Accounts payable invoice automation (APIA) tools automate the capture, validation and processing of invoices. These solutions attempt to automatically match invoices to purchase orders (POs) and contracts, or automatically code those invoices that would not have a PO. Payment management, ranging from OK to pay to complete invoice payment, is also included. The expanded scope of APIA includes advanced capabilities, such as automated multiway matching, fraud detection and cash management.
Organizations use expense management software to simplify their expense reimbursement and reconciliation process. The software provides facilities for expense report creation, submission, approval, reimbursement, and accounting. The software replaces the manual paperwork with an automated workflow to upload, track and submit expense receipts conveniently. These reimbursement receipts are accessible to the administrators through a streamlined process to approve the claims while checking for any corporate policy violations. In addition, the software assists organizations in keeping track of their employee’s corporate expenses.
Tail spend solutions help process and fulfill spend on noncritical goods and services, which are supplied by vendors that are not actively managed by procurement. Most procurement organizations only strategically manage part of their spend, prioritizing high-volume and spend categories. This leaves what is referred to as the “tail” of an organization’s spend unmanaged. In addition to providing visibility into all types of spending, these solutions also automate key procurement processes and provide detailed insights into spending patterns through dashboards. Actively managing tail spend improves spend visibility and coverage, operational efficiency, and purchasing controls. The end users can still make one-time purchases to do their jobs without adding to procurement’s workload.