HOW DO YOU TURN INVOICE
MANAGEMENT FROM AN
ADMINISTRATIVE BURDEN
INTO A COMPETITIVE EDGE?
MASTERING YOUR BUSINESS CONTENT FLOWS
2
How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
SUMMARY
In business, there is in fact such a thing as a burden of success: In many cases, it comes in the form of invoices – lots of
them. And these invoices need to be managed. As businesses grow, so does their network of customers and suppliers.
And when production chains and value creation become ever more globalised, complexity increases while regulatory
demands grow. Manual processes may have taken a business so far – but at a certain point, they start to become
excessively labour-intensive, error prone and act as a drag on the organisation as a whole. And they become costly:
On average, it takes €8.47 to process each invoice, but this cost is more than doubled for the least effective companies.[1] The solution? Automation is key to boosting reliability and slashing the time and cost required to process
invoices – and it is easier to implement than one might think. Konica Minolta’s Managed Content Services help customers take control and streamline their invoice processes with digital invoice management solutions.
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
In the majority of companies, Accounts Payable departments
still run on manual processes that are incredibly labour-intensive. This is complex and time-consuming work and there is far
more involved than meets the eye. For example, arriving
invoices have to be matched with existing purchase order forms
and delivery records, they are passed for approval, payment is
made, and order and stock systems are updated. When the
invoices arrive, be it on paper where scanning would be
involved, or electronically as a PDF, some level of capture would
improve the routing of the invoice, and additional information
such as order number, customer reference, and even line items
could be recognised and checked. No wonder, therefore, that
Accounts Payable (29%) is the most popular capture-enabled
process application.[2]
International business serves to compound the challenges in
invoice management by adding multiple currencies, time zones
and a diversity of local laws and taxation regimes. Meanwhile,
the demands of auditors and regulatory compliance requirements mean that every step in the process has to be correctly
handled and documented to ensure secure, accurate records
that can withstand later scrutiny.
CAPTURE-ENABLED PROCESS
APPLICATIONS
INVOICE PROCESSING COST
€3.60 €8.47 €20.57
BEST IN CLASS
INDUSTRY
AVERAGE
€1.55
WITH AUTOMATED
PROCESSING
Leggett & Platt® Incorporated
LAGGARD
29% 12% 10% 8% 37%
ACCOUNTS
PAYABLE
ACCOUNTS
RECEIVABLE
CUSTOMER
SERVICE /
CASE MANAGEMENT
HR SYSTEM
Comspec Consulting & Konica Minolta, Improving and automating business
operations through information management – a benchmarking survey, 2018
NO CAPTUREENABLED
APPLICATION
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
As a result, Accounts Payable processes tend to be slow,
arduous and repetitive. This is inevitably fertile ground for
human error and most professionals working in Accounts
Payable departments will have stories of invoices being left
unpaid or even paid multiple times on account of a colleague
wrongly executing a simple data entry task.
In addition to such risks, sluggish invoice processing times can
have a significant material impact on a company’s bottom line
through interest on arrears or fees for late payment.
INVOICE PROCESSING TIME
3.7
8.8
14.3
DAYS DAYS
DAYS
BEST IN
CLASS
INDUSTRY
AVERAGE
LAGGARD
4 HOURS
WITH AUTOMATED PROCESSING
Leggett & Platt® Incorporated
It’s also important to note the costs involved in all this human
effort. The time taken to process an invoice is on average 8.8
days, with the worst performing companies taking up to 14.3
days.[3]
Of course, the key takeaway is just how much better the
best-in-class companies do in terms of processing time and
costs. And even more striking are the staggering improvements
made possible through automation.
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
TAKING INVOICING PROCESSES INTO
THE FUTURE WITH AUTOMATION
“The invoice management process is one that touches virtually
every department within an organisation and, as a result, the
negative impacts of the traditional way of doing things – either
by paper or e-mail – are very likely widely felt. From the
Accounts Payable department to the invoice approvers, our
digital invoice management solutions transform this
experience for each and every user by offering a far more
intuitive process. Invoices stop taking up so much of the
working day, which is hugely welcome. Thus, even considering
the extent of the transformation, these solutions tend to meet
with very high levels of acceptance within organisations. The
ultimate goal is to process more invoices in a fraction of the
time with far fewer resources and mistakes.”
Marcel Cobussen,
Business Development and Product Marketing Manager,
International Marketing Division, Konica Minolta Business
Solutions Europe
However, beyond this clear objective, automating the Accounts Payable process proves
attractive for a range of reasons. From an IT
perspective, an Accounts Payable project can
be run as a closed project to very tight timescales by applying well known technologies. At
the same time, the dramatic cost reductions
that can be realised offer a clear business case
for finance and senior leadership. For the
Accounts Payable departments, these systems
reduce the repetitive and laborious part of
their work and can thus increase productivity
and allow for focus on activities that are more
strategic and valuable to the business.
