At PayStream’s 2014 INNOVATE, our partner, Ariba put together a very useful presentation on the notorious enemy of efficient AP: paper. Managing paper invoices is one of the most unrewarding parts of the AP process, as it requires valuable labor and time for non-value tasks like data entry and validation. Discrepancies, duplicate invoices, late payments, and missed discounts are all common results of a manual invoicing process. But while organizations can lose millions in potential revenue each year from processing errors, dependence on paper is a hard habit to kick. Of course, any of our regular readers know that the answer to these problems is a clean break from paper with business process automation, but this is often easier said than done. With the wide variety of P2P solutions and implementation methods available, it can be a little difficult to form a clear course of action to less paper and more efficiency.

In order to provide P2P professionals with one possible plan of attack for their paper dependency, and in honor of Accounts Payable week, we are re-sharing Ariba’s INNOVATE 2014 Learning Session, “Confessions of a Paperholic”. In this presentation, Ariba provided attendees with a 12-step plan to kick the paper habit through eInvoicing and procure-to-pay automation. These steps are as follows:

Step 1: Admit that you are powerless over paper. At least for the foreseeable future, paper is in AP and will remain in AP. A PDF file can never be better than the content from which is was created, so even if paper data has been converted to an electronic file, AP professionals will still have to deal with the inefficiencies of its original content structure. Instead of trying to fight uselessly against the source of the problems, look for ways to smooth over and transform these issues once they arrive in your system.

Step 2: Make a searching and fearless inventory of the true costs of paper invoicing. PayStream and P2P Innovators from successful organizations have found that metrics are key drivers of effective change. Make an effort to know your company’s data points from invoice receipt all the way to discounts and payments in order to determine the weak spots.

Step 3: Understand the power of eInvoicing to bring sanity to Accounts Payable Shared Services. You’ve identified the problems in quantifiable terms—now accept that there are solutions that can fix those problems in real-world terms.

Step 4: Make a decision to embrace the power of networked eInvoicing. If you’ve done the groundwork of evaluating the problems and accepting the power of a invoicing solution, this should be no problem. eInvoicing is the beginning of enhanced processes throughout a company’s P2P activity.

Step 5: Be Smart! – Let eInvoicing remove all exceptions and defective data. Don’t get in the way of a business process solution making your life easier—that’s what it has been designed to do! Instead, take advantage of the automatic validation and reallocate your staff to more productive areas.

Step 6: Enlist the help and wisdom of a (support) Network that has discovered the power of eInvoicing. Be careful and particular when evaluating an eInvoicing service provider. Don’t settle for less when you can work with a fully robust, experienced, and interactive network.

Step 7: Make a list of all your vendor invoices and make a plan to digitize them all! This involves taking a stand and remaining firm. Proactively move your suppliers from paper to electronic submission, and once you’re on the way to a steady state of automated invoicing, don’t let paper back into the process!

Step 8: Enable direct eInvoicing for vendors wherever possible, and have options for the rest. Of course, fully onboarding vendors is easier said than done, but for those who aren’t in the system, have alternatives that fit with your company’s specific structure and needs.

Step 9: Ensure compliance to PO and contracts and, when there is an error, correct it automatically. Once again, put your AP foot down for your business rules, but then sit back and watch the P2P software do the hard work of validation.

Step 10: Seek to improve your return on eInvoicing through the power of dynamic discounting. PayStream has found that many companies—even those with other business process automation—don’t take advantage of Dynamic Discounting Management (DDM) software. While eInvoicing helps companies pay their bills faster by default, utilizing DDM simplifies and increases opportunities for capturing early payment discounts.

Step 11: Realize the full business case and embrace the benefits of eInvoicing. Once a company has spent the time implementing an eInvoicing solution, reorganizing business priorities, and reallocating labor, it is time to take a step back and watch the efficiency run throughout the P2P procedures. Not only is the invoicing process enhanced, but the company will see improvements and returns in contract compliance, working capital, discount capture, and process cost containment, among other things.

Step 12: Having been awakened to the power of eInvoicing, close the loop with the rest of your organization. Integrating your entire company with the success of the AP department will cause that success to spread. Educate other departments on the activity and benefits of the business process solutions, and streamline company policy and procedures to ensure the solutions are working in an optimal business environment.

In all, these steps are pretty straightforward and PayStream believes they offer a proactive and optimistic take on eliminating paper. The end result for companies who follow these steps and begin their business lives as recovered paperholics? According to Ariba, paperless zen. Happy Accounts Payable week!