It is an interesting solutions
landscape out there in the accounting/AP world today. More and more
organizations are trying to become as "paperless" as possible, but
the inflow of invoices just keeps increasing. There are so many options out
there, and with every major accounting/AP software vendor now touting their
"Document Management" module or add-on, what are managers in this
department supposed to do?
 |
| Thoughts on AP Automation and Document Capture |
Although I am a
proponent of the pilot program philosophy, especially with ECM and Document
Management, there needs to be an organizational plan and strategic vision with
regards to automating AP processing. If every department put their software
vendor solution into play, IT would have a major nightmare handling multiple
disparate systems to manage company documents. Along with that, the majority of
specialized departmental software falls way short in the document capture and scanning
portion of their functionality.
So what is the answer?
Find a solid enterprise solution that can be customized for each department's
specific needs. Easier said than done, but in focusing on Accounting and Invoice Solutions, here are some key points:
- Focus on document capture - a quick, easy and reliable method for
converting paper into digital format is essential. Utilizing a capture
front-end such as iCapture can speed up the scanning process, and make the
documents available to end users quickly.
- Look at integration - Most accounting software will
tout this as a major advantage to their Document Management modules...one
place for all your info. In reality, no one piece of software can be a
"jack of all trades"; let the Accounting Software do what it
does best, and find a Document Management vendor to handle your documents.
All of the major vendors have Software Development Kits (SDKs) and
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow you to integrate
these systems with just about any application on your network.
- Look at possible future initiatives - That system may
have a rock solid Accounts Payable Automation piece, but what about all
the other document types? Contracts, POs, invoices, vendor information,
tax info, etc. Ensure that the system you are evaluating can handle all
document types, and not just specific functional areas.
- Get end users involved - There are so many key factors
to success on these types of projects, but success will always lie in the
end users ability to quickly adapt and utilize the system. Get their
feedback and acceptance before moving forward.
Accounting Management
realizes their need for Document Management and Intelligent Document Capture,
but the task is daunting, and in most cases totally overwhelming. Get your IT
involved, and a reputable vendor with implementations in like organizations.
Website: www.informdecisions.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment