Interdepartmental Collaboration with E-Invoicing
Collaboration between two business partners always begins with the understanding that their combined efforts are far more effective than those of any single entity standing alone. Departments within an organization act as business partners, working towards the common goal of bringing efficiency and profitability to their company. Collaborative arrangements are hugely beneficial to the success of an organization—however, competition and lack of trust can interfere with the desire to collaborate. A lack of smooth collaboration leads to disjointed departments and decreased efficiency. Successful internal collaboration results in increased profitability for an organization—and one way to achieve this success is through interdepartmental collaboration with e-invoicing.
The Risks of Disjointed Departments
In the procure-to-pay process, it’s important that there is mutual cooperation between procurement and accounts payable. Without this cooperation, the organization is not ensured timely invoice payments, adherence to purchasing agreements, or proper supplier management. The company also risks ill-defined budgets and mismanagement of finances when AP is not working in harmony with other departments such as treasury. Luckily, this kind of disharmony can be remedied with the visibility and functionality provided by e-invoicing.
Reaching Toward Common Goals
Collaboration and trust are easier when all departments are aware of common goals—and these goals are easy to define and delegate when the stats are laid out for everyone. This allows departments to move in the same direction, instead of working from opposing angles. With e-invoicing, accounts payable stats are recorded and made accessible through an online portal. An e-invoicing solution will provide unlimited users across the organization, which allows each department to view the progress made in reaching common objectives. Higher visibility afforded by e-invoicing results in less discord amongst departments, and thus, a more harmonious and productive organization.
Sharing Resources for Greater Strength
Interdepartmental collaboration with e-invoicing provides an increase in resources through shared information. Each department can offer a viewpoint uniquely their own that adds to the total. Pertinent information is openly shared in the e-invoicing portal that will benefit each department, and in turn, benefit the business as a whole. When procurement and AP departments have full visibility into archived contractual documents and invoices, they can more easily identify their most dependable vendors. Invoices that are processed electronically are stored digitally, allowing both departments to easily revisit and collaborate on vendor selections based on their history of fulfilling business contracts
Once the best suppliers are identified, AP can take advantage of dynamic discounting to enhance relationships with them and reap big savings for the company. A new, favorable collaboration can be forged with suppliers who will find that dynamic discounting benefits them by increasing their cash flow with invoices being paid early. Open communication with treasury will assure that invoice payments are made within budgetary limitations.
Working Better Together
Implementing electronic invoicing leads to smooth collaboration between departments. Instead of departments spending time tracking down information or waiting on approvals, more time can be added to higher value tasks, such as supplier management. This provides less headaches for upper management as they are better able to oversee high-functioning departments that bring huge profitability to the organization. Collaboration with e-invoicing is a perfect tool to help accounts payable to join forces with other departments and strengthen their relationships.