Here’s a staggering stat for you: In North America each year businesses lose over $75 billion to payment friction. A good chunk of this friction is generated by the processing of invoices using conventional analog accounts payable methods. According to industry studies by Scotiabank and others, using these methods it costs an average of $15 to process an invoice! This, I’m sure we can all agree, falls somewhere on the spectrum between wasteful and absurd.
Conventional accounts payable processes
Let’s have a look at how conventional accounts payables processes rack up such unnecessary expenditures. It all starts with paper, a seemingly innocent medium for conveying information, but one that, even when it’s white, has a dark underside.
In most offices, stacks of invoices are either received by mail, or through email and then printed, and subsequently passed around from person to person and department to department for data entry, review, approval and eventually payment. Often, it’s a dizzying process that borders on comical, especially when there are delays caused by someone in the assembly line being out of the office or by human error.
Payment approval software
The upshot of all this is that, given the highly competitive business environments in which most companies operate, digital approvals are now critical, particularly with remote work becoming mainstream. Enter the SparcPay app, which provides easy-to-execute digital approvals and payments thanks to its simple and intuitive interface. SparcPay offers streamlined and customizable workflows, reducing the number of approval levels and approvers at each level, expediting the accounts payables process and eliminating the endless circulation of emails and attachments. What’s more, SparcPay provides an audit trail that clearly shows who approved what and when—for transparency and security.
On top of that, since the app is accessible 24/7, invoices can be approved anytime —and from anywhere on any device, not only saving you time and money, but also liberating you from a host of constraints, enhancing your quality of life. For example, summer is now here and you’d probably rather be chilling out up at the cottage rather than sweating it out at the office. With SparcPay, there’s no need to be at the office printing out invoices, tracking down signatures or waiting for painfully slow email correspondence from colleagues who might only be available at irregular hours or are in a different time zone altogether. SparcPay allows you to be productive at unimagined places. Whether you are working from home, running around for meetings out of town at a conference or are on holiday, SparcPay allows you to handle invoices from anywhere you might find yourself.
Mobile payment approval
Back to the point about using SparcPay on “any device” . . . These days many of us feel out of sorts if we’re not tethered to our phones—our favorite digital devices. Fortunately, SparcPay is a mobile-friendly app that allows you to securely access your company site with your phone for the purpose of viewing invoices and executing fast and easy approvals. And you can do it with as few as three “taps” on the screen. Of course, the same goes for tablets if you’re partial to using them when away from your workstation. With the ability to handle accounts payables using your phone or tablet, the world’s your oyster.
Learn more about e-approvals in Canada
We at SparcPay are keen to reduce payment friction to the bare minimum. To help us help you in this pursuit, please click here to contact us. It just may be the best move you’ve made in a long time.