Processing purchase invoices digitally: not just for multinationals!

More often than not, we hear that digital processing of purchase invoices would only be useful for multinationals and other large companies. But nothing could be further from the truth. Even smaller organizations can benefit tremendously from it. In this blog, we tell you which 5 misconceptions exist about this topic and explain why digital purchase invoice processing can also be interesting for you.

1. “Digital purchase invoice processing is too expensive”

Due to the increased supply on the market, the technology required for digital processing of purchase invoices is now widely available. This has also made solutions much more accessible in terms of price. And because solutions are offered in all kinds of modern variants (including cloud services), in many cases no investment is even necessary anymore; you simply pay for what you use. In short, the entry threshold is much lower these days!

2. “The level of complexity is far too high.”

With the old generation of OCR software, a lot of configuration and sometimes even programming had to be done. This was the only way to get good recognition, links to files from your administrative system and connections to scanner hardware to handle the flow of paper documents as well. But the new generation of solutions is mostly self-learning, uses data from the community and is set up to read a very diverse flow of incoming invoices (in paper form, but also in digital form via e-mail and portals). With today’s technology, you can get a solution up and running within half an hour. All this can also be configured via the Internet and remotely.

3. “My financial package does not have a link.”

For a good OCR solution, reliable integration with your underlying system is a must. Nowadays, financial systems often offer multiple possibilities to easily read digitally delivered invoices (XML and PDF files) and convert them into an entry. The latest generation of OCR solutions connects seamlessly to this. And even if your package supplier does not yet have a link, that need not be a problem!

4. “Recognition is so low that we will still have a lot of manual work.”

Underlying an OCR solution is the principle that a computer can read what is on an invoice. A clever piece of technology that has evolved dramatically in recent years. In addition to improved logic for reading invoice data, today’s OCR solutions offer many more features that may eventually allow recognition to reach 100%. As a user, you can now assume that a good OCR solution will ensure that your correction work is minimal and that adjustments are automatically fed back when the entry is read.

5. “We receive so many different types of invoices that automation is impossible.”

Each supplier sends a different invoice in terms of formatting, layout, font and word choice. Where supplier A calls your order number a purchase order number, supplier B refers to it as an order number. And then, of course, there are suppliers who submit their invoices in other languages. The old generation of OCR solutions required you to build your own template for each supplier – a cumbersome task! Fortunately, modern OCR solutions, such as the SMART-OCR solution from Whitevision, handle this much smarter. They make use of freeform techniques: they learn from the community and therefore cause you a lot less work.

From multinationals to SMEs: choose digital purchase invoice processing

Do you work at a financial shared services center for a large multinational where you process invoices flowing in from all over the globe? Do you manage the administration of a construction company with 10 ongoing projects? Do you order supplies for a school to provide your students with the best possible education? Or do you handle the administrative ins and outs of a leasing office? No matter how big your business is or what industry you work in, there’s never a reason not to adopt a more efficient approach. And purchase invoice processing is perhaps the easiest area where you can make gains. After all, a modern OCR solution is easy to implement and requires minimal workload.

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