INVOICE PROCESSING SERVICES

Have you decided to outsource your invoice processing and other business portions? 

We can securely say that you’ve made a phenomenal choice. You can expect various benefits by outsourcing invoice management services to an established business. These include allowing your employees to concentrate more on core company pursuits, elevated service quality for your clients, and diminished operational costs.

Outsourcing invoice processing and multilingual data services to a company is an outstanding method for accomplishing your invoice-handling tasks. Additionally, it can ensure smooth day-to-day operations. However, although choosing the right outsourcing provider may seem simple, it may be challenging.

Not all establishments that offer invoice processing and multilingual data solutions are the proper fit for your business and daily operations. If you choose the wrong service provider, it can be counterproductive instead of beneficial to your establishment.

This guide will discuss how to find outsourcing services to manage your invoices effectively. We advise you to ensure that you outsource your business process to an establishment with adequate resources and required expertise.

Without further ado, let’s begin with the fundamentals.

Outsourcing AP Invoices Processing: The Concept

Outsourcing, by definition, is the custom of hiring a third party (either an individual or company) outside the business to accomplish a business task (or tasks) that were previously performed in-house by the business’s own employees.

Why do businesses outsource tasks like invoice processing services or multilingual data annotation support?

While there can be various reasons companies outsource a portion of their businesses, the primary reason is that the company can stop spending its own time and resources on a specific task. This allows the company to:

• Minimize their overhead by outsourcing to companies willing to perform the tasks at a lesser cost (i.e., outsourcing to third-world workers with reduced labour costs)
• Freeing their employees from accomplishing work tasks (incredibly repetitive and time-consuming jobs) enables them to use their time to perform other, more essential tasks.
• Outsource the work to more capable workers, especially for tasks requiring particular expertise or experience, for which building an in-house team will be challenging and expensive.

Invoice processing is a specific area where companies use outsourcing to allow their teams to focus on the core aspects of the business and move the important but less critical invoice-processing tasks outside the company. 

In the next section, we will discuss the benefits your business can gain by outsourcing your invoice processing and multilingual data solutions to a specialised company.

Potential Benefits of Invoice Processing Services

• Improved Cost-Efficiency

Companies may outsource invoice processing by choosing the right service provider to reduce labour costs, including overhead and salaries.

For instance, if your business is in the US, you can outsource invoice handling to a service provider offering AP specialists. By doing this, you can accomplish the project at a fraction of your in-house cost. This is due to the wage discrepancy between the US and other countries.

• Enhanced Efficiency and Accuracy

Not only can you finalise the invoice processing job at a decreased cost, but you can also complete the pursuit with enhanced quality and accuracy. Therefore, low cost in outsourcing does not mean reduced quality.

By outsourcing to a credible invoice outsourcing company like OWorkers, they’ll bring years of experience and expertise in invoice processing solutions so they can perform the job better and more efficiently with their worker’s understanding of the field.

Ultimately, this will result in improved efficiency and productivity in your invoice processing workflow and your company’s overall bottom line.

• Access to Skilled Experts

Hiring and training employees to meet the requirements of your invoice volume and complexities can take time and effort.

Providers like OWorkers take care of the resourcing needs with their pool of highly skilled experts experienced in handling complex and high-volume invoice processing situations.

Working with the best invoice and multilingual data service outsourcing company can give you access to this expertise and capabilities.

• Lower Upfront Investment

Outsourcing your business processes allows your company to eliminate the need for upfront investment in infrastructure (e.g., required software solutions) and the often expensive costs of vetting, hiring, and training new staff discussed above.

• More Satisfied Suppliers and Clients

Improving the accuracy of invoice processing and decreasing the time it takes for the suppliers and clients to receive payments creates a positive impact. This is because you’ll improve your company’s ability to deliver its values and build lasting relationships.

• Taking Advantage of Time Zone Differences

Another critical perk of outsourcing your invoice processing to a specialised company or any business procedure in general, such as a multilingual data solution, is that you can take advantage of the time zone deviation between your country and the location of the workers you are outsourcing to.

For example, you can let them get essential tasks done at night in your location and have the functions delivered first thing in the morning. When managed well, this can allow 24/7 invoice processing and operations for your business.

