Accounts Payable in the Age of Online Self-Service
15 September, 2017
Financial Operations Networks and InvoiceInfo conducted the 2nd annual survey on AP Customer Service Best Practices. The survey looked at how organizations handle invoice inquiries, vendor onboarding, customer service metrics and self-service portals. The survey results reveal challenges, best practices, processes and tips for improved customer experiences. Following is an overview of the survey results. More details will be revealed over the next few months. [unordered_list style="circle"] When asked how AP customer service is handled, 31.7% responded that the questions go to staff members who handle processing of invoices; 26.1% said emails go to a dedicated email box; 20.5% responded that AP staff takes turns answering inquiries; and 11.2% have a dedicated team to answer inquiries. The trend this year is that more inquiries are going to a dedicated email box. When asked what are the most common inquiries received from vendors and internal colleagues, the clear winner was “Has my invoice been paid?” followed by “When will my invoice be paid?” Coming in a distant third was “Has my invoice been received?” The majority of organizations that responded (52%) do not have a customer service policy stating how long staff has to research and turn around a response to inquiries. Of...
A Special Report from InvoiceInfo Introduction Accounts payable works every day with many different departments and people, both within and outside the organization, including employees, purchasing, vendors and regulatory agencies. Accounts payable is unique in the sense that its “customers” are not those companies that buy their company’s products or services, but individuals and organizations that have an interest in some aspect of the AP process. AP’s internal customers are the organization’s employees — those who purchase goods or services that AP is responsible for paying as well as employees who are reimbursed for T&E. The Problem to be Solved Vendors, in order to manage their own cash and working capital needs, often contact, via phone and email, either the person who purchased the goods or AP to find out the status of invoice receipt, approval or payment. Studies show that more and more accounts receivable departments and collectors call well before the invoice is due in an effort to ascertain that the invoice has been received and when payment will be made. For the accounts payable department, answering these calls and inquiries can be a very time-consuming process. In fact, some companies have one or more employees dedicated solely to answering customer-service inquiries....
Financial Operations Networks and InvoiceInfo conducted the 2nd annual survey on AP Customer Service Best Practices. The survey looked at how organizations handle invoice inquiries, vendor onboarding, customer service metrics and self-service portals. The survey results reveal challenges, best practices, processes and tips for improved customer experiences. Staff Organization When asked how participants handle their customer service, 32% responded that inquiries go to staff members who handle the processing of those invoices, 26% are emailed to a dedicated email box, 21% said that the AP staff takes turns answering inquiries as part of their job, 11% responded that there is a dedicated staff who handle only invoice inquiries and 10% answered other. In comparison to last year’s results, there was a drop in the number of respondents who said that AP staff takes turns answering inquiries as part of their job from 46% to 21%. This year, 26% of respondents said that inquiries go to a dedicated email box compared to 19% last year. Of those that replied “Other,” many commented that they use a combination of all of the options offered. Here are some interesting responses: Call center for calls and ticket system for emails A help-desk team handles all AP inquiries that...