Most finance institutions are facing increasing pressure to share their data more frequently from both customers and regulatory bodies. This, in turn, has created a need to update everyday operations for faster processing and greater transparency.
As department headcounts lower, yet the frequency of reporting goes up, many CFOs find themselves looking for smarter solutions to accelerate internal finance operations.
Despite the push towards digital transformation in financial transactions, many department heads and even CFOs still spend time and effort in manual processing and approvals, missing out on utilizing that time for focussing on more productive avenues. The time spent on manually approving each and every payment can be better spent on interacting with potential and existing clients to boost business and improve customer relations.
A crucial step in building internal business resilience for all finance institutions is automating and improving accounts payable facilities for clients. Bogged down by heavy dependence on manual input, most current accounts payable processing is prone to errors, delayed approvals and late payments.
The entire accounts payable process involves a series of complicated steps including invoice data entry and coding, followed by standardization and approval. The completion of a successful AP cycle further depends on prompt and accurate payments, accomplished either via paper checks or electronic wire transfers.
The right combination of automation and effort-based processing can help streamline the entire process to generate accurate finance data, provide greater visibility and increase vendor goodwill.
At ARDEM, we build end-to-end, customized solutions that identify and eliminate redundancies from your accounts payable process.
Here’s how we can help build AP resilience for finance institutions:
Minimize Manual Intervention
As per a 2020 survey by MineralTree, for 51% of accounting professionals, invoice data entry and coding were the most tedious aspects of the entire accounts payable process. Manual data entry is not just a time-consuming and labour-intensive process, it is also prone to errors and delay.
ARDEM employs automation-based data capture to extract accurate information from different data points from invoices, both in digital and physical formats. You can share the digital files with us directly and mail us all your paper invoices. We then process them using our high-speed scanners and convert them into digital files for faster processing. All files are then re-routed to the operations team for automated data capture and standardization. The high-quality output is then sent for timely approval and payment.
Automated Data Capture for Accurate Insights
According to a study by IDT, an organization spends, on average, 20 days to process their accounts payables.
At ARDEM, we offer complete end-to-end accounts payable solutions, managing your entire process from receipt of invoice to payment. Once the data has been extracted using OCR-based data capture from existing liabilities, it is aggregated and verified against supporting records for further verification. This further helps accelerate and shorten the entire approval and payment cycle.
An adaptive learning model further allows data to be more consistent while eliminating the rate of errors. Using a set of rules and specific mappings, consistent and accurate data is extracted.
The data is then reviewed and approved for fast and accurate payments. We further integrate with your existing ERP and high-quality output is transferred directly into your system, providing timely insights while eliminating the need for a large IT overhaul.
Managing Exceptions
Another process that takes up a considerable amount of time and resource is managing exceptions. In a survey conducted by Tu fact, 85% of respondents agree that eliminating PO exceptions would be one of the most effective ways of reducing costs in accounts payable (AP).
Any time a discrepancy arises, the exception must be identified and resolved before any further steps are taken. Exceptions are determined by matching various documentation to the original invoice. Whenever there is a variance in the figures, it is often the result of inaccurate data. While certain processes such as data extraction can easily be automated, handling exceptions manually results in higher accuracy.
We employ effort-based processing to handle and eliminate any errors in your AP processing to ensure that these discrepancies become the exception, rather than the norm.
Payment Runs
Business payments runs are a great way to accelerate payment for recurring accounts. Payments are generated and automatically allocated against invoices to identify unpaid invoices. Automating your payment run helps expedite your payment cycle and ensures that no invoice gets left behind.
ARDEM builds automated solutions for running regular payment runs as per your standard operating procedure (SOP), offering greater control over your internal processes and greater transparency in your financial operations.
The ARDEM Collaboration Platform
The current situation has shown us the importance of building resilient work solutions that are capable of adapting to remote working conditions easily.
The same holds true for finance institutions; come what may, transactions must be conducted and liabilities must be cleared. The ARDEM Collaboration Platform is a digital platform that allows you to continue operations and manage remote teams while receiving real-time insights.
A minimal monthly subscription gives you secure access to a personalized workplace on our secure cloud platform. The cloud server is provided by Amazon Web Services and has strict security protocols in place. Each user is assigned unique login credentials, for a secure sign-in that employs the latest SSO protocols.
Once connected to the workspace you can drag and drop your work documents for processing to your secure folders, chat with your Project Manager to describe the work you want your team to do, interact with your team members, review the status of your project, leave new instructions, follow up on issues related to your assignment, and monitor progress on live dashboards.
ARDEM Invoice Manager(AIM)
The ARDEM Invoice Manager is a cloud-based network that allows you to gain better visibility to improve AP and invoice processing. With simple and customizable features, the adjustable dashboard provides you with an overall view of all of your current invoices.
Not only can you see how many invoices were received, but also which stage they are currently in to ensure a smooth payment process. Your dashboard can be also customized to identify recurring liabilities and calculate the number of invoices received per week, per month and even for the entire year.
Single-Tap for Faster Approval
One of the biggest bottlenecks in the entire AP process is getting invoices passed through multiple approvers. Placing invoices on an approver’s desk or sending an email with an invoice attached can result in lost or forgotten invoices.
Once invoices have been uploaded onto the ARDEM invoice manager, they will be 3 or 4-way matched, reviewed, and then an auto-generated notification will be sent for multi-level approval. Instead of files lying on a desk for approval, they are shared via the cloud-platform for approval, with invoices being cleared by a single tap on the digital files.
Cost-Effective Solutions
ARDEM’s AP solutions can help finance institutions save between 30-50% on their current processing costs.
Our 16+ years of experience in the financial outsourcing sector has enabled us to help finance institutions including banks and accounting firms to transform and streamline their back-office operations.
We can help you tackle your in-house and client AP processing to make your operations more innovative, more efficient and more strategic.
PCI DSS 3.2.1 and Security Compliance
As a processor to several finance institutions, ARDEM has a strict data regulation policy to ensure PCI Compliance.
We’re an ISO27001-certified company and implement standard industry practices including VPNs, SSLs, encryption protocols during file transfer and at rest. Biometric security protocols, HIPAA, PCI, PII and GDPR compliances are also strictly followed while processing sensitive data.
In addition to our security compliances and protocols, we further implement a system of restricted and structured access. When it comes to handling sensitive financial data, access is provided on a strictly need-to-know basis, and we have measures in place that ensure that your data cannot be moved, saved, edited, or seen by unauthorized team members.
Reliable Teams with Scalability
We build you a team of highly-qualified and experienced professionals with expertise that is relevant to your industry and purpose.
For an accounts payable solution, analysts will have relevant experience working in your financial suite (i.e. Microsoft Dynamics, Concur, Sage, etc.). In addition, the selected team members will have a college background in the following areas: Finance/Accounting, Mathematics and Engineering.
Each team comprises a qualified Project Manager, the appropriate number of analysts, along with full IT support, and a competent developer team, all of whom come together to create the best solutions for your business. We even hire and train your team, training analysts to manage your data according to specified requirements while ensuring accuracy.
Additionally here at ARDEM, we take pride in becoming a part of your business team and are always available when you need us. As your operations expand, we can help you scale your team to handle the increased volume of transactions in as little as 10 days.
At ARDEM Incorporated, we have automated and improved thousands of financial processes for our clients, successfully building long-term partnerships that drive collaborative success.
As a family-run business, ARDEM is dedicated to ensuring precision, quality and accuracy in all your processes. If you are still mulling the idea of outsourcing your finance processes, we would be more than happy to schedule a short, 15-minute consultation for you.