The Dizzying Demands Of Corporate AP

ExpenseAnywhere entered the market as a corporate travel and expense management solution. But earlier this month, the firm debuted InvoiceAnywhere, a cloud-based tool to automate invoice management.

The decision for its release wasn’t coincidental. ExpenseAnywhere President and CEO Dr. Ashok Dhar recently told PYMNTS that the InvoiceAnywhere solution is part of the company’s overall goal to create a holistic tool for businesses to manage the accounts payable process. It’s a significant feat, however; Dhar explained just how elaborate that effort has become.

The development of InvoiceAnywhere couldn’t be explained without first explaining the changing landscape of the travel and expense management space. Dhar noted that it took several years for ExpenseAnywhere to first overhaul its existing T&E tool, all for one reason: mobility.

“The past three years,” he explained, “we re-architected the T&E system with different technology platforms so we could become totally mobile.”

It’s a trend ExpenseAnywhere had to adopt to succeed in the market; in the last few years, T&E solutions providers have worked to launch mobile apps and scale their tools for wearable devices, as corporate travelers increase their demand for expensing solutions to go where they go.

[bctt tweet=”Corporate travelers demand expensing solutions to go where they go.”]

It’s this mobile overhaul of ExpenseAnywhere that led the firm to add two new components to its offering: first, PurchaseAnywhere, a tool to manage prepaid cards and purchasing cards as part of the procurement process. Then came InvoiceAnywhere.

Dhar explained this mobile overhaul was the “opportune time” to introduce the new solutions that helped ExpenseAnywhere achieve its goal. “It’s always been our philosophy to provide service for complete automation of accounts payable services,” he said.

But corporate AP is multifaceted. “AP is travel and expense management,” Dhar said, “which is a dominant single category spend. Then, you have what I like to call ‘business operational expenses.’” Those expenses, he continued, can be broken up into small and large spend, though “small” spend could land around the $100,000 mark.

That, he said, is most often handled through p-cards; large spend is where the purchase order and invoicing process comes in.

The automated invoice process for a modern corporation is about more than automated data capture and entry, the CEO said. The solution looked to automate the procure-to-pay process, an effort that sees automated creation of purchase orders and automated management of invoices once they are received. Not to mention, regulatory compliance is key, as is ensuring that taxes are adequately calculated.

Dhar noted that the solution was also developed in response to another characteristic of today’s corporation: multinational transactions. InvoiceAnywhere can track spend across jurisdictions and automatically convert that spend to the desired currency, he said.

Finally, the supplier relationship cannot be left out in a procure-to-pay tool, Dhar said. ExpenseAnywhere looked to ensure that corporate users of InvoiceAnywhere could set up dynamic discounting and early payment features, a tool he explained helps both parties.

“If I’m a buying corporation, that helps me manage my cash flow,” the CEO said. “It helps me manage cash flow; it helps vendors manage cash flow.” Users can eye this payment process through an online vendor portal to manage payment scheduling via ACH, he added.

With today’s corporate buyer using various payment methods, procuring overseas and demanding mobility of solutions, addressing all contemporary needs of the procure-to-pay process can be dizzying. But Dhar said there is more work to be done. Looking ahead, the firm will look to integrate a service to help buyers set up and manage vendor bidding processes.

It may take time, however, just as it took longer than expected for the company to complete its mobility restructuring and introduce new solutions. But Dhar told PYMNTS that it’s all part of a single goal that is nothing short of necessary for today’s large, multinational buy-side conglomerates: “Provide complete automation of corporate spend.”