Still Rely on Manual Invoice Processing? Get AI to Expedite Invoice Processing

Is your finance team still manually doing three-way matching of invoices to purchase orders and goods receipts? Can they process each invoice accurately and on time?

While three-way matching remains a critical control in accounts payable, when done in the traditional way, it's slow, error-prone and increasingly unsustainable. 

AI is offering a better way. It has simplified invoice processing, which has been a key pain point for procurement with vendors often having to chase down internal teams for due payments. 

What is AI Invoice Processing?

AI invoice processing replaces manual tasks with automated workflows powered by AI and machine learning. This allows businesses to handle large invoice volumes with minimal supervision.

Capturing data from invoices, verifying and validating this data, approving and routing invoices, and making payments – AI streamlines the entire life cycle of invoices. 

What if invoices need to be further checked by a human? AI can route them to the right approvers. It can also send automatic reminders to approvers.

What about exceptions? Yes, AI can detect errors and exceptions and even send them to proper channels for oversight and correction.

Technologies That Power AI Invoice Processing 

• Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Transforms scanned invoice images into machine-readable text. It scans invoice images and identifies text, numbers and symbols to extract relevant information such as invoice number, line items and amounts.

• Machine learning

Optimizes invoice processing by learning from historical invoice data and identifying patterns. It can even make accurate forecasts for data extraction, validation and classification tasks. Technology’s ability to self-learn helps reduce manual intervention over time and provides a scalable solution to handle increasing invoice volumes.

• Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Works in tandem with OCR to decode the meaning of captured data. NLP enables an AI-powered invoice processing system to accurately handle diverse invoice formats, languages and writing styles.

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Handles rule-based, repetitive tasks such as data entry and validation. This reduces manual workloads, minimizes errors, and accelerates operations.

How AI-Powered Invoice Processing Works

• Invoice capture

First, the system captures invoices from multiple sources including emails, pdfs, scanned documents, and vendor portals. 

• Data extraction

Vendor invoices often have unstructured data in different formats. The system uses Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), machine learning algorithms and natural language processing to extract relevant data such as invoice numbers, dates, and vendor details.

• Data validation

Next, AI cross-checks invoice data against purchase orders and goods receipts. It flags any data that is missing, mismatched or duplicated.

• Invoice matching

AI automatically performs three-way matching between the invoice, purchase order and goods receipts. It verifies the pricing, quantity and approval limits and flags any discrepancies for review. 

• Invoice approval

The system routes the invoice to relevant stakeholders through a rule-based workflow. It ensures that the invoice reaches the correct internal department. It also provides guidance on actions that stakeholders need to take for approval.

• Payment processing

Once approved, the invoice is queued for payment as per the agreed terms and conditions. AI ensures that payments are made on time, maximizing savings and minimizing late fees. 

• Exception handling

If there are exceptions, AI triggers manual reviews to address potential problems. It can detect billing errors that may lead to over- or underpayment. If the exception is caused by the way AI processed the invoice, the system triggers the manual reviewer about how to handle such invoices in the future. In this process, it self-trains the system to handle different types of invoices. 

Benefits of AI Invoice Processing

AI invoice processing offers several advantages over manual processing. Here are a few of these:

• Enhances efficiency

AI automates all core tasks such as invoice data extraction, validation and matching. This increases efficiency and speeds up invoice processing times.

• Improves accuracy

Machine learning algorithms accurately extract data from various invoice formats, preventing errors that occur in manual workflows. Technology continues to learn from historical and ongoing payment trends to detect discrepancies.

• Reduces costs

Automation allows teams to do more with less resources. This reduces the cost of labor and minimizes errors in processing.

• Allows scalability

AI invoice processing can easily handle large invoice volumes without increasing operational costs. This makes it ideal for growing businesses that need to handle an increasing number of vendors and invoices.

Switch to AI Invoice Processing Now

If you are still stuck with manual invoice processing and approvals, you won’t be able to adjust in a rapidly changing business environment. It’s time to discard all the paperwork and manual tasks.

AI-powered invoice processing software ensures accurate and timely payments, improved compliance and value-added data insights.

Automate your invoice processing with GEP’s AI-first software.