The US AP Automation Market revenue is forecast to reach $1.7 billion in 2013, a 11.9 percent increase from 2012 revenue of $1.55 billion, according to PayStream Advisors, Inc. a research and consulting firm focused on back office financial applications. AP Automation Market-based delivery will experience healthy growth through 2016, when worldwide revenue is projected to reach $2.4 billion.

“After more than a decade of rapid growth, adoption of AP Automation solutions including continues to grow and evolve into Software as a Service (SaaS) together with outsourced and managed services within both enterprise and mid sized organizational markets,” said Henry Ijams, research director at PayStream.

“Increasing familiarity with outsourced and managed services such as approval workflow, electronic invoicing and payments continued to attract interest from controllers and finance managers. The market has benefited from demand to hold down finance staff budgets, the growth of one-stop managed services and interest in cloud computing,” Mr. Ijams added.

Although growing interest has been observed in electronic invoice software, the most widespread use is still characterized by use by large organizations with their largest trading partners. Managed and outsourced processes have allowed organizations to take advantage of distributed technology and virtual workforces .

Automation technology vendors are more aggressively pursuing AP Automation Market buyers outside traditional markets by offering local-language availability, forming alliances and constructing data centers to accommodate local requirements.

North America, specifically the U.S., currently represents the largest opportunity for AP Automation Market, and it is the most mature of the regional markets.

Henry Ijams related that we should expect a full and comprhensive global IT spending forecast in April 2013.