Crucial Areas in AP Processes That Demands Human Intervention.

Accounts payable outsourcing can help companies to overcome many challenges, including manual data entry, invoice approval delays, errors or duplicate invoices, compliance issues, inefficient workflow, etc. Accounts payable outsourcing companies implement strategies to overcome such challenges, such as investing in automation.

While automation can certainly streamline numerous accounts payable (AP) processes, there are still situations where human judgment and intervention may be necessary to investigate and resolve many issues.

While automation delivers predictability and consistent performance, it lacks judgment, logic, and adaptability. Following are some of the reasons explaining why human intervention is vital in AP processes:

1. Communication and Relationship Building 

Human intervention is necessary for building and maintaining relationships with vendors and other stakeholders. Relationship building is necessary to maintain sound professional relationships and resolve disputes.

2. Decision-making

Judgment, decision-making, and leadership skills are vital in setting goals, developing strategies and managing teams responsible for AP processes. Humans have the ability to make complex decisions considering a wide range of elements in a circumstance. These skills are inevitable if there are exceptions to standard procedures. Human judgment helps find a strategic direction and take improvement initiatives to improve AP performance. Humans can make ethical judgments such as avoiding conflicts of interest, preventing bribery, etc. 

3. Creativity for Problem-solving with Root Cause 

Humans can identify and solve the root cause of an issue. Also, they can develop effective strategies to prevent the occurrence of the same issue in future. Automated processes may be ineffective in complex situations. In such cases, humans with innovative thinking can apply their creativity to find solutions as per business requirements. 

4. Oversight and Control  

With human intervention, companies can ensure that automation is working well in their AP system. They can take action instantly if any exceptions are detected. 

5.  Risk Management  

Automation in AP data processing can give insightful data. But human intervention is required to assess risks associated with various AP processes. They can consider that data while developing strategies to mitigate risk, such as enforcing fraud prevention actions, due diligence steps involved for vendors’ authenticity, and scrutinizing payment terms.

6. Flexibility 

Humans can adapt to changes and work in unexpected situations. Adaptability is important in situations, like last-minute changes to payment terms or invoices. 

Disputes may arise due to disagreement between a supplier and the company regarding the products or services. Errors in invoicing also create disputes. Human intervention is necessary for effective communication to examine the issue and resolve disputes. It helps to maintain business relationships. Suppose a vendor claims that they did not receive payment for an invoice or that the payment amount was incorrect. It may require a human representative from the business to investigate the issue and resolve the dispute.

There can be a discrepancy in payments if figures for the amount paid to a supplier and the invoiced amount are mismatched. Even with automated AP processes in place, there may be cases of discrepancy in the payment amount. In such cases, human intervention is required to investigate the issue, communicate with the vendor, and resolve the concern. Humans with their oversight can detect and correct payment discrepancies.

Proper AP management is critical for sound financial arrangements in an organization. With human intervention and decision-making skills, aligning AP management with the business goals is possible. It includes managing costs, optimizing cash flow, and minimizing financial risks.

Effective communication is crucial for cash flow optimization in accounts payable management. Negotiating favorable payment terms with vendors is possible with human intervention only. Humans can communicate with finance and procurement teams to ensure efficient payment processes and optimized cash flow. They can prioritize payments, and monitor payment cycles to determine if the company has sufficient liquidity.

Thus, while automation can improve consistency, speed, and advanced workflow systems, humans provide judgment, motivation, and adaptability based on their skills and experiences.

Best accounts payable outsourcing service providers like ARDEM can help businesses manage their AP processes more effectively and efficiently as they streamline AP processes with Human Innovation + Advanced Automation.

ARDEM teams drive smart business solutions with the human element (for innovation), customized workflow (processes built on industry experience) and technology (for collaborative success).

ARDEM is among the top BPO service companies that aid organizations looking for efficient accounts payable outsourcing solutions for accurate invoice processing. ARDEM provides customized teams with the required skills as a comprehensive solution to established companies. ARDEM teams are agile and adaptable to companies’ existing accounts payable systems. If our clients demand, teams can work on our Cloud Platforms.

• Have a qualified team to work in less than two weeks. ARDEM can customize teams from as little as 5 to 25+ team members to meet varied requirements of accounts payable outsourcing for small businesses and giants. 
• All payments get done electronically under the supervision of human representatives for efficient and accurate payments.
• ARDEM with a large pool of qualified workforce can quickly scale as the client grows.
• ARDEM teams implement highly tested quality check techniques to catch errors and resolve the root cause. 

The ultimate result of ARDEM’s AP solution will be:  

• Stabilized accounts payable processes
• Reduce payroll expenditures and other overheads for full-time staff  
• Improved productivity and accuracy 
• No worry about obsolete skills as ARDEM has a large pool of qualified skills to meet varied AP requirements across industries.  
• Do not worry about making efforts to retrain staff for effective AP management  

There are some limitations to automating accounts payable processes and places where only automation can not work effectively. Therefore, there may be a need for human intervention in certain situations. The AP-related issues that cannot be solely automation-based include vendor disputes, payment discrepancies, and strategic decision-making to manage and align AP with business plans and goals.

Human intervention may be necessary for effective communication with major departments like finance, procurement, and operations and for optimizing cash flow. Companies can approach outsourcing service providers, like ARDEM, having bright minds in their proficient teams to fill the gap.

ARDEM provides Business Process Outsourcing and Business Process Automation Services to established companies to help them improve operational Efficiency and Reduce Costs.  For more information please reach out to us  at pricing@ardem.com or call us at 908-359-2600.