AP Automation Vendors Evaluation: Looking Beyond the Sales Pitch

Evaluating vendors is a crucial procedure within any organization, as its success profoundly impacts overall efficiency and data extraction results. For finance departments dealing with tasks like invoice scanning and extraction, this process takes on even more significance. To assist in this crucial task, this guide offers key elements to ponder while assessing vendors and presents a streamlined checklist.

Adding weight to the importance of vendor evaluation is the anticipated growth of the Global Accounts Payable Automation Market, which is forecasted to hit $5.3 billion by 2028, expanding at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.3%. This highlights the pivotal role of effective vendor selection in tapping into this expanding market.

Checklist for AP Automation Vendor Evaluation

1. Company Background and Reputation
   Investigate the vendor’s history, reputation, and reliability. Seek testimonials, case studies, and feedback from past clients.
2. Capability Analysis
   Evaluate the vendor’s ability to deliver as promised. Analyze their product or service offerings and their alignment with your company’s needs.
3. Benchmarking
   Compare your current process with the proposed solution. Use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to open an invoice, review it, key it onto the system, and post it to your purchase ledger for payment.
4. Invoice Processing Speed
   Determine the vendor’s invoice processing speed. Is their process more efficient than your current one? Can they handle both simple and complex scenarios?
5. AP Automation Capability
   Assess the vendor’s capacity to automate AP processing. Can their system accurately extract data from invoices? Consider sending them a few invoices to evaluate their system’s capability.
6. Potential for Process Automation
   Examine if your current process is suitable for automation. Understand what the system can and cannot automate without human intervention.
7. Purchase Order (PO) to Invoice Scenarios
   Evaluate the vendor’s ability to handle common PO to invoice scenarios. Can their system effectively match POs with invoices and process them without human intervention?
8. Integration with Existing Systems
   Assess the vendor’s ability to integrate with your existing systems. Do they have a successful track record of integrating with these systems?
9. Demonstration with Real Data
   Request a demonstration using your own data. This can help you understand how the vendor’s system would work with your specific data and processes.
10. Building a Business Case
    Determine if the vendor can help you build a compelling business case for investing in their product or service. Do they provide templates, calculators, and documents to assist in building a strong business case?

Selecting the ideal AP Automation vendor is a pivotal part of each project. Ensuring a comprehensive and systematic evaluation helps in aligning with an organization capable of delivering superior results tailored to your business requirements. Use this checklist as an exhaustive guide for making an informed and advantageous decision.

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