Tag Archives: Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment

Meet the 2014 Innovate Award Winners

At every Summit, PayStream Advisors has the pleasure of recognizing the year’s stand-out innovators in the field of AP and P2P automation. We BxHE9jVCEAAzabY.jpg largehighlight these leaders by giving out PayStream Innovate Awards, and the awards ceremony is one of the most important parts of the conference proceedings. For those who missed this presentation, here is a review of the dynamic P2P players that caught our attention and earned a 2014 Innovate Award.

Each year, we are amazed at the improvement in financial automation and at the success stories we witness throughout the financial software market—this year has been no exception. PayStream and the PayStream Advisory Board determines the winners of the Innovate Awards by taking a close look at both dynamic P2P solution providers and at organizations that have used P2P solutions dynamically. Among the solution providers, we separate the winners into three categories: AP Technology of the Year, Procurement Technology Year, and P2P Technology of the Year. These categories not only reflect the core themes of the Summit, but they are also representative of the cornerstones upon which PayStream’s research rests.

This year’s winner in the AP Technology Award was NVoicePay. Their ePayment Solution, AP Gateway, was the special component in their recent business movements and offerings that earned them the nomination and win. This product is remarkable for its flexible and simple design, its smooth workflow and vendor management capabilities, and its overall success in eliminating paper checks and creating savings for business. NVoicePay was a strong presence at the INNOVATE 2014, and PayStream believes they thoroughly earned this recognition.

Coupa was the winner of the Procurement Technology Award based on their remarkable purchasing solution, the Spend Optimization Platform. The Platform is robust, collaborative, and highly customizable—the perfect combination of attributes for an innovative eProcurement software. Also a strong presence at INNOVATE, Coupa has been drawing a lot of recent attention to their impressive company success and to the undeniable value of their software.

A summary of the previous two awards, the P2P Technology Award reflects the optimization possible in modern financial technology. SciQuest stood out to PayStream in this category, in large part because of their holistic approach to business process automation. The SciQuest Spend Management Suite reflects a profound focus on integration, synchronization, and accessibility that makes this product a shining example of P2P innovation.

Linda Dyck, Canadian Blood Services

Linda Dyck, Canadian Blood Services

PayStream also gives Excellence in AP Awards to a handful of organizations that have utilized a financial solution in a dynamic and collaborative way. The American Red Cross and Senior Director of Finance Business Support, Michael Harris, were first recognized for their impressive work in centralizing their shared services center, and in automating their AP and procurement process. In that same field of humanitarian work, the Canadian Blood Services and Linda Dyck earned an award for their work bringing better control and transparency to their invoice process and revitalizing their entire AP.

Along the lines of manufacturing, PayStream recognized Archer Daniels Midland and Suzanne LeoPoldi-Nichols, who employed an automations system to improve their AP transaction efficiency and optimize and expand their extensive global supplier base. The final company to receive the Excellence in AP award was GAF and Patricia Hutton. Their company used an integrated PO and invoice automation solution to free up their procurement department for more strategic activities, to enforce compliance, and to maximize spend.

PayStream enjoys this opportunity to give a physical memento to some of the solution providers we work with throughout the year and to some of the organizations that inspire us. Once again, congratulations to all the winners of the 2014 Innovate Awards. We look forward to seeing the great things you will do next in P2P success.

Supplier-Initiated EIPP: A Vital Compenent to eInvoicing and ePayments

Beyond the basic automatiologon of invoices and payments there is a necessity for a more specific technology that aids in streamlining the order-to-cash process. Originally, associated technologies usually served a supplemental purpose next to larger eInvoice and ePayment applications, but now, their importance is growing to a point of mainstream use. Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) solutions are one of technologies that are coming to the foreground in relevance and necessity due to the ways they maximize the use eInvoicing and ePayments to streamline the company’s workflow and the way they offer tremendous potential for users to better manage their financial supply chain and cash flow.

In PayStream Advisor’s most recent report, “Supplier-Initiated EIPP: Impacting the Entire Invoicing and Payment Lifecycle”, research has revealed that software developers have adopted a much broader perspective that encompasses the entire billing and payment continuum, increasing the importance of an integrated EIPP solution. By providing an in-depth overview of market trends and movements, this report identifies appropriate EIPP strategies and solutions that incorporate a holistic approach to supplier initiated invoicing and payments automaton—and it shows what they do to benefit those processes.

The report features results a from a collection of surveys focused on AP and AR automation, revealing trends and barriers in eInvoicing, ePayments, and EIPP solutions. Among the results, from price differences to common AP and AR goals, it is clear that many frequent processing issues could be aided by an effective EIPP solution. However, buyer adoption is a critical factor to the success of an EIPP Initiative, and marketplace acceptance is deterred by a lack of understanding and skepticism regarding its benefits.

The report shows thFg1_ The BPA Galexyat the benefits of technologies that bridge process gaps are especially beneficial for suppliers. These suppliers are best served by solutions that support all types of invoice delivery and remittance capture, not just EIPP. EIPP solutions are needed to provide automated remittance processing capabilities that address all sources of remittance advice, and in order to leverage captured transaction intelligence, suppliers need EIPP solutions that contain embedded workflows for dunning, dispute resolution, and other tasks. Suppliers also need a variety of distribution channels for invoice delivery.

There are multiple billing and payment channels for today’s B2B transactions, and EIPP solutions serve as an effective way to provide easy access to these channels and streamline their use. While most organizations send invoices in emails, this method does not address the reciprocal payment from the customer associated with the invoice, causing organizations to miss an opportunity to leverage greater process efficiency. EIPP solutions fix this problem, helping to coordinate and incorporate the entire lifecycle of the invoice.

The market for supplier initiated and holistic EIPP is growing and will continue to gain momentum due to the demands of AP organizations and the need for greater AR efficiency and Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) reduction. In effect, today’s providers often offer more than just a solitary EIPP solution, and as a result, there has been growth in the market for both EIPP and related billing and payment functionality. The report maps out the key features that providers often offer as part of their products and services.

In all, this report shows that EIPP solutions are not only vital for creating integrated processes, but integrated departments as well. While AP can transform itself into a profit center by expanding the credit card payments that generate rebates, AR can also reduce costs with the use of EIPP through increased productivity. More AP departments have launched supplier facing invoice portals than AR organizations have instituted EIPP solutions, but a synchronized implementation effort would have lasting effects on AP and AR interaction. Supplier initiated EIPP is one of the most proactive steps towards that connectivity, and PayStream Advisors believe this report is a vital tool for AR and AP professionals alike. Download a free copy here.