In today’s competitive financial landscape, internal and external stakeholders must continuously collaborate, securely handle diverse sets of structured and unstructured data, and boost the efficacy of processes to meet business objectives.
The need for efficiency is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, for most organizations, Intelligent Applications continue to take a back seat to the longstanding legacy technology in the back office. Change is hard—and sometimes, the resistance to it is overwhelming.With so many demands impacting financial organizations today, it’s clear that legacy technologies such as OCR or RPA are not robust enough solutions to solve the multi-tiered, complex requests back-office accounting and finance operations handle daily.
Enter Intelligent Applications.
Intelligent Applications are an overarching umbrella of technologies that automate more complicated business processes. Understanding its functionality and benefits for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable teams are the first steps in embracing the future of the finance back office.
Intelligent Applications At Their Core
Intelligent Applications, or “Intelligent Apps,” as often labeled, are an emerging set of next-gen technologies coming together to allow incredible advancements in the automation of business and process functions.
At its most basic level, Intelligent Applications automate processes to supersede people from moving transactions from one step to another.
At its most advanced level, cognitive systems empowered by Intelligent Apps use historical data to make analytical forecasts, handle exceptional situations, and assist knowledge workers in making decisions and gaining new insights.
Intelligent Apps use historical data to make analytical forecasts, handle exceptional situations, and assist knowledge workers in making decisions and gaining new insights.
Typically, Intelligent Applications are made up of the following technologies:
- Natural Language Technologies + Large Language Models
- Generative AI and Machine Learning
- Computer Vision + AI-Enabled OCR
- Enhanced RPA
To qualify as an Intelligent App, the technology must use artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve decision-making. It must use natural language technology to provide contextual functionality, be built to implement and sustain “no code / low code” maintenance, act as a “co-pilot” for finance teams, and employ extensibility to expand, grow, and flex to deliver across various functional areas.
Now that you understand Intelligent Applications a bit more, it’s time to turn the finance office into a smart office.
The Rise of Intelligent Apps within Accounts Receivable
Responding to requests for documentation, sending invoice copies and reminders, researching account status, and following up on outstanding balances—all of these routine, repetitive, and, let’s face it, tedious tasks for the AR department not only drag down morale but also derail focus from more meaningful activities.
Advanced AR automation powered by Intelligent Apps uses AI-Powered software platforms to automate the accounts receivable department’s repetitive, manual processes and tasks, augmenting workflows, and enhancing engagement to save time, reduce costs, and prevent errors.
And the benefits are immediate.
Enterprises that adopt Intelligent Applications see an instant 75% workload reduction, thanks to eliminating tedious, error-prone manual tasks. This reduction helps to improve employee retention as teams now concentrate on more meaningful and rewarding work. AR automation also increases the productivity and efficiency of the finance and accounting departments by up to 60%.
Enterprises that adopt Intelligent Applications see an instant 75% workload reduction, thanks to eliminating tedious, error-prone manual tasks.
But Intelligent Applications are not only for Accounts Receivable departments. Accounts Payable could also reap significant benefits from Intelligent Apps.
The Case for Intelligent Apps within Accounts Payable
Advanced AP automation powered by Intelligent Apps uses AI, ML, and NLT to automate and streamline how accounts payable / procurement processes are monitored, executed, and handled. AP automation solutions help to automate responses, streamline payments, prioritize AP team performance, and handle inbox inquiries.
Similar to the advantages of adapting AR automation tools into financial workflows, adopting AP automation into your organization could bring many benefits.
First and foremost, finance teams experience a workload reduction in the AP department by up to 80% and a 75%+ reduction in the manual, process-oriented tasks that drag down AP department morale and consume valuable hours.
The AP team could achieve a workload reduction by up to 80% and a 75%+ reduction in the manual, process-oriented tasks with Intelligent Apps.
Reducing fraud by up to 50% is also possible with AP automation tools, as real-time insights into invoices, purchase orders, approvals, and payments keep department professionals updated. Similarly, maintaining 100% compliance with vendor tax records is easier with AP Automation, as non-compliance issues are immediately spotted and then course-corrected.
The benefits of Intelligent Applications in AR and AP are clear: reduced workloads for resource-strapped team members, increased accuracy and fewer errors, and improved efficiency for these highly valuable departments.
So, what’s next?
Embrace the Power of Intelligent Applications
In today’s ever-changing business landscape, with required collaboration across internal and external stakeholders and handling diverse data sets, Intelligent Applications are the answer for which organizations have been searching.
From Accounts Payable to Accounts Receivable, the benefits are numerous.
Cost-effective, flexible, and easy to use, Auditoria.AI is the automated, AI-powered Intelligent App for finance that drives immediate ROI for the AR department, the AP department, and your entire financial organization.
AI-powered Intelligent App for finance that drives immediate ROI for the AR department, the AP department, and your entire financial organization.
Automating routine, manual financial tasks and processes, boosting employee productivity, and improving customer service—that’s Auditoria.AI.
For more reading on Intelligent Apps for finance, download Auditoria’s eBook Unifying IT and Finance: Embracing Intelligent Apps for Corporate Finance to learn how to embrace Intelligent Apps for corporate finance.