The idea of “the best” in process automation may be shifting. From lowering the number of FTEs and SLAs focusing on transactional efficiency. To improved value creation and data insights fed back to the organization. How do you get there and how do you know where Your organization stands?
Take a look at the on demand session below! Thomas Siersbæk Heller-Njor, Director of Operations Consulting at PwC and Sami Peltonen, Vice President P2P Solutions at Basware share key findings from recent survey studies and concrete Basware experiences from across the globe.
On Demand | Benchmark your source-to-pay performance against the best
Clicking the image below will take you to the on demand version as will clicking 
Key findings transforming source to pay
The number one constant is that independent on how technology evolves – transforming any part of an organization include changed ways of working. And so will have to focus on change management to succeed. No technology alone – how ever smart – can (to date at least) bypass people who are not willing to adapt and embrace changes.
Process cost reduction is the primary driver behind digital prioritization in this area. Contradicting value creation? No, not necessarily since many testify the lack of resources (forcing people to do non value adding tasks) is pushing the desire and ambition to automate and work smarter.
What is your primary priority in the next year within procurement?
Above you see the live poll results during the webinar. Equal to the PwC survey results, the main focus (only selecting one option) is digitization of processes.
What is your primary next digital procurement development?
The common denominator in the above question being data. Possibly a hen and the egg question? How much of source to pay processes are possible to refine without the backbone in place? PwC and Basware both agree, companies need to have the basics in place before more advanced usage of technology is possible.
In the PwC study, 74% of procurement departments have begun digitizing their transactional processes. The backbone of the source to pay process. Equally interesting is that 60% of the respondents procurement departments are switching their strategic processes to digital.
EBG note
PwC goes on to emphasize that procurement and finance must approach source to pay digitalization as a joint effort. In order to reap the maximum transactional process benefits. Most focus within finance has been on wage arbitrage and the automation and possible outsourcing of accounts payable. The PwC study state that 30-40% of time can be reduced with finance automation and behavior change. With management reporting having a 40% automation potential!
Are you using AI based innovations in your operations today?
Are you aware how much resources are spent among source to pay providers? On Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and other ways of using and automating the use of data? A lot! At Basware for instance, smart coding has taken off.
Smart coding alleviates the strain of exception handing for non-PO invoices and helps customers further automate their invoice processing, moving them one step closer to touchless invoice handling. With smart coding, invoices that are not automated by purchase order matching, payment plans (schedule, budget or self-billing), or automatic coding templates can now be automatically coded with minimal human interaction. This eliminates the manual, time-consuming activities of researching and coding this type of invoice – saving significant time in the AP Department.
Factsheet Smart Coding by Basware
Behind smart coding, there is an intelligent algorithm (a similar approach to machine learning) that determines the cost allocation based on the user’s own templates, automation rules and transaction history.
Want to know more?
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You can also attend Source 2 Pay Summit 2020. Held for the 10th time in Stockholm on March 19th. This one day summit, hosted and managed by EBG, focus on cross function and cross organization ways of enabling operational efficiency with proven strategic effect. Welcome to see us face to face!