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Stages of Invoice Automation

SmartSoft Invoices Automates All Steps of the Process

Stages of the Invoice Automation Process

Switching to automated invoice processing is an important transition. The first step an organization should take towards invoice automation is to access their current routines and the estimated benefits of implementing the solution.

The costs and time associated with manual invoice processing can vary greatly across different businesses. There are several questions to consider:

  • How many invoices does my organization process per month/year?
  • How many people are currently involved in invoice processing?
  • What is the average time taken for the processing of a single invoice?

Based on these factors, companies can deduce their current invoice processing costs, which, in turn, will play a great role in selecting a solution for invoice automation.

SmartSoft Invoices helps organizations minimize costs, save time, improve workflow efficiencies and make better use of their resources. This is achieved through the automation of key operations associated with invoice processing.

Read more about the benefits of invoice automation.

SmartSoft Invoices is a versatile, all-in-one solution that automates all major stages of the invoice management process.

Automated Invoice Scanning

Manual scanning is a tedious and time-consuming task. SmartSoft Invoices streamlines the scanning process by sending the paper invoices straight from the scanner into the application. You can improve this process further by creating a central point for the arrival of invoices so that they can be scanned and sent for processing as soon as they have entered the organization. This minimizes the risk of misplaced or lost documents and ensures fast and easy routing and review. Additionally, you may want to invest in a scanner with an automatic document feeder, especially if you deal with a large number of invoices on a daily basis.

Automated Invoice Data Extraction

Once all paper invoices have been converted to digital images, the next step is to extract the invoice data. This is achieved with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology which recognizes the characters on the image and transforms them into manageable information. Unlike solutions which require the operator to manually select and send information for processing, SmartSoft Invoices analyzes the page and detects the locations of the invoice data fields to completely automate the process of data extraction.

Automated Validation of the Extracted Data

After the document has been processed with OCR and the invoice data has been extracted, it is critical to validate and verify the information to minimize the chance of errors. SmartSoft Invoices does not simply deliver highly-accurate recognition technology but also performs automatic validation on the extracted data. The solution validates the amount and date, clearly labelling inadequate fields to bring them to the operator’s attention. Since the product integrates with the organization’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) or accounting system, it automatically checks the database of vendors, item categories, and, if necessary, matches invoices against purchase orders. The operator then simply verifies the data and approves the export.

Automated Export

With SmartSoft Invoices, organizations do not have to sacrifice existing investments, since the solution works directly with the accounting or ERP system. The extracted and verified invoice data is automatically filled in the appropriate fields for further processing, without the need to manually enter the information into the software.