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…

With the cost of stamps going up and the postal service talking about halting Saturday delivery, it is a wonder that any money-conscientious business would regularly use the postal service to deliver monthly items such as bills or invoices when those items could be handled more efficiently and securely through on-line services. Whether you are mailing out invoices or mailing in a payment, there are options that will allow your business to handle these things electronically, saving both time and money.

The USPS is planning to raise rates, meaning the costs associated with mailing paper invoices and bills are going to increase.  Add to that the cost of paper to print the invoices and people to handle and mail the invoice or bill; what you are left with are a lot of unnecessary costs that increase your bottom line. On the flip-side, if you and your suppliers have a way to submit invoices and receive payments electronically, rising USPS rates will not effect to your bottom line, cost of paper will decrease, and the employees that once spent time handling and mailing invoices and bills can use their time more efficiently elsewhere.

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Apr 08, 2009 08:30 ET

Prodagio Analytics for AP Provides Dynamic Linkage Between Liabilities and Cash

Imagitek, Ltd. Releases Real-Time Cash Management Dashboard for Accounts Payable

HOUSTON, TX–(Marketwire – April 8, 2009) – Imagitek, Ltd., developer of world-class Prodagio™ Software business applications for accounts payable, vendor self service, case management and contracts management, today announced the release of Prodagio Analytics for AP. This software application is designed to give companies a real-time linkage between pending liabilities and cash. With this information, financial executives can make dynamic decisions on how to best prioritize payments, manage strategic vendors and capture the most early payment discounts, and these decisions can be incorporated into their AP department’s workflow in real-time.

“In this economy, one of the few things companies can control is cash. Executives must be able to make strategic decisions on how to optimize spend based on current cash position. Until now, there has been no simple way to have essential information in real-time. Prodagio Analytics for AP brings real-time business intelligence to Accounts Payable,” said Mara Henderson, president, Imagitek, Ltd.

The new module provides a best practice set of standard views for financial executives like CFOs and Controllers. This release comes on the heels of Prodagio AP 4.4, which included a new scheduled invoice template and many improvements to its Prodagio Vendor Self Service. “The Prodagio AP platform provides a consolidated view of liabilities across all systems and organizations, regardless of locations, currencies or underlying ERP systems,” states Pete Stevens, director of Prodagio product marketing. “With our Analytics product and AP platform, financial executives can transform AP from just transaction savings into strategic cash tool.”

Prodagio Analytics for AP will be demonstrated in Orlando, Florida, at the International Account Payables Professionals conference, April 19-23, 2009.

About Imagitek, Ltd.

Imagitek, Ltd., an Altran company, is a provider of off-the-shelf business applications that work seamlessly with content management and ERP systems. Imagitek’s flagship Prodagio Software delivers best-in-class applications for accounts payable, case management, contracts management and vendor self service. Established in 1982, Altran is recognized as a global leader in innovation and consulting with annual revenues exceeding US $2.1 billion. For more information, visit http://www.prodagio.com/.

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.