How AP automation helps midsize businesses
Accounts payable automation is no longer a luxury limited to large corporations. It's not just a great asset for your midsize business (typically around $50M - $1B annual revenue); it's a tool that benefits both you and your customers you can't overlook.
Yet, only 5% of mid-sized companies have completely automated accounts payable and receivable.
Source: PYMTS.com
The numbers are shifting, and more midsize businesses are tapping into the power and ROI of AP automation. Awareness of the value of AP automation solutions is growing, AI-driven solutions are more powerful, and customers expect your business to have the tools needed for efficient payment processing. Let’s take a look at some of the ways AP automation can help you and your team.
Reduce paper and manual labor.
Handling paper receipts, invoices, and manual labor are age-old headaches for midsize businesses, but they are still a persistent challenge. Traditional AP processes are very paper-heavy and take a lot of time with printing, scanning, and manual data entry. Not only is this inefficient for your team, but it also leads to human errors, delays, and added costs.
By switching to AP automation, you can drastically reduce paper and manual labor. Going digital with e-invoicing not only makes things smoother but also lets your team focus on bigger, more important things. Today’s AP solutions leverage artificial intelligence to do the heavy lifting, like scanning receipts, matching invoices, routing approvals, reducing duplicates, eliminating common human errors, and more.
Instead of being stuck processing invoices for hours, you can direct your efforts towards activities that drive your business growth.
With AP automation, you can achieve these KPIs:
Best in Class Key Metrics using Medius
99.7%
Touchless Capture Rate
94.9%
Touchless Processing Rate
1 Day
Total Processing Time
Source: AP Benchmark Report | Medius
Scale as you grow.
As a midsize business, you likely find yourself in a unique position where growth presents both opportunities and challenges. As your company grows, so do the number of invoices, payments, and supplier connections. Manual AP efforts become hard to keep up with, staff gets burnt out, and suppliers get frustrated with late payments, all of which can really hinder growth.
The right AP automation solution grows with your business. By automating accounts payable, you can handle more transactions without needing extra staff or resources. This scalability is crucial and game-changing, helping you respond quickly to market demands. You don’t have to stress about handling increased demand because automated workflows, approvals, and payments make it easy to adjust to changing business needs.
Read how AP Automation helps organizations scale for growth.
Minimize risk and protect against fraud.
Fraud is a big worry for any business, but midsize companies are at extra risk because they have fewer resources for spotting and stopping it. Handling invoices and payments increases the chance of fraud attacks, which can lead to serious financial trouble.
Fraud attacks in finance
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The 2024 survey reveals that nearly half (44%) of businesses have been targeted by invoice fraud.
On average, financial professionals saw 13 cases of attempted invoice fraud in the past 12 months. Additionally, financial professionals have witnessed 9 cases of successful invoice fraud in the past 12 months. However, invoice fraud isn’t the only threat. -
Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams hit 43% of businesses surveyed.
Between October 2013 and December 2022, the FBI received reports of 277,918 domestic and international incidents of BEC, leading to an aggregate loss of nearly $51 billion. Additionally, a third (34%) of businesses have been targeted by identity theft.
Source: Medius Financial Census Report
With AP automation, you can significantly boost your fraud prevention efforts. Automated systems have security features that catch suspicious anomalies, such as duplicate invoices, supplier mismatches, and more. Over 1 in 5 mid-sized firms expect better fraud prevention by automating AP or AR processes in the next three years. As fraud grows and new fraud schemes arise, like deepfake scams, it’s critical for you to keep your financial information and processes protected with secure solutions.
Save invoice processing time and increase cash flow.
Time is money, especially in accounts payable. The longer it takes to process invoices, the longer it takes to pay and manage cash flow effectively. Late payments can strain supplier relationships and cause you to miss out on early payment discounts.
Do you know that industry benchmarks show $2.81 as the perfect cost per invoice for a seamless, highly automated AP process? Yet, many organizations have an average of $9.87 per invoice. That’s a lot of room for improvement.
With AP automation, you can significantly reduce invoice processing time. Invoices are automatically captured, matched, and sent for approval, often within seconds. This not only speeds up payments but also enhances cash flow management. By taking advantage of early payment discounts and avoiding late fees, you can boost cash flow and reinvest in your business.
Want to learn more?
See how Medius is helping midsize businesses like yours.
“The hours spent on manual work has reduced dramatically.
We managed to integrate three business units and haven't required an extra team resource. This has given us the opportunity for growth.”
Rebecca Moxley
Group Financial Controller, LifeHealthcare