• Focus on Critical Operations

While invoice processing solution is pivotal for most businesses, it’s not considered a critical process. 

Thus, outsourcing your invoice processing services would free your team’s time, resources, and energy. This would result in the ability to focus on more core areas of your business and deliver more value to your customers.

Challenges In Hiring an Invoices Processing Company

To nominate the ideal invoice processing outsourcing establishment for the processing task, it’s crucial to understand the common predicaments with this type of work. This is consequential because it allows you to evaluate different invoice processing service providers in their abilities to solve these concerns:

• It is a repetitive and manual process with too much paperwork.

Many invoice processing firms still need to rely on manual processes, mainly paper-based and email-based, which are time-consuming and often risky.

Employees may input the wrong information into the database, and documents may not be collected in time, among other similar issues.

Since invoice solutions are not a core operation for most companies, these issues can add up. They may disrupt the organisation’s overall productivity, likely requiring multilingual data annotation support. 

• Mismanagement causing late payments

Issues in invoice processing solutions may cause delinquent payments, which can impair the company’s reputation and be financially costly in the form of penalties.

Employees responsible for overseeing invoices and accounts payables often need help with time-consuming and repetitive tasks. This can lead to lost invoices, misrouted emails, and other dilemmas contributing to overdue payments.

• Multiple disconnected apps and systems

Many organisations still need to rely on more standalone systems to handle their invoices: one for suppliers to submit invoices, another for keeping databases, another for confirming payment, and so on. These disconnected apps can complicate your team’s user experience, leading to errors and late processing.

On the other hand, investing in a single all-in-one solution or building adequate infrastructure to ensure a streamlined workflow can be expensive and complicated, so there may be better solutions.

• Scalability issues

Invoice processing or multilingual data services may be fine if you are a relatively small company with only one or two suppliers. 

However, as your business grows, your accounts payable staff may be bombarded with numerous emails and calls from different suppliers, and you may need to hire and train new employees to meet the increased invoice volume. 

Scalability can be a significant issue and will exponentially grow as your business grows.

• Poor visibility

Implementing a comprehensive invoice processing workflow that is both transparent and accountable is taxing, mainly because a collection of companies still rely on an archaic, paper-based, and email-based processing system. It’s very tough to track where matters stand in this manual system, especially when completing invoices or data services on a multilingual level.

With sufficient visibility, it will be easier for businesses to regulate their cash flow and payments-related risks. 

Factors To Consider When Choosing an Invoice Processing Company

To maximise the outsourcing of the invoice processing workflow, you’ll have to select the proper outsourcing provider to tackle the setbacks listed above and satisfy your company’s unique requirements.

Here are some of the most imperative factors to consider when selecting a multilingual data service provider for your invoice processing:

1. 1. Different Types of Invoice Processing Services:

There are several invoice-handling solutions based on two key factors: distance and relationship.

Invoice management solution types based on distance:

• Onsite: the invoice service provider sends a worker (or workers) to work in your office. This is an ideal model to choose if the task to be outsourced requires more control and supervision.
• Onshore: the invoice service provider offers professionals from the same country as the company outsourcing the work.
• Nearshore: The invoice service provider offers professionals from different but nearby countries (i.e., neighbouring countries) as the company outsourcing the work. Typically, the outsourced professionals share the same time zone as the company.
• Offshore: The invoice processing company offers professionals from different countries and time zones.
• Multisource: A company may outsource its business processes to multiple service providers, offering workers from different locations so the company can enjoy the other benefits of each model, as illustrated above.

Outsourcing invoice processing service providers differentiated by the level of responsibility:

• Project-based: the outsourcing service provider assumes most responsibility for the multilingual data services that are outsourced and will handle the tasks (or projects) based on the client’s requests and requirements.
• Staff augmentation: The client still assumes the majority of the responsibility. The task is managed internally, while the service provider ‘only’ supplies the worker.
• Dedicated team: the client and the outsourcing service provider share almost equally the responsibility for the project. The client can propose which aspects of the project the service provider is accountable for and vice versa.

First, it’s vital to identify your company’s invoice processing needs so you can select the suitable outsourcing model according to your unique requirements.

2. Versatility and Scalability

When designating a multilingual invoice processing business for data solutions, it’s paramount to assess your company’s current condition. There must also be an idea of how you envision the company to thrive in the short and long term.

