Using AP Software for the T&L Industry
Over the past few years, consumer demand has been increasing for companies in the Transportation and Logistics (T&L) industry, mainly due to the extensive rise of eCommerce. Operating within an industry where handling countless data is inevitable, T&L companies are turning their focus towards investing in digitisation across their supply chain, specifically AP automation. But why has automating financial processes become such a priority?
Based on research released in 2022, CITYA.M. announced that over £17 billion worth of investment had been in warehousing and logistics in the UK. This was a direct result of the rise in eCommerce. Initiated by COVID-19, multiple lockdowns occurred, subsequently making online marketplaces the only way consumers could shop.
Amazon was one of the main drivers of the rise in demand, as the development of “Amazon Prime” introduced the order-to-delivery-speed changing to 24-48 hours. As a result, consumers expected to receive their parcels within a shorter time period. A recent study by Roadie, showed that by 2028, 40% of retailers expect to offer a two-hour delivery service – highlighting the increasing pressures facing the T&L industry.
This rise in demand has amplified the amount of invoices and suppliers T&L companies are now processing. PYMENTS stated that more than 71% of businesses are already processing in excess of 1,000 invoices each month. As a result, companies are now turning to AP automation to streamline their invoice processing and scale their businesses.
So how can AP automation help?
Automating accounts payable can bring many benefits to the business, helping save costs and take control of operations. Some of the benefits include:
1. Improve payment speed
AP automation can provide touchless straight-through processing for invoices. Automatically capturing invoice data, matching, coding, approving and posting to the finance system ready for payment. Query workflow allows any queries to be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
2. Compliance & Control
Integrated supplier portal facilitates onboarding along with embedded fraud checks to ensure compliance and control of spend. Real-time reporting, giving 100% visibility in one central system to keep track of all the data helping identify supplier bottlenecks, and prepare mandatory reports and KPIs.
3. Early payment discounts
Touchless processing allows invoices to be ready for payment within hours of receipt. Embedded business rules around approvals means invoices can be passed to the relevant approver and returned, all managed through a workflow The AP team have full visibility of the status of all invoices at every stage. With this increased visibility and control, businesses can take advantage of early payment discounts from their suppliers and improve the overall relationships, whilst reducing costs. An advantage for companies focusing heavily on cost minimisation.
4. No more paper trail
Manual tasks which involve high volumes of paper can become a complicated process, especially within an industry with an ever-increasing supplier base. Automation eliminates the need for paper. 90% of invoices are now received digitally, usually in the form of pdf attachment. But what ever the format, automation can manage the receipt and capture the data. Digital storage that meets with tax legislation means filing and storing paper invoices is a thing a of the past, saving valuable office space, reducing printing costs and freeing up the AP team for more added value tasks.
How Documation’s customer Yusens Logistics benefitted from our AP automation service
Global logistics business Yusens Logistics (UK) chose Documation’s Purchase to Pay solution to automate their purchasing and accounts payable processes across two business entities. This includes intelligent data capture of invoice data, PO and non-PO workflow with 2 & 3 way matching, the ability to integrate with additional purchasing systems, posting invoices to CODA and Business Intelligence with Power BI reporting.
Utilising Documation’s Power BI reporting means that the Yusen team have real-time visibility of spend and are able to identify at an early stage any potential bottle necks or issues. The Documation supplier portal gives Yusen’s suppliers visibility of invoice statuses and allows queries to be resolved between Yusen Logistics and their suppliers leading to better relationships.
When asked why they chose Documation as their automation supplier, Craig Tellwright, Head of Financial Services said;
‘’We reviewed a number of potential suppliers as we wanted to select a best-in-class product provided by committed supplier. Documation stood out from the start with an excellent P2P solution but also the confidence and experience to deliver what we needed. As such Documation were an excellent choice.’’
Conclusion
Automating your financial processes with Documation will allow your business to improve payment speeds, reduce your AP teams manual tasks, and increase your visibility of payments across your entire supply chain. If you are interested and want to find out more, please contact us today and see how we can help you on your automation journey – let’s talk!
