Is there a value for paper in business?

Although Electronic trading is prevalent amongst many companies there are still businesses of various sizes opting to send paper invoices. On average, it is estimated that every employee uses around 10,000 sheets of paper each year, with those in finance departments using the most, and the majority of all paper used, wasted. But why?

Traditionally an invoice process consists of a variety of administrative steps, with time taken at each interval to notify the interested parties, match against P.O’s and wait for confirmation. Automating the process enables invoices to be sent to a central system, without printing or scanning, without duplicate or fraudulent documents being processed and allows payments to be made on time, all the time.

There is a common misconception that avoiding investing in software is cheaper. However, without technical infrastructure AP departments are struggling to process payments accurately and efficiently, in fact, in a 2015 study CIMA estimated that around 60% of companies surveyed had incurred a late payment charge and 20% had lost customers as a result of long processes and late payments. Could you handle consistent charges or customer losses?

Whilst the capacities of smaller and larger accounts departments companies can differ, the benefits of automation are universal. Smaller companies can benefit from a secure and steady cash flow without any fear of penalty charges and larger companies gain visibility over their entire invoice to cash cycle and invoice spend.

TrueCommerce equip clients with the capability to connect with their entire trading partner network electronically, without the need for a web of paper trails needing to be processed, stored and ultimately wasted. Through utilising an electronic solution, invoices can be automatically validated against pre-agreed business rules, ensuring data, formats and calculations are correct before they are sent for processing.