I’m going to give you three totally relatable scenarios. Your job is to figure out a possible theme that links all of them together.

Scenario #1

It’s Summer, and the world is opening up. You’re stepping on a scale for the first time in about two years. The number is not pretty. Time to lose some of that pandemic weight. So, you decide the first investment is in your diet. You go to the store and experience some good ol’ sticker shock at how much more expensive healthy food is now. Nevertheless, you bite the bullet and fork over the cash because you’re committed to the new venture.

Scenario #2

It’s Fall, and fundraising season is in full swing for the many middle and high schoolers in your community. Two members of the local high school marching band show up at your door and make a pitch for a discount card that can be used over and over again with no limit at hundreds of local merchants all over town. The card is a little pricey, but the proceeds go towards the band’s uniforms, instrument maintenance, travel expenses, and competition fees. You buy the card.

Scenario #3

It’s Spring, and the weather is finally warming up. You see an ad for your local amusement park. They’re offering a deal for a season-long pass. The price of the pass is equivalent to two single-day visits. Given the cost of a day at an amusement park in 2021, you’re reminded of the extra expenses that usually show up along with tickets (e.g., food, water, sunscreen, etc.). Nevertheless, the roller coaster fiend in you will not be denied. You tell the park, “Take my money.”

Hour glass on calendar concept for time slipping away for important appointment date, schedule and deadline

Okay, again, what’s a possible link that binds these scenarios together? (There’s probably more than one right answer.)

One answer you might have thought of is the concept of paying a high price in the short term for likely long-term benefits.

In all three of these scenarios, you’re paying a decent chunk of change upfront for things that will ultimately pay for themselves if you keep using the products. Healthy food is expensive, but you’re saving money on doctor bills down the road (and you also probably just feel a lot better in the long term, too). The discount card eats at your wallet now, but it pays for itself if you’re taking 10% and 20% markdowns at stores you go to all the time. The season pass has already paid for itself once you step foot in the amusement park for the third time. Simply put, you’re paying more money upfront to make or save money down the road. You’re playing the long game.

That’s exactly the mindset you’re supposed to take when you automate your AP department. Today’s post is going to apply that lens to the AP automation process. We’re going to look at three long-term benefits of paying good money upfront for AP automation software. While you may be put off initially by AP automation software prices, keep in mind the money you’re making or saving down the road.

Benefit #1: Maximizing Employee Value
Manual handling of invoices and payment is inefficient and ridden with errors. On top of that, the processing of payment often takes far too long to meet the deadlines that vendors impose on you when they send an invoice. AP automation software speeds up the entire process, eliminates most of the errors, and lets your employees focus on the rare exceptions that get past the software. Your employees can also spend more time identifying your best suppliers to work with, which saves you lots of headaches down the road.

Benefit #2: Improved Company Morale
It is very rare for employees to get upset when a company takes away mundane, monotonous tasks from their daily load. These tasks often add little value or satisfaction to an employee’s sense of self-worth. Employees with low self-worth perform worse. By getting rid of the mundane, you can give your employees the challenging, engaging tasks that allow them to demonstrate their true value to the company. That makes everyone happy.

Benefit #3: Earlier Payments=More Savings
Manual payment of invoices can cost up to $17 for every single invoice. That adds up! To make matters worse, lots of those processes finish past a vendor’s deadline, which then subjects you to late fees and more lost money. Not great. Automating AP guarantees payments are processed well in advance of deadlines, eliminating late fees. Additionally, your cost per invoice is going to decrease rapidly because you’re often paying for the software upfront. Every time you save money on an invoice, you’re offsetting what you paid for the software in the first place.

It may look expensive at first, but AP automation is truly a winner in the long run. Bite the bullet now, then sit back, and watch the savings pile up over the coming months. In no time, you’ll be swimming in cash that would’ve seemed unreachable a year ago. Share your stories of how much money AP automation has saved you on our social media pages, and keep checking our blog for more info.