3 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Complex Invoice Management

3 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Complex Invoice Management

Whether you are managing a small business or a large-scale corporation, invoice management can make the difference to understanding and being proactive about your cash flow.

When managing a medium to large-sized enterprise, invoice management is more than just a good idea – it’s a necessity. While small businesses tend to deal mostly with simple and fixed invoices, enterprises deal with complex invoices. These invoices involve subscriptions, numerous department participation, contracts, incentives, and variable pricing. 

Handling this invoice management manually in-house when dealing with complex invoices runs the risk of billing errors, misrepresented revenue, inefficiencies, and erroneous charges. In addition to this, companies may be running legacy software that can’t keep up with the variables involved with complex invoicing. 

All these potential pitfalls invariably translate to strained customer relationships.

A modernized invoice management system helps you pinpoint optimization opportunities 

In large enterprises, AP (accounts payable) invoices go through the routine process of being received, approved, and paid. 

During this process, it is not uncommon for the receiver and/or approver to miss an erroneous or uneconomical charge that has been placed on the invoice. These charges could come in the form of a subscription service that is not being used, add-ons that shouldn’t be there, or fraudulent charges. 

Another factor to consider when dealing with complex invoices is the ability to allocate the changes to the respective department(s) accurately. For example, there may be times a charge on an invoice needs to be split amongst departments. An invoice management system can assist your company in spotting the trends so that you can respond proactively in the future.

When dealing with variable invoices, such as telecom invoices, rates charged to the customer are based on the volume consumed. In this setting, AP, as well as AR (accounts receivable), invoices will differ from billing period to billing period. The difference will be seen in meter readings and as add-ons and subscriptions that the consumer may or may not be aware of. 

An optimized invoice management system gives you full, fine-grained visibility to track these invoices and spot optimization opportunities to save your company and the consumer money. 

Proactive management keeps negotiated rates low

Enterprises can fall into a routine of paying the same invoice month after month. Over time, these less-than-ideal rates can add up and cost your business a lot. 

An optimized invoice management system - one that combines modernized technology orchestration and proactive human intelligence - can help you negotiate rates with vendors to ensure your company is getting the best possible rate over time.

An outsourced and automated system means faster processing with less human error 

Companies are progressively looking to process invoices and close their books quicker at the same, or higher, rate of efficiency. In the age of digital transformation, there has never been a stronger case to utilize an invoice management system. A manual accounts payable process can take 30-90 days for the complete AP process to conclude and for the vendor to receive payment. 

Add human error into the mix, and this timeline could be even longer. By outsourcing and automating the accounts payable process, the average time to close your books becomes much faster.

And faster processing means better relationships with your vendors, more operational finesse inside your department, and a competitive edge over your competition.

How Cannon Group Can Help 

We understand your business needs an invoice management system that is not only able to organize and optimize your invoices but negotiate rates as well. At Cannon Group, we leverage our long-standing vendor relationships to negotiate and renegotiate for the best prices on your invoices. Our experts use state of the art technology to give you full visibility and control over your invoices to maximize your business's efficiency.

Book your cost containment consultation, today, here.