Peter Gibbon is right. You were not meant for paper.

If you are a certain age or just tragically hip, piles of paperwork might make you think of the 1999 cult classic movie that satirizes a typical 1990s workplace. I’m talking about Mike Judge’s Office Space, which makes a really good case against paper-based processes. First, there’s the "TPS report," which has come to connote pointless, mindless paperwork and "meaningless exercises imposed upon employees by an inept and uncaring management.” And then, there’s Milton—Milton Waddams—a man literally being engulfed by paper in the company basement. To quote Peter Gibbons, the film’s main character, “We don't have a lot of time on this earth! We weren't meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles…filling out useless forms...”

Yet 26 years on, paper remains synonymous with Accounting and accounts payable. In fact, Levvel Research, found that an astounding 86% of SMBs still rely mostly or entirely on manual AP data entry, with invoices at the top of that list. No matter the delivery method, it stands to reason that most of those invoices start their lives as some sort of paper. In addition, PYMENTS found that 36% have yet to automate any aspect of their AP/AR processes and a mere 4.6% have fully automated these areas, which again, means more paper-based tasks and docs. 

It’s no wonder that 70% of AP professionals cite inefficient tasks as their top concern. But, your reliance on paper is costing you far more by way of employee productivity and effectiveness than you may realize. With paper-based AP, you have complex processes and approvals that slow payments and introduce errors at every turn. And continued problems keeping up with your filing that equal unfulfilling  work—not to mention unchecked paper piles and a growing storage cabinet farm.

End the paper chase for good

But, wait! There are 2 more things to consider. 

While there’s no way around some paper in business, and we’ve all made great environmental strides, there is still work to be done. Consider these 3 facts:

1. In the U.S., paper waste accounts for up to 40% of total waste produced each year.
2. The pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy in the world.
3. The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year.

Moreover, if you are still in the paper chase, you aren’t competitive in recruiting and retaining accounting talent from a dwindling pool. Because it’s preventing you from creating sustained work flexibility and meaningful employment.

Physical invoices, receipts, and purchase orders literally run the business—and have to go somewhere. It makes sense that it’s the office. You can bet that someone from Accounting will be required to be present to receive those items and issue and deposit paper-based checks. Nothing gets done without approvals, and approvals take time. And, folders—both physical and virtual. And, walking around a corporate campus gathering signatures or sending repeated ignored emails into the ether.

So if you didn’t have the “right reason” to pursue AP automation before, you definitely have it now. And, it’s paper.  Too much paper. Way too much.

Automate to annihilate 

OK, so you admit that you have a problem. But exactly how can automation fix it? By minimizing the need to print, file, and store physical forms, receipts, copies, remittance advice, statements, and notes! For instance, you’ve got:

• Invoice automation, which extracts data from invoices to minimize manual data entry and accelerate overall processing.
• Matching automation, which pairs invoices with purchase orders and receipts, reducing the need to start at the printer for these critical tasks.
• Payment automation, which initiates payments based on invoice data and rules, reducing the need for employee intervention and physical checks in payables.
• Automated reporting, which provides up-to-the-minutes insights and information for access to better, more reliable data that fuels better decision making.

Let’s take a closer look at how Quadient Accounts Payable stacks up (pun intended) in those areas…

How Quadient AP stacks up

First up is Quadient AP’s SmartCapture tool, which automatically picks up the header information from invoices, simplifying your data entry. And, our Smart Code feature helps you quickly enter invoice line items, such as descriptions and unit costs for a specific vendor, so this information becomes digitized without any manual intervention whatsoever. These features mean that you can achieve 9x faster invoicing via 99% touchless processing to reduce time spent on data entry by 83%. Oh, and by the way, it’s not just time that you save. You can also decrease processing costs by as much as 86%!

Quadient’s matching takes the preferred 3-way approach, quickly and accurately cross-referencing your invoices with your purchase orders and your receipts to ensure that they align with goods and services received and clear them for payment.
Then, you have our Payments module, which helps you address the emerging threat of paper-based checks by supporting electronic payment methods like wire transfers, ACH, and digital payments. With it, you can literally cut the checks for good. No paper to send—and no praying that they won’t fall victim to mail fraud.

Finally, you’ve got customized reporting that eliminates the need to export data or print reams of paper. You can run reports on open and pending POs, unpaid invoices, payables statuses—and even invoice processing time. And, you’ve literally got all supporting documentation at your digital fingertips—in real time. That’s digitized versions of every paper file, in addition to your electronic docs. They can all stay safely in your Quadient AP storage for as long as you need them. Per the tax code or your applicable industry regs. You’ll never get an alert that you are about to go over your time or space limit because there isn't one. Plus, you’ve got invoices indexed in a fully-searchable database—making it easy to retrieve them for audits, compliance, or inquiries. That’s pulling them up right at the desktop. No paper required.

Book a demo to see for yourself

See how Quadient Accounts Payable can put you on the path to total paper annihilation.

Book a demo today