[Editor’s Note: Ardent Partners is pleased to present its latest report, Five Signs You’re Ready for an AP Transformation, sponsored by Tipalti. If you are interested in reading more about this topic, be sure to download the full report by clicking here.]

In today’s digital age, opportunities abound for enterprises to innovate and disrupt the status quo. There are fewer obstacles than ever for a growing business to increase market share and even create new markets. But, while the ability to make an immediate impact is more straightforward, the window to leave your mark is much smaller. For growing and mid-sized organizations, an inability to scale operations can constrain growth potential and impact attainment of organizational goals and objectives. As such, newer businesses have to be more aggressive and be willing to go all-in from the start.

Businesses now, more than ever, have the opportunity to leverage modern, cloud-based solutions to help manage key business processes, reduce costs, and improve productivity, all while gaining better control and visibility. Businesses that fail to leverage modern technologies have the potential to be left behind. If the enterprise stalls in a promising market, others are usually well-positioned to fill the void. And to succeed in today’s competitive market, leaders at growing and mid-size enterprises need to understand when it is time to pursue a transformation initiative and how to successfully launch and drive the process. One area that presents a significant opportunity for automation is the Accounts Payable (“AP”) process.

AP Automation Can Help Enterprise Growth

Accounts Payable, often thought of as a back-office, tactical function, presents a unique opportunity for many of today’s enterprises. All spend, regardless of who makes a purchase or where it is made — whether in the line of business, procurement, or elsewhere in the organization — must flow through AP. As a result, AP is sitting on a wealth of spend data that can be extremely valuable if it can be accessed and analyzed. Manual AP processes, spreadsheets, and paper checks that may have worked initially can quickly become outdated and be a constraint to an organization’s growth and development. Changes and challenges (read: opportunities) arise over time, and organizations need to know what to look for in order to ensure things keep working smoothly, relationships with suppliers remain strong, cash flow is managed properly, and visibility and controls are in place to help the organization continue on its trajectory.

There is tremendous value in automating processes like AP in order to move key resources away from the more tedious and tactical tasks to the higher value activities that have a greater business impact. The enterprise must constantly be looking to position itself with the right tools and processes in order to fuel growth and provide insights into how to create more value. It is important that AP leaders understand when it is the right time to pursue a transformation initiative.

Conclusion

As with any technology investment decision, it is essential to have an understanding as to the benefits and impact that an AP automation initiative can have, and understand how an AP transformation project can help the enterprise as a whole continue to improve and grow. Business leaders must look for key signs – like the inability to scale, lack of financial controls, poor cash management and supplier relationships, and a weak company appearance – that may indicate it is ready, or soon will be ready, for a transformation within AP. Once there is an understanding that the organization needs to upgrade in order to keep growing, a transformation plan can start and ePayables automation options can be explored to provide the company with the technology it needs to handle the increased demands being placed upon it.

To read the five key signs that can help determine if your enterprise is ready for an AP transformation, download the report here (registration required).

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Tagged in: AP Automation, Ardent Partners Research, eInvoicing, ePayables, Innovation, People, Process, Solution Providers, Technology