Article Abstract:

Technology is a powerful driver for economic growth from two perspectives.  First, as Tom Peters observed it “allows organizations to create business models in ways never dreamed of in earlier times.”  Examples of this include electronic commerce (the fastest growing retail segment), virtual corporations and cross-continental project collaboration.  These business models could not exist without the use of computer technology.  In addition, they replaced business models that were more costly and less productive.

Article Excerpt:

Beyond creating new business models, technology has fostered the ability of organizations to be faster, better and cheaper in everything they do.  Financial management was an early adopter of computer technology and large gains in productivity were quickly realized.  Big accounting staffs postings large amounts of transactions were replaced by computers.  Not only is the work performed more efficiently but with greater accuracy.

Despite these advances some areas of finance remain very much rooted in manual processes.  Accounts Payable is a prime example where despite the technical ability to exchange information electronically, 78% of all invoices are paper based.  AP staffs transform the information from the paper into computers for processing and payment.  This process requires significant labor and is error prone.  The irony is that almost all of these paper invoices were first created in a computer and then transformed to paper.

There are technologies available that allow a computer invoice to be received and processed by the trading partner’s computer.  The principle technology used is “Electronic Data Interchange” or EDI.  In EDI, the vendor prepares a file in a specific format and coding structure designed for the trading partner’s computer to read.  EDI file formats are very cryptic and require experience and expertise to properly design.  When the EDI file is properly prepared the system works well and invoices are sent electronically to the trading partner without any paper or data entry required.

The system is not without challenges.  The EDI file has to be created for the accounting systems of both trading partners.  If one trading partner makes a change to their accounting system, that change must be reflected in the EDI file format requiring an update.  Imagine, then, a vendor with several hundred trading partners trying to keep all the EDI file formats updated.  Because of the logistics and high cost involved, EDI is mostly used between trading partners with very large transaction volumes.

Since it is only practical for a fraction of businesses to use EDI there remains hundreds of thousands of businesses that need the advantages of “e-Invoicing.”  These are businesses that have to hire people to handle paper and enter data into computer based accounting systems.  Finance professionals universally applaud the value of e-Invoicing but it continues to be a promise of tomorrow.  That is, a promise of tomorrow until now.

e-now, e-Invoicing delivered today from FileBound®.  With e-now the vendor continues to send the invoice in paper form, but the trading partner is ready.  When the paper invoice arrives it is scanned and automatically indexed requiring no data entry by the AP staff.  The paper is destroyed and the business works with the invoice as an image and its key information as data – an e-Invoice.  The AP functions are handled using electronic data with the data being imported into the accounting system where a check (or e-Payment) is ultimately processed.  This reduced data entry means less staff time is required.  Not only is e-now faster than traditional data entry it is more accurate, eliminating data entry errors.

The cost is much less than you think.  Compared to costs of $30 or more per invoice to process manually, e-now costs just 25¢.  In fact, most ROI analysis shows a hard dollar pay-back in less than one year – a sure buy signal to the astute CFO.

FileBound e-now, tomorrow’s promise of e-Invoices today from FileBound.