Last week, I bought an iPad for my wife and spent most of the day “setting it up for her”. It came ready to use, which meant, despite a full calendar or appointments and tasks, I spent the rest of the day playing with it and testing its capabilities…I have to say that I love it!!! 

Now I recognize I’m late to the iWhatever game, and by that I mean I haven’t personally owned an iPod or iPhone, so this new found fascination might be “old news” for some out there. What impressed me the most about the iPad was Apple’s accomplishment in making a complex technology straightforward for the end user. From the moment you take it out of the box and turn it on, you realize that you are holding something that has a lot of power and functionality but it was so simple to access.  The iPad gives you the ability to do so much without even opening up a user guide. Need to take notes during a conference…there is a built in notepad with a handy keyboard; want to quietly read the paper at a coffee shop…you can do so with ease and without the hassle of flimsy pages; you-tube videos (or any video) – you can watch easily and clearly on the big screen; need to make changes to the presentation that was just emailed to you – you can do it without logging on to a computer. Apple was able to take many different features and literally put them right at your fingertips, giving me and any other iPad user a simple power that is hard to describe. 

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I am a giver; a man of the people. A problem solver of sorts.  I have come to the realization that the latest trendy word or acronym has not been coined by a  “professional” in the Accounts Payable space in a long time.  We all know the easy ones like Automation, Touchless Transactions, OCR, Content Management, etc…….Snore.  Well I am here to give the people what they want; a term to be used when credibility is paramount.  I Brandon Henderson will deliver the next Trendy AP word. How about “Simplicity”. It’s a good word, no?  We all want simplicity in our life.  Unfortunately we all know that invoices are not simple, the idea of an invoice is simple, but the 120 line item non po invoice, not so simple.   Ok, so simplicity is out.  But is it?  Can someone provide a method that provides a simple way to process invoices? That’s a different topic for another day.  I am here to brain storm, to provide Controllers across the this great country of ours the ability to use a word that makes them seem smarter than their CFO.  I am not here to talk about providing less complex technology that provides a real time view of expenditures and liabilities. I am not here to talk about the ability monitor invoice approval times and enforce compliance measures.  I am here to summarize. I am here to vocalize a word that will flip the AP world upside down. I am….drawing a blank right now. If “Simplicity” isn’t fitting, there is bound to be another word better suited for this task. Maybe I’ll think of something in the next few days…

The European Union announced Feb 22^nd, 2010 that it’s framework for a unified electronic invoicing standard is nearing completion. A recent report from Capgemini predicts potential annual benefits of up to €40 billion across Europe in the b2b field alone.

This initiative will result in dramatic cuts in cost for b2b invoicing:

• Quicker retrieval of money from customers by reducing delivery time for invoices
• Reduced printing and postage costs
• Quicker and cheaper processing, as the information in electronic invoices can be fed directly into a company’s accounts payable software, like Prodagio AP
• Lower storage costs

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Prodagio Software products have just been included in two new industry analyst reports by Gartner and Forrester. Both firms list Prodagio Contracts as a leading offering in the Contracts Management space. In their latest research, Forrester has recognized our ability to provide both the benefits of content management and transactional contract capabilities.

Forrester Research – Prodagio Contracts

Predictions 2009: ePurchasing Market, Andrew Bartels, 30 March 2009.

“Imagitek leverages its EMC Documentum relationship to move into CLM. Imagitek has had an offering in the EIPP space for a number of years with its Prodagio A/P product. In 2005, it added a CLM product, Prodagio Contracts, to its procure-to-pay suite. Prodagio Contracts has 30 clients, including global, publicly traded corporations, state and local governments, and international clients. The product includes a flexible data model, business processes, integration technology, and an enterprise content management component built on EMC Documentum. As a result, the product combines contract terms-and-conditions architecture for integration with transaction systems and clause-level control over contract creation, negotiation, and management of contract obligations with the leverage of a leading ECM platform. Imagitek has also recognized the SaaS trend and delivers both hosted and on-premise solutions.”

Gartner – Prodagio AP

Procurement and the Oracle E-Business Suite, Debbie Wilson, 5 March 2009.

Gartner highlights Imagitek as a best-of-breed alternative to Oracle’s Procurement Applications. Prodagio Software is particularly relevant against Oracle in situations where multiple ERPs and backend systems exist or for shared services where consolidation across business units is required.

With all the recent economic changes, we decided to dig down into what is driving our Procure-to-Pay customers right now. Traditionally, the value of Accounts Payable solutions has been operational – to process invoices as inexpensively as possible. Our clients have always seen beyond core efficiency. It is not that they don’t value the operational improvements. They bank those benefits every day; but, they also see how with the right technology they can move beyond simple post-and-pay efficiencies.