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
ACHIEVING OPERATIONAL
EFFICIENCY WITH KONICA MINOLTA
Konica Minolta works with its clients to move
beyond the limitations of their legacy Accounts
Payable processes through its Managed
Content Services offering. From consulting to
integration into IT systems, they offer a
complete solution from a single source.
Experienced consultants work with the
customers to provide both strategic insight
and practical hands-on assistance. Konica
Minolta takes a comprehensive approach to
help the whole organisation implement a
highly efficient digital invoice management
system able to deliver decisive competitive
advantage.
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
DIGITAL CAPTURE, CHECK AND APPROVAL OF
INCOMING INVOICES FOR GREATER
TRANSPARENCY, SPEED AND COST-SAVING
Konica Minolta’s digital invoice processing can help to save
time and money by optimising business processes. Thanks
to digital and automated editing, management and distribution of billing data, sources of error can be removed while
also preventing the “information silos” that result from the
local management of data. The solution can also be seamlessly integrated with existing ERP systems. A fully digitised
workflow also helps to improve collaboration by empowering mobile workers and remote offices. Konica Minolta’s
solution offers the following key benefits:
1. STRUCTURED CAPTURE
FOR GREATER TRANSPARENCY
The digital capture of all incoming invoices in
the company guarantees that all invoices are
displayed correctly in the system. It even
makes use of existing document scanners or
multifunctional systems to digitise paper
documents (such digital workflows can help
reduce paper consumption and an organisation’s CO₂ footprint).
2. READ INTELLIGENTLY
AND DISTRIBUTE
AUTOMATICALLY
Using text recognition and intelligent algorithms, the relevant billing data (delivery, date,
invoice number, etc.) are read out and recorded in the system. Forwarding to the corresponding department and the comparison with
the ERP system and financial accounting takes
place automatically and more quickly.
3. EXPEDITED APPROVAL
WORKFLOWS
Rules defined in the system regarding invoice
verification and approval ensure fast and
accurate invoice runs. A clear user interface
makes it easy for users to process the invoices,
with sub-examinations and adding comments
to the documents also made possible. Account
assignment stamps, manual signatures and
mail envelopes therefore become redundant.
4. TRANSPARENT,
TRACEABLE,
AUDIT-PROOF
The approval processes are logged completely
and thus every processing step can be reconstructed. The status of an invoice can be
checked faster and more easily when in the
search for documents. Especially in terms of
auditing and compliance requirements, this
factor is of high importance.
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
CUSTOMER VOICES: TON INC.
The Czech company has been producing bentwood furniture since 1953 and
preserves the same quality craftsmanship that furniture innovator Michael
Thonet originated in 1861. TON’s products have won various awards, including
Good Design, Red Dot Design Award and Czech Grand Design. It meets global
demand through its own sales network as well as remote employees. The
company needed ever-greater agility, while facing an increase of email traffic
and the challenge of inefficient paper-based legacy systems that had proved a
significant issue for invoice processing. In collaboration with Konica Minolta they
implemented a solution that exactly matches their needs.
“We had a major problem whenever an employee was out of the office for
several days and couldn’t approve or verify a particular document or invoice and
we were unable to enter it in the books,” recalled TON’s Sales Director, Robert
Valentík. “When I see that the managing director can now approve invoices
received on his mobile phone when on business trips abroad, it confirms to me
that we made the right decision.” By cutting out the burden of searching for
paper documents, TON has achieved an estimated daily time saving per
employee of fifteen minutes.
“Work with digitised documents and invoices is considerably
more convenient and data can be transferred to other
information systems. I think the K2 blackpearl solution on the
Microsoft SharePoint platform would be beneficial to any
company that wants to optimise processes and simplify
administration and invoice management.”
Robert Valentík,
Sales Director, TON a.s., Czech Republic
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL
“Even now, too many businesses are effectively working with one hand tied behind their backs,”
commented Marcel Cobussen. “There is so much potential in accounting departments that is
squandered on repetitive and very laborious tasks. With Konica Minolta solutions for invoice
processing, we can help businesses remove the financial overhead of this activity while freeing
up IT and accounting departments alike.”
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
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How do you turn invoice management from an administrative burden into a competitive edge?
SOURCE
[1]
Leggett & Platt® Incorporated
[2]
Comspec Consulting & Konica Minolta, Improving and automating business operations
through information management – a benchmarking survey, 2018
[3]
Leggett & Platt® Incorporated
07/2019
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, Europaallee 17, 30855 Langenhagen, Germany
www.konicaminolta.eu