While you can shift invoice processing service providers as your business flourishes, transforming to a new service provider can be burdensome, time-consuming, and costly. Typically, it’s more cost-effective to settle on the correct service provider the first time around.

Choose an invoice processing company to follow your business as you grow. For example:

• How easy and fast will adding new professionals be according to your needs?
• How easy will it be to reduce the number of workers?
• Will the invoice processing provider be able to add new infrastructure as your project requires?
• Can you outsource different tasks, such as multilingual data annotation support or other projects, as you go?

3. Service and Communication Standards

It’s also essential to choose a BPO invoice processing business that offers high-quality services, work ethic, and communication standards so they can support your business’s values.

Outsourcing invoice processing is especially important since your outsourced workers may interact with third parties.

When evaluating different service providers, assess how well the service provider understood your company’s needs and values. Can they solve your invoice processing problems while meeting your service excellence standards?

Always be specific with your multilingual data service requirements, and avoid using vague terms. Ask what tools/solutions they’ll use, especially those used for communications with your internal team and third parties.

4. Outsourcing Location

If you decide to choose a nearshore or offshore invoice processing company, you may want to consider several factors when making your decision about the preferred BPO location:

• Time zone difference: While differences have benefits, they can also hinder communications and management.
• Cultural barriers: pretty self-explanatory: cultural differences can be an issue when not managed properly.
• Immigration rules: if you are going to have onsite workers.
• Service capability: Can the invoice processing business offer 24/7 service capability based on time zone differences and other factors?
• Ease of communications: how practical will it be to conduct regular meetings (i.e., via video conferencing) or to receive multilingual support for data annotation if needed?

Although it may depend on your invoice volume and complexities, providing invoice processing services in most cases is not very technically demanding. Therefore, you may get away with outsourcing the job to offshore countries that offer lower labour costs (i.e., India, South East Asia, and Latin America). 

Again, evaluate your needs, requirements, and the available budget, and choose an appropriate outsourcing location.

5. Data Security and Privacy

In outsourcing your invoice processing tasks, it’s natural that you will share sensitive/regulated multilingual data with the invoice company when you require service.

This is why it is essential to choose a credible and trustworthy invoice processing company provider and implement proper security management and best practices.

Evaluate everything thoroughly before signing a contract with an invoice processing firm, and if necessary, hire a lawyer to protect your company. In outsourcing your invoice management tasks, it’s typically better to ensure you hold all IP rights while the outsourcing service provider doesn’t assume ownership.

6. Technology and Infrastructure

Since many challenges surrounding invoice processing services involve technology (e.g., whether invoices are processed in a centralised solution that offers visibility), ensure the chosen service provider has the right technology solutions and infrastructure to meet your requirements.

Don’t hesitate to ask the service provider candidates about the invoice-handling solutions they’ll use when handling your project. Additionally, make sure they are using multilingual data services that are:

• Easily accessible by your internal team so you can monitor progress
• Meets the latest industry standards
• Proven to be secure
• If the solution is going to be accessed by third parties, make sure it’s mobile-friendly

When evaluating different invoice processing providers regarding technology and infrastructure, consider scalability and your plans for the future. Inquire the service provider whether they plan to add more technology solutions soon, and also ask about their resource policy.

7. Cost of invoice processing solutions

Even if lowering labour costs is not your priority when outsourcing the invoice processing workflow (typical for companies that want to focus more on executing core business operations), choosing a cost-effective service provider is still essential.

However, you shouldn’t select invoice processing companies solely based on cost alone; instead, you should weigh the balance between their price and the value they offer.

Also, ask clearly about payment terms and whether rates are paid hourly, by the task, or by other methods. Discuss everything related to finances carefully, and put it all in writing.

Wrapping Up

Choosing a credible and experienced multilingual data service for your invoice processing workflow can help your business focus more on critical day-to-day operations and lower the labour costs you’d otherwise need to spend when processing your invoice in-house.

Above, we have shared some basic principles and actionable tips on choosing the right business provider for invoice processing according to your needs and requirements. Evaluate your multilingual data service needs first, then use the principles we’ve shared above to evaluate your choice. 

Don’t rush; give yourself enough time to evaluate every possible invoice processing company before committing.