AP Automation in the Cloud – Achieving Accounts Payable Excellence


Category: Blog  | ,


The path to achieving accounts payable excellence is AP automation in the cloud.

That’s the finding in the Aberdeen report “Achieving Accounts Payable Excellence in the Cloud.”  Aberdeen says that AP automation in the cloud directly correlates with superior invoice management and other capabilities essential to minimizing bottlenecks and optimizing performance.

The key benefits leading to accounts payable excellence are optimized invoice management and maximized user accessibility. AP automation in the cloud provides greater access across the enterprise by removing the reliance on VPNs when working remotely.

Aberdeen surveyed companies with and without AP automation in the cloud and found that of companies with AP automation in the cloud:

  • 97% have centralized invoice management processes, compared to 35% of those without a cloud solution
  • 97% have transaction audit trail history, compared to 30% of those without a cloud solution
  • 94% have consistent collaboration with procurement/purchasing to ensure invoice accuracy, compared to 16% of those without a cloud solution

Users of AP automation in the cloud are 3.9x as likely to be able to match invoices to purchase orders.

Aberdeen also looked at essential tools for expediting payment processing and found that of companies with AP automation in the cloud:

  • 94% have AP solutions fully integrated with their ERP or accounting platforms, compared to 18% of those without a cloud solution
  • 88% use automated reminders for outstanding items waiting for approval, compared to 20% of those without a cloud solution
  • 88% use dashboards summarizing current AP status and performance, compared to 9% of those without a cloud solution

On average, companies using AP automation in the cloud process 28,130 per month, compared to 9,862 for those using non-cloud solutions.  Their on-time payment rate is 91% compared to 75%.  The number of suppliers is 1,701, compared to 650.  And companies using cloud AP automation solutions show 72% of their invoices are based on a PO, compared to 62%.

Based on the data, Aberdeen says if excellence in invoice management is an organizational goal, the cloud is the best deployment option for AP solutions.  DocStar offer both cloud and on-premises solutions, so the choice is yours.

Read the Aberdeen report.

The path to achieving AP excellence is in the cloud.

The path to achieving AP excellence is in the cloud.