Accounts payable has always taken more time than people expect. Paper files, email chains and scattered spreadsheets often pull finance teams away from the work they’d rather be doing.
Even with a reliable ERP like Sage 300, teams still feel the strain. That’s why Sage 300 users are adding AP automation as the missing piece that makes the whole process feel smoother and more controllable. Allowing organizations to reduce risk and gain real-time financial insight.
The Growing Pressure on Finance Teams
Finance teams today face mounting pressure to do more with less. Rising invoice volumes, tighter compliance requirements, and expectations for faster close cycles all strain already stretched resources. Manual AP processes amplify this even harder for your team. Keying invoice data by hand, chasing approvals, and reconciling errors not only slows them down, but also increase the likelihood of mistakes and fraud.
Because of this, your team is likely forced to jump from task to task and system to system just to make everything work. Invoices arrive in multiple formats and locations, approvals happen outside the ERP, and visibility into liabilities is limited. It's a challenge that can quickly change AP into a nightmare.
Faster Invoice Processing and Approvals
Your time, and your team’s time, is valuable. Automation helps you protect that time.
Automated AP solutions capture invoice data electronically, eliminating manual data entry and reducing processing times from days to hours, or even minutes. No more time wasted keying in data, correcting mistakes, and navigating between multiple systems.
Invoices are automatically routed for approval based on predefined rules. No more documents getting lost in the shuffle or forgotten about. No more chasing down approvals. After an invoice has been delivered, regular reminders are sent to the approver until the invoice is signed off on.
This means fewer delays caused by misplaced invoices or unavailable approvers. The increased speed helps you avoid late payments and take advantage of early payment discounts. That leads to happier suppliers, increasing the likelihood of capturing early payment discounts and earning even better rates in the future.
Faster processing also supports more accurate cash flow forecasting, giving you greater confidence in your numbers.
Improved Accuracy and Reduced Risk
No matter how careful, people are going to make mistakes. Typos, missed invoices, and more can drastically slow down your payables process. AP automation reduces these risks. AI assistance, machine learning, and optical character recognition help you capture validating invoice data with up to 99% accuracy. The AI also scans your system and catches duplicates before they enter further into the payables process.
With full transparency of the AP process, you also keep a clear record of who approved what and when. That makes audits easier for everyone involved, especially when it matters most, like at month and year end close.
For organizations running Sage 300, this level of control is especially valuable. Automated AP solutions integrate directly with your ERP. That gives you a single source of truth to work from, ensuring that everyone is working with the same data and has access to it when they need it. With fewer errors and stronger controls, you can shift your focus from fixing problems to preventing them.
Real-Time Visibility and Better Decision-Making
Without good data, you’re essentially flying blind when it comes to decision making. Manual processes often leave you in the dark, relying on outdated reports or incomplete data. Automation provides turns on the lights by providing real-time insight into invoice status, outstanding liabilities, and approval bottlenecks.
It also gives you the ability to accurately manage cash flow and quickly identify areas where your process isn’t running as smoothly as you’d like. With accurate, up-to-date AP data flowing into Sage 300, your team and leadership gain rest comfortably knowing that the most accurate and up-to-date information is always at their fingertips.
Enhanced Supplier Relationships
Keeping your suppliers happy is key. They expect timely, accurate payments, and they’re quick to notice when things go wrong. Late or incorrect payments can damage those relationships and can eventually even disrupt supply chains. By streamlining your processes and providing you greater visibility into your cash flow, AP automation helps you make payments on a schedule that not only benefits you, but your supplier.
AI-assistance analyzes your past payments and makes recommendations on the best time to issue future payments, ensuring that you capture available discounts while optimizing your cash flow.
A Scalable Foundation for Growth
These days, standing still is almost the same as moving backward. You want to grow, and you need a solution that can grow with you. But that growth inevitably means that AP complexity increases. More invoices, more approvers, and more compliance requirements can soon lead to an overwhelming amount of work. AP automation is scalable and grows with the business. There’s no need to add headcount, and no chance of your team becoming overwhelmed with work.
Moving from Transactional to Strategic AP
By eliminating manual tasks, improving visibility, and strengthening controls, automation provides your team with the time and insight needed to focus on higher-value activities than simply keying in data and chasing down approvals.
In a business environment where speed, accuracy, and insight are critical, AP automation is no longer a “nice to have.” It's the key you need to unlock success.
To discover how AP automation can elevate your payables process, book a demo with a Quadient AP rep today!
