Produced by sharedserviceslink and Medius, this report shares findings from our latest survey, helps you benchmark your performance, and provides top tips to address the most pressing issues.

1. The state of flow in P2P
Fixing the flow
The impact on the
organization
41-60%
INFOGRAPHIC REPORT
© sharedserviceslink and Medius 2017
How to Improve
your P2P Flow
About the research
sharedserviceslink and Medius conducted a
survey to gain better understanding of how P2P
organizations flow. We wanted to examine
where the common pain points are, where
processes work well, and where problems in
processes occur. This report shares our four key
findings about the state of flow in P2P, and three
ways to address the most pressing issues.
About our respondents
We surveyed over 100 senior finance,
procurement, shared services professionals, and
process owners. Respondents selected for this
analysis are based in North America.
68% have over $1 Billion annual revenue.
The most widely used technologies are fairly
traditional: ERP workflow, scanning and EDI.
ERP workflow
EDI
OCR/Scanning
e-Invoicing
AP specific workflow
Supplier portal
Outsourced data capture
Capture and digitize invoices
Automate 3-way matches
Workflow invoices with exceptions
Provide e-procurement for indirect spend
Provide mobile access for AP workflow
Manage extra charges automatically
Not very well
Payment automation platform
0-20%
21-40%
61%
-80%
80-90%
90%
+
The state of flow in P2P
The technologies most widely used
are the more traditional ones
What technology do you currently use?
1
While it’s encouraging to see a good proportion of
companies with high rates of invoices under PO,
more than half have low rates of invoices under
PO. 52% have fewer than 80% of invoices under
purchase order.
Companies generally have low rates
of invoices under purchase order
What percentage of your invoices are under
purchase order?
52% have fewer than 80% of
invoices under purchase order.
2
Most organizations have relatively low rates of
touchless processing. Only 11% have over 80%
touchless invoice processing.
Manual invoicing and manual
intervention are still very common
What % of your invoice processing is touchless?
3
Based on these findings, here are
three ways to address these most
pressing issues in P2P
Improve PO rates for better
spend visibility
Automate to ease manual
invoice processing issues
Use workflow to meet the
needs of the organization
Summary
74%
want to improve their spend visibility
47%
struggle with manual entry across
multiple systems
46%
have difficulty measuring and
monitoring process
43%
say they have regular breakdowns
in workflow
The top pain points are symptoms of poor
flow in P2P, with difficulties communicating
across systems and a lack of visibility.
• Most organizations still struggle with
substantial numbers of non-PO invoices
and significant invoice interventions.
• Considering the size of organizations
participating, this adds up to a lot of time
spent on manual intervention and
handling non-PO invoices.
The majority still struggle with
automation and workflow
While most can capture and digitize invoices to
some extent, most struggle with more advanced
options such as mobile access for AP workflow.
Between half and three quarters struggle with all
of these functions.
How well are you able to:
4
Improve PO rates for better
spend visibility
When it comes to improving PO rates,
companies should try to improve PO
creation from the beginning. If you
struggle with non-PO invoices, there are
tools to help you manage them from
slowing down your P2P process.
Auto-route non-PO invoices.
60% of respondents auto-route non-PO
invoices to relevant approvers to some
extent. Non-PO invoices can also be pre-
coded. However only about half are
doing this.
Turn a traditional, indirect spend
process into a PO-based one.
Create a pre-approval purchase model to
turn after-the-fact expenses into
order-based purchases, with invoices
automatically matched to the purchase
order, for a fully touchless process.
1
58%
46%
45%
44%
32%
26%
15%
14%
Dynamic discounting/Supply chain finance tool
14%
General workflow management tool
11%
36%
12%
16%17%
13%
6%
1%
-
20%
I don't
know
0%
21%
-
40%
41%
-
60%
61%
-
80%
80%
-
90%
More
than
90%
14%
7%
12%
4%
16%
20%
8%
19%
OK, but
some issues
Well Very well
17%
31%
24%
28%
14%
26%
34%
26%
10%
26%
38%
26%
6%
45%
34%
15%
50%
32%
15%
3%
3%
61%
17%
19%
• Utilize a mobile-friendly solution.
Mobile makes the approval process for
business users as simple and seamless
as possible.
• Show your progress.
Identify the most important KPIs for your
organization and use real, data-driven
industry benchmarks for better visibility
into your process performance.
Automate to ease manual
invoice processing issues
Most organizations surveyed have low
rates of touchless invoicing. Considering
the size of organizations participating, this
is a lot of time spent on manual entry.
Automating the invoice processing as
much as possible will help keep your staff
focused on value-adding tasks.
2
43% say they struggle with breakdowns in
workflow. This means invoices get paid
late, KPIs turn from green to red, and
stress levels rise. It also means that
chances for early payment discounts are
missed and supplier relationships suffer.
Modern workflow tools leverage advanced
technology - they have really come a long
way. Making sure you not only have good
processes but also a good workflow can
help you get back on track with green KPIs
and lower stress levels.
• Not all workflows are created equal.
More advanced workflow tools will go
beyond just the basic and have
functionality including automatic
distribution and exception handling.
• Ensure the tool works for your
organization.
It's important to have a workflow tool
that can be easily set up to match your
business logic, without the need for
extensive IT resources.
Use workflow to meet the
needs of the organization
3
1
2
3
Despite years of advances in P2P
technology, many companies still
struggle with poor invoice process
management and high levels of
non-PO invoices. If these pain points
sound familiar, you are not alone.
But you do have options.
For many, getting 100% of invoices
under purchase order may be too
much to take on now. However,
advanced workflow tools can reduce
the impact this has on your
organization. It can also help you
streamline the process and improve
the overall flow of your P2P process.
About Medius
Medius is a leading global provider of accounts
payable (AP) invoice automation solutions in the
cloud. The MediusFlow and Ascendo Invoice
solutions automate and simplify the entire purchase-
to-pay (P2P) process, enabling an unprecedented
level of truly touchless invoice processing, shortened
lead times, greater control, and improved visibility of
financial metrics. The company has over 2,000
customers worldwide processing in excess of 52
million invoices annually, with a high density in the
retail and manufacturing sectors.
Medius was founded in 2001 and has over 220
employees working from offices in Sweden (HQ), the
United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway,
the Netherlands, Poland and Malaysia. For more
information, please visit mediusflow.com
Take the first step toward fixing your P2P flow by
contacting us for a personal review with one of our
automation experts.
© sharedserviceslink.com Ltd and Medius Software Inc 2017. No copy or visual can be used in part, as a phrase or in whole without the
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