July 2, 2018 — Best-in-class businesses have adopted e-invoicing at rates nearly double their competitors – 71% vs. 38% – according to a new report from Ardent Partners, a resource and advisory firm. The State of ePayables 2018 report – a comprehensive, industry-wide view of what is happening in the world of accounts payable (AP) – sponsored by Corcentric, captures the experience, performance, perspective, and intentions of nearly 200 AP and finance executives, leaders, and professionals, and describes how top-performing businesses manage spend.

Additionally, the report describes that the strategic value in the Best-in-class AP unit is mainly derived from this group’s reliance on: P2P automation (52% vs 24%) and business networks (48% vs 28%).

The report includes benchmarks, analyses, and recommendations that finance and AP leaders can use to gain insight into best practices and compare their performances to Best-in-Class organizations, ultimately improving their operations and performances.

Best-in-Class enterprises, defined in this research report as the 20% of businesses with the lowest average invoice processing cost and shortest average invoice average process cycle times, enjoy a broad range of performance advantages over their peers, including:

  • A five-times lower cost to process the average invoice
  • A 2.5 times faster time to process a single invoice
  • A 50% lower invoice exception rate
  • A 2.4 times higher rate of straight-through processing

Straight through processing (STP) is a cornerstone of the Best-in-Class accounts payable function with 74% having this ability. STP not only eliminates manual and paper-based invoice processing, it also enables automated reconciliation, improved supplier relationships and, most importantly, it can open a new world of cash management options like early payment discounts.

Another key differentiator of the Best-in-Class is self-service supplier portals (61% vs. 24%). These enable global suppliers to transact and communicate with their customers across the procure-to-pay (P2P) process.

In 2018, Best-in-Class businesses are:

  • Nearly twice as likely as all other organizations to leverage blockchain technology to support greater financial initiatives.
  • Forty-three percent (43%) more likely than all other enterprises to integrate Artificial Intelligence into their AP solutions.
  • Forty-one percent (41%) more likely than all other businesses to leverage B2B e-Payments.

P2P solutions streamline processes, like purchasing, invoice processing, and payment, and enable businesses to execute more persistent procurement processes, more holistic transactions, and increase visibility into enterprise spend. The full report is available for free download from Corcentric.

MEDIA CONTACT

Rob Tacey
Director, Communications & Public Relations
[email protected]
(302) 897-3094

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