AP Automation for International Businesses
I’m fortunate to work exclusively with existing customers of SAP Concur, and without doubt we are seeing more clients than ever before exploring how they can leverage technology on a global scale to deliver the biggest impact possible on their road to recovery. Businesses are looking to drive efficiencies with any process tied to how money flows through their organisation and one of the quickest wins is to explore driving consistency in their AP Process.
If you have cross-border operations, work with global suppliers, or are thinking of going international, you might like to watch our AP Automation for International Businesses webinar.
In the talk, I discuss with Peter Fitzgerald from one of our partners Transfermate some of the key reasons why businesses with cross border operations are exploring how a centralised automated invoice process can improve productivity and reporting, as well as making cross-border payments easier.
It is part of our AP Automation Unpacked Webinar series, short talks that discuss how AP automation can help you can save time, reduce the pain of approvals, and get the data you need to control costs.
Standardising, Consolidating, and Scaling International AP Processes
Different regulations and currencies, plus disparate systems are just a few of the issues that add an extra level of complexity to your supplier invoice processes when you work internationally.
Harnessing the power of AP automation gives you a solution that standardises and consolidates systems globally, for both internal and external stakeholders. It minimises friction and the complexities that could be a barrier to growth. You also get a consolidated view of your data to help you manage cashflow and, ultimately, make better business decisions.
Here’s how it works with Concur Invoice.
At the invoice capture stage, AI reads the information from an invoice (whether it’s paper-based or electronic) and automatically enters it into your workflow to validate and send for approval – there’s no need for anyone to touch an invoice or enter any data. This is a huge benefit for AP teams that may not be in the office, or in multiple countries. The system can capture invoices from anywhere, at anytime and can be managed by different users depending on how your finance team is set up.
When it comes to validating an invoice, Concur Invoice automatically flags up any potential issues so you know where to direct your attention. This means that instead of having to check and validate every single line of every single invoice, you can focus your skills on managing the exceptions, improving and driving the right spend behaviours within your organisations.
Approvals are more straightforward too. Invoices can be approved via the same global Concur Mobile App that budget owners will be familiar with if already using the Expense. This means approvers can approve anytime, anywhere, and there is a complete audit trail.
But as anyone working in AP in an international business knows, AP processing is just the start of the complexity. The payments process brings challenges of its own. But by using PaymentsHub by SAP Concur partner TransferMate you can transform this stage too.
A Streamlined, Global AP Invoice Payment Process with PaymentsHub by TransferMate
Traditional cross-border B2B payments have several problems. There are multiple parties involved in the critical path, which lead to inevitable time delays. There are reconciliation issues because of multiple currencies and exchange rates. And with handling fees charged by each bank, the processing costs quickly add up.
PaymentsHub by TransferMate integrates seamlessly with Concur Invoice to solve these problems and save seven minutes for every payment processed.
It facilitates global payments with 163+ local bank accounts and 134 local currencies. It gives you a same-day transfer facility and transparent payment tracking. The amount billed is the amount received and there are no international wire fees.
You also have the reassurance of robust global regulation – TransferMate has one of the largest portfolios of payment licences in the world.
Get Set for Growth with AP Automation
The talk I recently did with our partner Transfermate is just a snapshot for how SAP Concur can help your international business. If you would like to speak to one of our AP Specialist to discover more simply get in touch - https://www.concur.co.uk/contact
Understand how a centralised automated invoice process can improve productivity, reporting and make cross-border payments easier.
Watch on-demand now: AP Automation for International Businesses