[Editor’s Note: Ardent Partners recently published its annual AP-themed report, The State of ePayables 2019: Driving Value in the Age of Intelligence. Today’s article is part of an on-going series focused on the report’s key findings. If you would like to get the full report, it is available for download here (registration required).]
Developing an intelligent Accounts Payable (“AP”) operation is a marathon – not a sprint. Accounts Payable leaders and their teams need to have the motivation, stamina, and long-term vision to go the distance. Along the way, there are numerous places and ways in which they can stray off course. Successful leaders keep their teams on track by continually assessing progress and correcting course as needed. These leading teams are well-equipped and strive for continual performance improvement. High-performing teams tend to be agile and nimble, allowing the enterprise to take advantage of efficiency and visibility gains, make more-informed decisions faster, and be more responsive to market opportunities. The more value an AP team delivers (remember: value must be regularly communicated to the enterprise-at-large), the easier it will be to win support from enterprise stakeholders to continue to invest in an intelligent AP function.
While intelligence is critical, a precise measure of AP intelligence is less important than the performance it generates. In point of fact, as a department (and the entire profession) matures, the definition of AP intelligence becomes a moving target; and it becomes relative to nearly all stakeholders in the Receive, Process, and Pay spectrum. After all, being “intelligent” means something slightly different to different functions and stakeholder groups within the enterprise. The impact of the Age of Intelligence can have a dramatic effect on operations and results, and extends across the different constituencies within the modern enterprise. [To learn more about how the Age of Intelligence is effecting different business functions like treasury, procurement, or the CFO/VP’s of finance, download The State of ePayables 2019 Report today.]
Today is an exciting time to be working in AP as a majority of teams continue to pursue and capture efficiency gains while simultaneously unlocking a whole host of new and more strategic opportunities. Accounts Payable leaders know that they must develop and expand the organization’s intellectual capacity and invest in ways to fully leverage it across the entire scope of operations. But while intelligence can be a great asset, if it is not applied or not applied correctly, its value is considerably lessened. The same thing can be said of an organization’s resources, efforts, and focus. Intelligent AP teams need to look outside the box to consider the broader impact of the capital flowing through their department to make sure they optimize cash to their advantage.
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