Handling invoices and payments manually might seem okay at first, but as your business grows, things get really complex. You will just end up with data spread across spreadsheets, chasing approvals, and stressing over late payments. Did you know 86% of small and medium-sized businesses still manually enter invoice data, and obviously, it increases inefficiency and errors. But you can automate those processes and make things really fast and efficient.
Let’s check out some tools that can automate invoices and payments and make things work for you.
Importance of automation
Automating to streamline payments and invoices strengthens your business from the inside out. It helps you with getting faster approvals, on-time payments, and real-time visibility into your cash flow. And if you have all of that sort, you stay financially healthy. In fact, organizations that adopt invoice automation can reduce their invoice processing costs by up to 67%. Another reason to do away with manual processes is that for manual invoice processing, error rates are often around 39%, which automation can cut significantly.
Automation can help you big time in cutting down human errors as well as duplicate payments, that often slip through when things are done by hand. Plus, as your business grows, automation can scale with you and be able to handle larger invoice volumes without adding extra workload or staff. There are so many more reasons why automation today is needed by all businesses. It turns messy, time-consuming finance tasks into efficient, risk-free processes that let your team focus on what really matters: growth and strategy.
Signs you need to automate invoices and payments
When businesses grow, all manual processes start showing cracks. So, if you are also noticing the issues below, it’s time you start automating your processes.
- Your invoice approvals keep dragging on, and payments often get delayed even after reminders.
- You’re often paying late fees or penalties because it’s hard to keep track of deadlines.
- Your team is spending many hours on repetitive tasks that do not hold much value.
- It’s hard to get a clear picture of which invoices are pending, approved, or paid at any moment.
- There are noticeable errors, duplicate payments, and mismatched entries in reports.
- Month-end closing is always a rush because reconciling data takes too long.
- Handling a growing number of invoices is becoming tougher without adding more people.
These signs show that your current system has hit its limit. Automated payments and invoices can fix these weak spots and help your finance team work faster, more accurately, and with less stress.
Top 8 tools to consider
1. Tipalti
Tipalti is a nice choice for growing and global businesses that deal with a large number of payments. It automates the entire payables process, like capturing invoices, sending payments in multiple currencies, and more. It’s an apt tool for companies that manage multiple vendors, freelancers, or partners across different countries.
Features
- Tipalti can automatically capture and match invoices with purchase orders.
- It can handle global payments in 120+ currencies and 190 countries.
- It offers built-in tax compliance and fraud detection tools to reduce risk.
- It provides a self-service portal for vendors to track payment status.
- It gives real-time dashboards for visibility into spend and cash flow.
2. QuickBooks
QuickBooks is one of the most trusted accounting tools for small and medium-sized businesses. It’s easy to set up and helps you handle everything in one place. If your business wants a single platform to manage both accounting and automation, QuickBooks is a good choice.
Features
- QuickBooks creates and sends invoices automatically based on saved customer data.
- It tracks invoice status in real time and sends payment reminders.
- It syncs bank accounts to match incoming and outgoing payments.
- It offers simple dashboards to monitor cash flow and overdue invoices.
- It integrates easily with other business tools like PayPal, Shopify, and Gusto.
3. Forwardly
Forwardly is an AI-native payments platform that is built for speed, control, and simplicity. It helps growing businesses to manage both accounts payable and receivable effortlessly through instant payments, smart scheduling, and automated workflows. It’s designed for modern accounting firms and growing businesses that want instant, flexible payments with transparent pricing and freedom from bank limitations.
Features
- It supports AI-driven instant bill and invoice payments for vendors.
- It captures and processes bills directly from emails using AI that accurately extracts, matches, and categorizes invoice data far beyond what traditional OCR tools can do.
- It saves time with automated invoice payments, approval rules, and bill scheduling based on due dates.
- It syncs seamlessly with top accounting tools. A 4-way sync with QuickBooks and Xero, and 2-way with Zoho Books and FreshBooks.
- It offers all these features with zero monthly fees.
4. Melio
Melio is a simple tool for small businesses that want to pay vendors and contractors quickly without too much manual work. It has most of the basic capabilities, and if you want more, you can switch to their tiered paid plans.
Features
- It lets you pay any business bill directly from your computer or phone.
- It allows credit card payments to vendors who don’t accept cards (Melio mails them a check).
- It syncs smoothly with QuickBooks for automatic expense tracking.
- It offers approval workflows to keep control over outgoing payments.
- It provides clear visibility into pending, scheduled, and completed payments.
5. HighRadius
HighRadius is made for businesses that handle complex and high-volume payment operations. It’s a finance system that uses AI to streamline receivables, payables, and cash forecasting. It fits best for mid-to-large companies looking for precision and advanced control over cash management.
Features
- It uses AI to match invoices and payments automatically, cutting down reconciliation time.
- It predicts cash flow with real-time analytics and forecasting tools.
- It automates credit approvals, deductions, and collections follow-ups.
- It integrates smoothly with ERP systems like SAP and Oracle.
- It offers detailed dashboards for tracking working capital performance.
6. BILL 360
BILL 360 (formerly Bill.com) helps small and mid-sized businesses simplify how they manage invoices, approvals, and payments. It keeps everything in one system so you can control cash flow without juggling multiple tools.
Features
- It automates the full invoice-to-payment process with built-in approvals.
- It supports ACH, credit card, and international payments from one dashboard.
- It syncs easily with QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage Intacct.
- It gives real-time updates on pending bills and payments.
- It maintains audit trails and user permissions for better control.
7. Sage Intacct
Sage Intacct is a cloud-based finance platform made for growing businesses that want more automation and visibility. It streamlines accounting, reporting, and payments while offering clear insights across departments.
Features
- It automates invoice creation, approvals, and payment scheduling.
- It provides dashboards to track cash flow and expenses easily.
- It connects with CRM and ERP tools for a complete view of finances.
- It supports multi-entity and multi-currency transactions.
- It ensures compliance with detailed audit trails and controls.
8. Ramp
Ramp helps businesses to control spend, manage invoices, and track company expenses in real time with its capabilities. It’s known for being fast, transparent, and smart about saving money.
Features
- It automatically scans and records invoices, matching them with purchase data.
- It offers built-in approval workflows to keep spending under control.
- It gives real-time visibility into company expenses and vendor payments.
- It integrates with major accounting systems like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite.
- It uses AI to identify duplicate charges and potential savings opportunities.
Making the move toward smarter payments
Automating invoices and payments shouldn’t just be about saving. You should expect to give your business the control, accuracy, and speed it needs to grow. Manual processes might work for a while, but as your business grows and there are too many invoices to take care of, the complexity and costs increase. The right payment automation tool can handle all that for you and give you complete clarity. Your team can also finally focus on strategy instead of spreadsheets. Whether you’re a small business or a growing enterprise, automation isn’t the future anymore, it’s the upgrade your finance team needs right now.
Source: Cosmo Politian
