By now you should know that adopting accounts payable (AP) automation makes good business sense. AP automation streamlines complex manual invoice processes, saving your business time, money and valuable corporate resources.

By harnessing advanced tools like optical character recognition (OCR), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and deep thinking technology, you can automate the entire invoice payment process. This reduces costs, speeds up payment cycles and improves your financial position by limiting late payments and duplicate invoices.

On the off-chance you’re still wondering whether automating your payment processes is right for your business, here are some quick AP automation stats:

• Automating the AP process saves businesses up to $14 per invoice
• AP automation reduces costly human error, saving around $53.50 per error
• Businesses see payment times cut from 14 to 3 days with AP automation
• AP automation limits late payment which costs businesses around $3 trillion annually.

So, what’s the best AP automation tool to meet the needs of your business? With so many AP software platforms to choose from, it can be difficult to narrow things down. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the top 10 AP automation tools for 2022.

Whatever the size of your organisation, there is sure to be an option on this list to help you realise all the benefits of AP automation.

Overview of the top 10 AP automation tools for 2022

Lightyear

Featuring intelligent purchasing, data extraction, approvals and reporting functionality, Lightyear helps businesses consolidate purchasing, bookkeeping and bill approval in one intuitive cloud platform. Boasting 80% faster payables processing and 1 million data hours saved, Lightyear integrates with world-leading accounting software to save time and money for organisations.

Best for: SMEs

Price range: $$ - $$$

https://www.lightyear.cloud/

Stampli

A complete AP automation tool, Stampli brings together accounts payable communications, documentation, corporate credit cards and check payments in one place. Harnessing AI technology, Stampli automates AP processing while learning from an organisation’s unique patterns to simplify GL-coding, automate approval notifications and identify duplicate invoices.

Best for: Small, mid & enterprise

Price range: $$

https://www.stampli.com/ap-automation/

AP Tools

Umlaut’s AP Tools delivers a powerful automated solution for accounts payable. Combining industry leading IDP, workflow and automation solutions, Umlaut creates a tailored AP automation system to suit your needs. Integrating seamlessly with leading accounting software (e.g. Procore, TASS, Pronto and Microsoft Dynamics), AP Tools levels up business productivity.

Best for: Small, mid & enterprise

Price range: $$

https://umlautsolutions.com/au/solutions/accounts-payable/

Tipalti

Helping to modernise your AP processes, Tipalti offers comprehensive payables technology to help businesses streamline, simplify and evolve. With tools to automate invoice payments, supplier management, purchase order matching, tax compliance, payment reconciliation and fraud detection, Tipalti frees up your team to focus and scale for future success.

Best for: Mid-size - enterprise

Price range: $$

https://tipalti.com/ap-automation/

Basware

Promising touchless processing and greater spend visibility, Basware helps electronically capture all your invoice data, automate data matching, build workflows and accelerate the invoice processing cycle. Advanced automation means less human intervention and more efficient processes, with AI and ML driving greater speed without compromising data quality.

Best for: Mid-size - enterprise

Price range: $$

https://www.basware.com/en-us/solutions/ap-automation/

SAP Concur

Connecting financial data so you can take control of spending, SAP Concur automates AP processing so your business can run efficiently anywhere and anytime. Focusing on capturing expenses, invoices and travel costs, SAP Concur facilitates 3-way matching, data syncing and payment integration to streamline AP processing for small and medium businesses.

Best for: Mid-size - enterprise

Price range: $$$

https://www.concur.com/en-us/invoice-management

Oracle Netsuite

NetSuite’s cloud AP software automates the review, approval and payment of supplier invoices, giving your business greater control over the full procure-to-pay process. With real-time access to financial data, NetSuite provides a complete view of cash flow and financial performance, helping to improve financial controls, produce more accurate reports and reduce exceptions.

Best for: Mid-size - enterprise

Price range: $$$

https://www.netsuite.com/portal/products/erp/financial-management/finance-accounting/accounts-payable-software.shtml

Sage Intacct

A core accounting platform for mid-sized enterprises, Sage Intacct is a flexible and configurable cloud-based AP solution. Saving businesses hundreds of hours in unnecessary manual processing, Sage Intaact features an intelligent virtual assistant, paperless approvals routing and seamless integration to streamline AP automation for your business.

Best for: Small to mid-size

Price range: $$ - $$$

https://www.sageintacct.com/products/accounting-software/core-financials/accounts-payable

Kofax

Kofax AP automation harnesses document intelligence, process orchestration and connected systems to automate and simplify accounts payable for business. Kofax makes it easy to automatically capture invoice data, code and certify invoices and authorise payment in your existing ERP system to streamline complex processes and limit unnecessary costs.

Best for: Small, mid & enterprise

Price range: $$

https://www.kofax.com/products/finance-accounting

Rossum

Rossum's unique computer vision technology reads invoices in a way that ensures fast invoice data capture and greater accuracy with use. Helping businesses achieve a 90% reduction in manual data entry, Rossum harnesses AI and ML for frictionless data capture, seamless automation and powerful integrations to help AP teams become a driver for business growth.

Best for: Small, mid & enterprise

Price range: $$

https://rossum.ai/product/understand/

Talk AP automation tools with Umlaut

Umlaut is the leader in developing tailored AP automation tools for businesses of all sizes. Leveraging the power of industry-leading IDP, workflow and automation solutions, we work with you to streamline your AP process to cut unnecessary time and costs.

Offering a full suite of intelligent document processing and automation solutions, Umlaut partners with businesses in construction, education, banking and finance plus health and aged care. We’re here to help you get the most from your dedicated automated AP solution.

Want to learn how an AP automation tool could benefit your business? The experienced team at Umlaut is ready to lead the way. Book a demo to see how our comprehensive suite of AP Tools can streamline and transform the way you do business.