AI in accounts payable: common and advanced use cases 

Exploring the state of the art for AI in accounts payable –  what organizations are leveraging now, and what they should be leveraging soon 

We’ve already heard a lot about AI in the past 2 years, so the last thing anyone needs is another hype piece.

In this article, we want to provide you with something more concrete than promises about what AI might be able to do on the future. Instead, we're going to walk you through AI in accounts payable and payments and what it can do for your organization and teams right now.

Because at Serrala, we already deploy emerging technology like AI in our accounts payable and payments solutions, we’re well positioned to understand how these technologies are used and how they can be used to improve automation and streamline workflows. As the SPARK Matrix report for AP Automation puts it, we’re focusing not so much on reinventing the wheel as leveraging AI to enhance every part of our product for a smoother and more holistic result. 

“The [Serrala] platform’s integrated AI and focus on enhancing current capabilities provide an immersive customer experience, making Serrala stand out in the market against its competitors” – SPARK Matrix Report for AP Automation

Take a look at the use cases that are already well established – and some of the more advanced capabilities that forward-thinking organizations are only just beginning to fully embrace.

How organizations are currently using AI in accounts payable  

At the moment, most businesses deploying AI in accounts payable are using it to: 

1. Extract data from documents and invoices  

Principles like optical character recognition make Al-enabled AP systems a powerful ally in expediting the manual work associated with data entry and re-entry. Especially in areas like invoice processing.

Al, and in particular Intelligent Document Processing technology (IDP), can instantly extract relevant information including supplier IDs, purchase orders, invoice amounts, and the like with an extremely high degree of accuracy. IDP technology far surpasses the  accuracy level that is possible with OCR technology, and significantly streamlines the process of entering invoice details manually into a system, which can take a human AP operator several minutes to do the same task. 

This is by far the most common current application of Al on accounts payable. At this point, we consider the value add and reliability of this use case to be a settled matter – as do many of our customers.

2. Smart fraud detection  

Al-enabled fraud detection systems can identify and escalate suspicious invoices and payment requests for review instantly. Hugely improving your organization’s capacity to make homely and accurate payments. 

Organizations with higher payment volumes and complex  financial ecosystems see particular value here, as it’s almost impossible to accurately validate all invoices and requests manually while still maintaining efficiency. Particularly as AP fraud becomes increasingly common and sophisticated – according to the 2024 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report, 80% of organizations are now victims.

3. Touchless validation, matching, and invoice posting  

Another tried and tested application of Al in accounts payable – and another which goes a long way be eliminating the onerous manual work associated with invoice processing.

Al based invoice coding tools can learn  from historical trends how to correctly code, match, and post invoices without any manual input. Even in instances where purchase orders and other information traditionally required for straight-through processing is absent. 

Again, none of this is speculative: there are areas where Al has already proven its worth for thousands of organizations worldwide on their AP and payments processes. And while they still have the highest ROI of all AP use cases for Al, they're only scratching the surface of what the technology can do for your business.

Advanced AI use cases for accounts payable  

Some of our customers – and other cutting-edge organizations and large enterprise systems providers like Microsoft – are already exploring some more futuristic applications of AI. Here’s where Serrala sees AI playing a role in the future of accounts payable:

1. Expediting approvals with smart app integration 

Al doesn’t just help to process AP data – it provides the basis for powerful improvements in how we all handle AP workflows. Serrala is currently developing microservices that improve collaboration between your AP department and business users, allowing them to access information easily from the apps they're already using every day.

For example, Serrala recently launched a new MS Teams app which allows everyone involved in your AP workflow to access, take notes on, and even approve invoices exactly as they would from their central SAP workstation. Exceptions and escalations, therefore, are easier to handle even for users like the CFO and other leaders who aren't regularly plugged in to your core finance platform. 

2. Making better use of data for more powerful analytics  

AI is the perfect partner in cleaning, organizing, and reporting on your organization’s historical AP data. But machine learning principles also make of a powerful tool for predictive analytics based on that data.  

Using AI to automate reporting and analytics in AP helps organizations bridge the gap between data and action. Creating more accurate and timely reports, forecasts, and recommendations from a master dataset that’s fully trustworthy and always up to date. 

3. Using generative AI for real-time insight  

Generative Al is now advanced enough to allow your AP teams and financial leaders to get instant insight without the need to even create custom reports. LMMs (“Large Language Models”), the same models that underlie tools like ChatGPT, now give you the power to have a conversation with your data in real time. For example, if you want to know which discounts are about to expire, if you spend is higher or lower than usual, if there's strategically important working capital needs to address, or even if you have any current invoices flogged for exceptions like fraud or additional approvals, all you need to do is ask. All of which helps your AP team contribute to the growing importance and expectations placed on your organization’s CFO as a key strategic advisor and business partner.

How can Serrala help you implement and leverage advanced use cases for AI in accounts payable and payments? 

As the pace of change accelerates, AP leaders must stay informed about emerging trends and invest in the right technologies and processes to thrive in this dynamic landscape. By more fully embracing emerging tech like AI, organizations can turn their AP departments into strategic assets that contribute to overall business success. 

Serrala AP and payments automation solutions are designed to create a coherent, end-to-end ecosystem for your payables and payment processes. The solutions simplify your accounting workflows and allow for full working capital optimization, leveraging AI to do this to the fullest extent possible based on the maturity of the current technology. 

To learn more about how we can help you revolutionize your approach to accounts payable – and how our solutions can streamline and automate every part of the process for greater efficiency, transparency, and decision velocity, check out our resource pages here or click here to book a demo.