What are the advantages of Digital Invoice Verification?

When it comes to a company’s future viability and competitiveness, transforming manual invoice management into digital processes embedded in workflows with intelligent data extraction is inevitable.KPS Instant Invoice Management was developed specifically to facilitate the digitalization process and enable fast and bespoke transformation.

Axel Beck, Invoice Management Solutions expert at KPS, explains in this interview how the digitalization solution works, its advantages and how companies can benefit from using it.

Mr. Beck let’s get straight to the point: To introduce the topic, can you briefly define what is meant by “Instant Invoice Management”?

A. Beck: "KPS Instant Invoice Management is a full line solution focused on invoice verification. Starting with invoice receipt, the solution covers the entire invoice verification process. Features include audit-compliant archiving, as well as invoice data capturing with the aid of intelligent components, workflow-based invoice verification for invoices with and without order references, and posting in financial accounting (FI)."

What does Instant Invoice Management do?

A. Beck: "Instant Invoice Management ensures that the CFO has access to a fully digitalized and automated invoice verification process. The system underpins efficient, time-optimized processes, which ensures that the terms of payment are used effectively. It delivers a positive impact in that it saves a great deal of time and money. Another important point: process control and transparency make a significant contribution to adhering to existing compliance guidelines. Moreover, predefined reports facilitate the analysis of all the relevant KPIs. The invoice verification process can therefore be optimized on an ongoing basis, allowing costs to be reduced further."

So KPS Instant Invoice Management is directly relevant for the CFO?

A. Beck: "KPS Instant Invoice Management is part of the CFO Agenda 2030. This agenda offers content (assets) that has been preconfigured and predefined drawing on best practices, while being geared to the needs and activities of today’s CFO."

How does this benefit the CFO?

A. Beck: "The CFO receives effective support in pursuing his or her goals efficiently and successfully realizing them. The gain: optimized cost control, healthy growth and sustainability."

How does it work?

A. Beck: "CFO Agenda 2030 assets expand the possibilities for optimization in finance, building block by building block, providing the CFO and his team with support specific to the respective topic in the process of transforming finance. The assets set the framework for a successful transformation that is based, on the one hand, on conceptual content, such as the Instant Digital Roadmap and the KPS S/4 Hana Pre-Assessment. On the other, technological modules with interfaces and functional components form part of the agenda, including Instant Tax Management, Instant Interface and Instant Cash Flow Accounting."

How does the CFO Agenda with its streamlined assets integrate into the overall ecosystem of KPS transformation solutions?

A. Beck: "The CFO Agenda assets integrate into the KPS Instant Platform. Based on the platform concept, KPS delivers a customized solution that serves as a company’s digital core. The process of digitalization is guided by the KPS Instant Transformation methodology. The method guarantees the highest level of transformation security on a fully functional ERP platform within the space of a few weeks."

When we talk about the KPS Instant Platform, KPS Instant Invoice Management and KPS Instant Transformation Methodology, what stands out is the dominant role of the term “Instant”. What does this mean?

A. Beck: "The term has both a qualitative and a temporal dimension: Customers receive a fully fledged product, tailored to their requirements, that is based on future-proofed processes and assets benchmarked against best practice and can be implemented within a very short time."

If the KPS Instant Platform is developed using processes and assets anchored in best practice,  can you ensure that the solution optimally reflects customer requirements?

A. Beck: "In the stage that follows, the platform in its delivered form is specifically developed and specialized in line with customer-specific requirements. Adding customer specific features to standard market processes allows an individual profile to be created that sets clear blue water between the platform and its market competitors – it’s the key to greater coverage and clear competitive advantage."

How would you summarize the benefits for the customer?

A. Beck: "The KPS approach combines standardization with individualization. The solution offers the customer the security of a speedy product launch coupled with the advantage of customized functionality."

Can you give us a bit more detail on the procedure involved in KPS Instant Invoice Management?

A. Beck: "KPS Instant Invoice Management forms the framework for providing a complete workflowbased solution offering preconfigured verification processes, along with the relevant roles and user interfaces whose efficacy has already been tried and tested with a great many customers. The result is a reliable and field-tested basis that supports both upstream processes, such as digitization and the intelligent extraction of invoice data, as well as special processes, including automated goods receipt settlement or SAP Transport Management’s shipment cost settlement. The modular structure, and ultimately the preconfigured assets available, enable the solution to be quickly modified to suit customer specific requirements. The underlying organizational structure of the review process, release hierarchies and approval limits are some of the features that are customized so that a bespoke product can be provided and put into operation in the shortest possible time."

Which companies is KPS Instant Invoice Management suitable for?

A. Beck: "KPS Instant Invoice Management is suitable for all companies that want to gain complete control and transparency over their invoice verification processes and no longer want to lose time – and consequently money – due to excessive processing times and nontransparent process paths. In this context, the solution excels with its full integration with all common inbound channels such as EDI, mail inbound or the processing of non-digitized invoices with the associated invoice recognition. The central interface for processing all invoices in the company, regardless of the incoming channel, invoice type or processing status, confers an additional advantage on users. Implementing invoice verification processes using KPS Instant Invoice Management is suitable both for customers who already process invoices to SAP standard and for customers who are introducing invoice verification in SAP from scratch."

 Thank you for the detailed information, Mr Beck!