1888 PressRelease – The report finds that colleges and universities may be better prepared for automated payment solutions than other industries, but lag behind when it comes to front-end automation.
McLean, VA – Corcentric, a leading provider of Accounts Payable automation and electronic invoicing solutions, announced today that it has been featured in the recent Purchase to Pay in Higher Education Report from PayStream Advisors.
The report polled a group of higher education executives who participated in PayStream’s electronic invoicing and invoice workflow automation surveys and compared the findings to those of other industries who had taken part in earlier surveys.
Colleges and universities today, like most companies, are working to become more efficient through the introduction of automated solutions. Unlike most for-profit companies, however, institutes of higher learning, though they tend to have a centralized payment department, are highly decentralized when it comes to their purchasing and reporting structures. The result is a reliance on manual handling of paper invoices flowing in from a variety of departments and campuses, and this, in turn, often results in poor recordkeeping, slow payments to vendors, and missed discounts. Although they lag behind other industries in implementing workflow automation and e-invoicing, institutes of higher learning are demonstrably ahead of these same industries when it comes to electronic payments.
Among the findings of this report:
• Only 17% see themselves as innovators making significant investments in automation as compared to 31% of those in other industries.
• Yet 50% of educational institutions say they have adopted some advanced technology and are evaluating solutions as compared to 33% from other industries.
• On the front end, colleges and universities are using or planning to use the following technologies: front-end imaging (42%) and OCR/automated data capture (33%).
• When it comes to electronic payments, however, 83% of education executives said they are using or planning to use the technology in the next six months, and 75% said the same for P-cards.
• For those institutions that have implemented e-invoicing, 71% identify increased on-time payments and increased ability to capture discounts as the primary benefits, compared to 32% and 36% respectively for other industries.
• When asked to name their biggest challenge, 86% of colleges and universities identified supplier adoption as compared to 56% for other industries.
“What is clear from this report is that institutes of higher education have, in many cases, taken the initial steps toward invoice and workflow automation but are concerned and cautious about their next moves. However, when they take a closer look, these same institutions understand how implementing these processes will enable them to streamline their AP processes, track all invoices and documentation, and access valuable analytics tools to improve their departmental performance,” Said Rob DeVincent, Vice President of Product Development at Corcentric.
Download a complimentary copy of PayStream Advisors’ Purchase to Pay in Higher Education Report.
About Corcentric
For more than 15 years, Corcentric’s cloud-based financial process automation solutions have revolutionized how the world’s largest organizations manage and protect their financial assets. By connecting best practices with deep expertise, Corcentric’s ground-breaking Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable automation solutions have enabled organizations to reduce costs, streamline processes, and provide unmatched visibility executives need to make critical business decisions.
Learn more at http://www.corcentric.com or call 888.525.7677.