliable, cutting-edge solution for AP automation.
Visibility and Transparency
The theme of visibility and transparency is woven throughout the fabric of Infor AP Automation. The system supports better decision-making and drives operational excellence by providing stakeholders with access to up-to-date information. Real-time visibility enhances operational efficiency and enables data-driven decisions that can significantly improve business outcomes.
This transparency is not confined to a single aspect of the supply chain but extends throughout, leading to improved collaboration and better relationships with suppliers and partners. It’s a level of clarity that empowers businesses to:
- Act with confidence
- Make informed decisions
- Identify and address issues promptly
- Build trust with stakeholders
Improving Supplier Relationships
Infor AP Automation is instrumental in refining internal processes and enhancing businesses’ relationships with their suppliers. Timely payments, facilitated by automation, are the cornerstone of building trust and fostering collaboration. With Infor AP Automation, businesses can establish a strong foundation of trust with their suppliers by ensuring payments are made on time and errors are minimized.
The solution’s ability to streamline the entire Procure-to-Pay process, including document creation, PO management, and invoice approvals, further cements this trust by demonstrating a commitment to efficiency and reliability. These improved supplier relationships are not just about smoother transactions; they’re about creating a partnership that can withstand market fluctuations over time.
Vendor Management
Vendor Management is critical in improving supplier relationships, and Infor AP Automation significantly simplifies this process. The system reduces errors and expedites the onboarding process by:
- Converting paper-based documents to automated digital processes
- Streamlining validation processes
- Ensuring that onboarding is not just faster, but more accurate
With Infor Nexus, onboarding becomes less about paperwork and more about establishing a solid foundation for ongoing relationships. Some benefits of using Infor Nexus include:
- Enhancing the accuracy and validity of documents and data
- Reducing manual data entry
- Making vendor information maintenance more efficient
- Saving valuable time and resources that can be better allocated elsewhere
Enhanced Communication
Communication is the lifeblood of any strong business relationship, and Infor AP Automation takes it to a new level. The system keeps communication lines open by providing suppliers with real-time updates on invoice status and payments. This is bolstered by mobile AP solutions, which allow professionals to manage accounts payable processes remotely, ensuring that communication with suppliers remains uninterrupted even when on the move.
These real-time updates are not just about keeping suppliers informed; they are a testament to the company’s commitment to transparency and efficiency. It’s a key benefit that fosters trust and reinforces the partnership between businesses and their suppliers, ultimately leading to more harmonious and productive collaborations.
Performance Tracking
Performance tracking is the final element in improving supplier relationships through Infor AP Automation. The system allows businesses to monitor supplier performance closely by providing real-time data and insights, ensuring high standards are maintained across the board. Analytics tools within Infor AP Automation help track key performance metrics such as delivery times and quality compliance, offering a comprehensive view of supplier performance.
Timely notifications of discrepancies also play a pivotal role in keeping supplier performance at its peak. With such capabilities, businesses can:
- Maintain overall supply chain efficiency
- Improve overall supply chain efficiency
- Ensure relationships with suppliers are built on mutual success and continual improvement
Getting Started with Our Team
Whether you need help implementing new Infor solutions for the first time, additional support navigating complex integrations with external systems, or just an extra hand maintaining effective communication routes across teams, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our senior-level Infor consultants have the skills and experience to understand your critical project needs, create effective action plans, and ensure your internal teams are prepared for success in the long run.
Contact Us
For more information about our Infor/Lawson consulting services or to get started on a project with our team of experts, contact us today.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Infor AP Automation enhance invoice processing efficiency?
Infor AP Automation enhances invoice processing efficiency by automating invoice capture, validation, and exception handling, reducing manual efforts and errors and improving productivity.
Can Infor AP Automation integrate with existing ERP systems?
Yes, Infor AP Automation integrates seamlessly with existing Infor ERP systems, allowing for real-time data syncing and streamlined workflows.
How does Infor AP Automation contribute to improved supplier relationships?
Infor AP Automation contributes to improved supplier relationships by ensuring timely payments, reducing errors, enhancing communication, and providing real-time updates and performance tracking. This leads to better collaboration and trust, which ultimately strengthens the relationship between buyers and suppliers.
Are there any additional benefits of real-time data integration with Infor AP Automation?
Yes, real-time data integration with Infor AP Automation offers accurate financial reporting, improved decision-making, and enhanced visibility across the supply chain.
