But, what else can you do?
You’ve talked about consolidating your systems, but that sounds like even more work than your current process.
What’s the big deal about leaving things as status quo?
It costs your company time, money, and puts you at a greater risk for security problems.
The lack of reporting provides little visibility into your operations. As a result, you’re likely not leveraging cash flow strategically or reducing unnecessary costs.
When your data is in multiple systems, it creates an opportunity for fraud and human error. For example, the more siloed ERPs you have, the more information your employees will manually input. Scammers can take advantage of the situation by creating fake invoices. Or, if a legitimate vendor or an employee makes a mistake, it may not be discovered until after payment is issued.
These are just a few examples of problems that can arise in your accounts payable and payments process when your ERPs are not integrated.
However, what may seem like small obstacles each day can lead to significant issues in the future. An integration will create more efficient processes in your business, streamline your reporting, and lead to a transparent environment where better business decisions are made.
One of the most pressing concerns in a non-consolidated environment is security. A highly manual process, which must be replicated for every ERP, is at risk for fraud. Fake invoices or additional charges are often missed when they’re subject to human review.
Without integration, employees will need to enter data into each ERP to remain consistent across the enterprise. And employees will make mistakes. Each manual entry also takes time away from tasks that are more valuable for the organization, like data analysis.
When you connect your systems, you eliminate manual work that leads to errors. Your security will increase because it’s no longer dependent on people to catch the mistake.
You’ll make better business decisions when you can see a complete financial picture. You need to have a clear understanding of how a strategy you’re considering will impact every area of the company.
It’s challenging to make sound strategic decisions when your ERPs are separate. Sure, you can pull reports from each system. But you won’t have a line of sight into what the number means for your other business units.
Every ERP will need its own system to report spending, vendor analysis, and other critical data. So, when your leadership team meets, they won’t have all the information in one place. As a result, it will be difficult for management to determine which departments require support.
Consolidating your AP process from multiple ERPs will provide reporting across the organization. You’ll work better with colleagues because you can create innovative solutions to problems when everyone sees the same numbers and what they mean.
Leveraging cash flow is critical to your company’s growth.
You know it.
Your finance team knows it.
When you don’t have great insight into your AP because your ERPs aren’t connected, you lack information on what’s actually happening with your spending.
You could be losing excessive amounts of cash on fees due to late payments. Or you could simply lack insight into cash flow, resulting in your company not properly utilizing cash on hand.
Consolidating ERPs via AP integration gives you a full financial picture. No more keying invoice data in multiple platforms. Integration allows data to be input automatically and gives you instant reporting access to see information when needed.
When you consolidate your AP processes from multiple ERP systems, life gets a lot easier for everyone.
You’ll cut down on manual work and eliminate risk. Your decision-making will improve because you have visibility into information that wasn’t readily available in a manual environment.
ActiveWorx can integrate with multiple ERP systems. Our team handles the technical side, taking the burden off your IT team.
You can make your company better by bringing this data and information together. And when you’re ready to grow, you’ll have a system in place to take on additional volumes and systems seamlessly.