Based on this experience, we see an invoice as a demand on your cash. On first blush, it seems simplistic. But when you let that perspective guide feature development instead of just operational efficiency then a new class of functionality emerges. The software no longer just ensures that bills are paid with as little cost as possible. To create maximum benefit for your organization, software needs to allow you to control timing, prioritizing and interrogation of supplier demands. This is even more important in today’s climate.

Every organization should be looking into a variety of strategies:

-Maximize discounts on bills you have to pay.
-Identify duplicate payments before a check is cut.
-Ensure you work closely with Procurement and lines of business to strategically manage critical vendors.
-Develop strategies for vendor negotiations that allow you to control timing and terms.
-Shift processing cost and data entry to vendors with Vendor Portals.
-Monitor for potential fraud by watching vendor and payment trends.
-Aid the CFO with compliance with detailed record-keeping, audit trails and process control.
-Maintain your corporate reputation and keep essential suppliers happy.

There is an article in IAPP’s February newsletter (http://www.iappnet.org/) called “Transforming AP into a Profit Center.” It corroborates the same themes our customers have been telling us.

This is a good time to give your Accounts Payable process some serious consideration. Outsourcing invoice payments to cut costs might give you some measure of efficiency; but, it won’t help you sleep better at night, manage your vendors effectively or ensure you’re not a victim to invoice fraud or errors.

Some things are too important to hand off – we think your company’s cash falls into that category.

On February 18, 2009 at 1pm EST, Imagitek, Ltd. will be hosting a live webcast: “An Invoice is a Demand on your Cash – Why Take Chances?”

This important event will focus on the things AP managers and finance executives can do to ensure invoice integrity and gain better visibility over financial obligations.

The event is free. To learn more and register, visit Prodagio AP webcast.

The Roadmap to Streamlining Accounts Payable

RSVP required.

IKON and Prodagio Software have teamed with Goodman & Associates in sponsorship of this free workshop. Nat Goodman CPA, APM, MBA and President of Goodman & Associates will lead this information-packed morning session which will earn three (3) CPE hours. He will outline a step-by-step methodology which will enable the financial manager to assess their disbursement performance in an effort to drive process improvement.

The workshop will concentrate on:
• Employing benchmarks and metrics to assess your AP process
• Balancing your scorecard
• Examining performance gaps
• Recognizing accounting & organizational disparities (Pitfalls)
• Focusing on what drives AP productivity and quality
• Identifying e-solutions
• Prioritizing process improvements
• Selecting vendors

Workshop Leader

Nat Goodman is credited with significant consulting accomplishments on five continents. Nat served as the corporate comptroller for Sears Roebuck de Mexico and the controller for Hartmarx Specialty Stores. He was manager of various individual shared-service functions including AP, payroll, general ledger, credit cards, etc.

He is the author of the International Accounts Payable professionals’ 200 Page CAPP Certification Manual and the 100 Page Accounts Payable Manual for Associates, which are the basis for their respective certification exams. Additionally, Nat was managing editor of the IAPP Newsletter. Nat is now concentrating on payables/procurement in the form of speaking engagements, seminars, writing and consulting. He co-authored IOMA’s 300+ page Complete Guide to Accounts Payable Best Practices along with their recently issued AP Shared Service Benchmarking and Analysis research report. In 2009, his Complete Guide to AP Fraud and Internal Control will be published.

Agenda
8:15-8:45 Continental Breakfast
8:45-9:00 Introduction
9:00-10:00 Workshop
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:45 Workshop continues
11:45-12:30 Paradatec/Kodak presentation
12:30 -1:30 Lunch
1:30- 2:30 Prodagio Solutions ( AP workflow tool)

One lucky attendee will win a Dell Mini Note 9 netbook computer.

Space is limited, RSVP today at Prodagio Live Events.

Prodagio A/P now allows the Business Administrator to configure both the invoice’s header and line-item information in the same window.
To configure Prodagio A/P and its Actions menu for editing headers and line-items in the same window using the Edit Invoice option, follow this procedure:

1. Login in with Business Administrator permissions.
2. Click the Administrator tab, then Menu Options, then Modify.
3. Select the User Role from the drop-down list.
4. In the Available Menu Options column, select Edit Invoice.
5. Move Edit Invoice to the Current Menu Options column.
6. Select Edit Invoice and move it up or down to the required position with the Up or Down buttons.
7. Click Save.
8. Repeat the above steps for each User Role needing the combined header and line-item window, saving after each.

It was a rare treat to see Endeavour fly over the office on its way back from California. In this case, some bad weather in Florida provided this rare glimpse of the Shuttle enjoying first-class service atop a 747.