Halloween is a time to reflect on all the things scary … heights, weird house noises, clowns, letters from the IRS, invoice digitization, and so much more.

On the surface, an invoice is a simple document.

I am a supplier. I gave you stuff.  You agreed to pay me money.

Here is your official notice of how much you owe.

But, in reality it is a dynamic document with many external and internal dependencies to actually create and approve the payment.

A few are:

• Do we know this supplier?
• Did we ask them to provide the goods/services? Who asked them?  Did they get “it”?
• Is the pricing right?  Do we have a contract or PO to validate against?
• Which taxes need to be applied? What state or country did it ship from?
• Where will it be used?
• Is it an asset?
• What GL/Cost Center should this go to?
• Who needs to approve this?  Who SHOULD approve this?
• Is it an international invoice requiring special handling?

As anyone who has handled an invoice process knows, the list goes on. 

Maybe the biggest horror in this story is that not many people outside of Finance take the time to think about the level of complexity created for their teammates in Accounts Payable.

The Good News

Over the past 15 years, especially in the last five, solutions were developed to address these problems.

Various solutions exists in the market from procurement software developers, ERP systems, FinTech, even banks.

Even so, few solutions have had success with true invoice digitization and process improvement.

The Challenge Remains

Indeed, the challenge remains, these solutions are designed for the “straight-line method”.

Meaning an invoice that has the right information, it is tied to something like a PO and can be auto-reconciled.

The Simple Answer

The simple answer is Invoice AI.

Invoice AI provides an autonomous intake channel (send anything via email) that provides complete invoice digitization.

It reads, enriches, optimizes, and validates supplier invoices—no matter the format.

Consequently, this replaces the headache of an AP clerk opening an email (dare we say envelope) and trying to decipher who, what, when, and where.

The more complex answer is, this requires a witch’s brew of technologies to work:

• Part OCR
• Dash of AI
• Sprinkle of ML
• 2 bits of the Relish Platform

AND – BOOM!

The solution for all “OTHER INVOICES”.

To be clear, if you are using a solution with a network that automates a portion of your invoices – AWESOME.

Invoice AI complements these solutions to provide the eutopia of 90-100% invoice digitization and automation all have been promised.

Trick or Treat

In summary, Trick or Treat? Only treats—try us.

We would love—in 30 minutes or less—to show you how Invoice AI works.