Accounts payable (AP) automation software is vital for businesses looking to reduce invoice processing costs, eliminate manual data entry errors, and improve operational costs. But over the past several years, the AP software landscape has become extremely crowded. It can feel overwhelming to find your ideal solution!
To help you narrow your search, we've put together a comparison of six leading AP automation solutions for 2024, including Quadient AP.
In this blog post, we’ll explore key features that will help you narrow down your vendor selection, and arm you with the questions and answers you need to make the selection that’s right for you.
What to look for in an AP automation solution
The amount of features offered by the many available AP software solutions is staggering and the market is very segmented based on company size. And while sometimes subtle, the variations between providers could be the difference between selecting a vendor that works for you long-term versus finding yourself undertaking another expensive and time consuming software selection process in a matter of months.
For example:
- Some solutions offer 2-way PO matching while others offer both 2 and 3-way matching.
- Some solutions take a modular approach, while others are all-or-nothing.
- Some solutions have per-user pricing while others offer a per-month rate for unlimited user profiles.
A business checklist
Your business needs are unique. Don’t be afraid to ask both what your team needs today and why, but also what your team might need as it scales and changes over time.
Here’s a checklist that can help you focus your search:
- Business size and complexity: Choose a solution that aligns with your business size, transaction volume and operational complexity. If you have your eye on a tool that specializes in large enterprises, and you are a small business, you might find that the solution lacks the flexibility you require.
- ERP (enterprise resource planning) integrations: Ensure the vendor you select can integrate smoothly with your ERP system. You want to avoid going through an expensive, time-consuming software selection process only to discover that the vendor you choose cannot work with the solutions you already have.
- Pricing structure: Compare the pricing models of your preferred solutions. Consider if a per-user or per-month structure is best for you. Ask if there are fees per transaction. And consider if the vendor can scale up or down their pricing if your requirements change.
- Support: Select a software that offers dedicated customer support; from sales, to implementation and beyond. Consider whether or not your purchase gets you priority and personalized support or simply sends you to a generic call center or no-reply email inbox.
- User experience: Opt for a solution that is easy to learn and use for your accounting team. Look for a user interface that is intuitive, modern, and easy to learn, with workflows that are customizable. The implementation timeline should be minimally disruptive and adaptable to your schedule.
Narrowing your search
Now that you have a general idea of what you need, it’s time to narrow your search and create a shortlist of options.
Here’s our review of 6 leading AP automation solutions.
- Quadient AP
Quadient AP offers 4 distinct modules into one platform: Invoice, POs, Payments and Expenses. Known for their user-friendly interface, Quadient AP is a great solution for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that are growing and becoming more complex, including regional or international expansion. Quadient AP’s strengths lie in its PO (purchase order) module, advanced AI-powered invoice scanning that can capture header and line item data, intelligent workflow automation, and integration capabilities with ERP systems like Oracle Netsuite. - Tipalti
Tipalti’s AP automation platform caters mainly to mid-market organizations. Their procurement offering is not part of their AP solution (Tipalti acquired Approve.com in 2021). Their in-house payment solution provides a vendor portal, allowing visibility into the status of payments and the ability for a buyer to drop a PO directly into the application. - AvidXchange
AvidXchange offers AP automation for small businesses. However, their flagship AP solution, AvidInvoice is separated from their payment solution, AvidPay, so two integrations to the ERP are required. Their partnership with Wise enables them to offer a modern solution for FX payments. - Yooz
Yooz is a scalable, AI-driven AP automation solution designed for small-to-medium sized businesses. Yooz’s cloud-based platform is quick to implement and can integrate with more than 250 ERP and accounting systems. Yooz allows users to manually enter a budget amount into their solution, to help keep requisitions and purchase orders in line. - BILL.com
BILL.com primarily targets small businesses needing streamlined bill payment and approval processes. BILL.com automates bill capture, approval, and payments thanks to integrations with popular accounting systems such as QuickBooks and Xero. - Stampli
Stampli is a collaborative AP automation solution aimed at small companies with distributed teams. Stampli focuses on extending their AP platform across payments, credit cards, and vendor management.
Why Choose Quadient AP
Implementing an AP automation solution is a big commitment! You deserve a partner who’ll match your commitment with some of their own – like a 50% improvement in process efficiency and a 60-80% reduction in manual invoice processing costs.
Those are big numbers – but ones that Quadient AP can stand behind.
Quadient AP can:
- Reduce costs with AI-powered data entry: Manual AP is labor-intensive and can cost up to $15 to process an invoice. Quadient AP helps you eliminate 83% of data entry with OCR header and line item data capture.
- Gain visibility of your AP spend from anywhere: Easily look up the details of any invoice, PO or payment in the cloud, regardless of where it is in the workflow. Accurately accrue liabilities in real time and get a better understanding of your vendor spend.
- Mitigate risk with stronger controls: Enable sophisticated controls to mitigate internal and external fraud attempts, and detect and avoid scams such as false billing, unapproved vendors, and illegitimate expenses.
- Customize your approval workflows: Set up customized approval channels for your team. Reduce the risk of duplicate payments, errors, and fraudulent activities by ensuring the right invoices are paid at the right time.
- Integrate with your ERP: Quadient AP workflows integrate seamlessly with best-in-class ERP solutions including Quickbooks, Sage, Intacct, Netsuite, Xero, and more. You can import payments and purchase order feeds, and output files that are configured to be imported back to your accounting software—meaning no double entry.
If you’re ready to take the next step toward AP automation, it’s time for you to discover what Quadient AP by Beanworks can do for you. Book a demo today!
Jill brings over 15 years of industry experience in financial services marketing. She is a passionate and motivated digital marketing professional with extensive experience in multi-channel marketing with a proven record of driving results for growing and established financial services brands like American Express, Billtrust, Heartland Payments Systems, and CAN Capital. Jill is experienced in planning and executing integrated marketing campaigns across channels: web, content, paid media, email, influencer marketing, social, SEO, and events.