Ardent Partners Presents New Research in “AP Metrics That Matter” Report, sponsored by Transcepta, Illuminating Current and Future AP Trends in Video and Downloadable E-Book    

Transcepta — the leading provider of intelligent accounts payable (AP) automation solutions — teamed up with Ardent Partners, a research and advisory firm, to release a research report and webinar aimed at helping CFOs and AP professionals develop AP strategies that tackle the biggest challenges companies will face in 2022. Transcepta Vice President of Corporate Strategy Shan Haq hosted a webinar, with Ardent Partners’ Vice President of Research Bob Cohen as a guest speaker, that broke down and discussed the significance of survey results in the recently released “Ardent Partners: AP Metrics That Matter 2022” report. 

Ardent’s annual “AP Metrics That Matter” report is an e-book that offers an investigation into the current state of procure-to-pay (P2P) and ePayables, providing insights into technological advancements, success drivers, and significant challenges facing accounts payable teams. During the webinar, Cohen and Haq reviewed the findings of the report, offering guidance to organizations of all sizes and across all industries about how to apply the metrics to evaluate and improve current AP processes, as well as think more strategically about the value that AP departments can provide to improve overall efficiency, scalability, business intelligence, and profit. 

Cohen stressed the importance of evaluating metrics that provide insight into current challenges and trends, as well as visions for the future, in order to understand the state of the profession and develop smarter, next-generation systems. Of note, the report revealed that AP teams view improving AP reporting and analytics, as well as eliminating paper and reducing manual tasks, as high priorities on their wish lists. 

“Over the past couple years, AP has been thrown into the spotlight and asked to deliver like never before,” said Cohen. “AP’s momentum was not impaired by the pandemic. Instead, it re-emphasized the importance of the AP function. We must look at metrics to understand how we’re doing and how we can continue improving. By measuring and tracking ourselves today, we will be able to work towards improving our functions tomorrow. AP is continuing to become more strategically valuable as more executives have been able to view the impact that AP can deliver on an ongoing basis.”

Discussion topics focused on priorities indicated in the report, including: 

• How AP is evolving to thrive within a new business environment
• AP’s growing impact within the organization
• Why digital transformation is the future of the AP function
• Top challenges and trends for AP in 2022
• How AP will evolve over the next few years

In particular, the results showed not only a shift toward automation of the accounts payable process but also that companies are adopting “smarter” systems that drive more efficiencies. According to Haq, that aligns with what he sees from businesses that approach Transcepta about adopting automation. Companies are eager to have better, deeper and more insightful information available in order to combat the challenges they are facing.   

“With today’s technology, it’s no longer enough to just eliminate paper invoices,” said Haq. “AP goals need to include straight-through invoice processing. Providing an efficient experience for AP, other stakeholders in your company and your suppliers is really dependent on this. That should be one of the key metrics that companies are looking at today.” 

Accounts payable will continue to play a critical role in the future of enterprises. Enabling organizational success will require increased automation, the digital transformation of end-to-end AP, and improved collaboration with key stakeholders. AP leaders are actively seeking these attributes now and believe this focus will increase even more in the next two years. 

Both the webinar and the full Ardent Partners report available as an e-book can be accessed here.

About Ardent Partners

Ardent Partners is a research and advisory firm focused on defining and advancing the supply management strategies, processes and technologies that drive business value and accelerate organizational transformation within the enterprise.

Ardent Partners actively covers the supply management solutions marketplace and produces research to help business decision makers understand the technology landscape and identify the best-fit solution(s) for their specific needs. We believe our team’s firsthand experience evaluating, developing, packaging, deploying and using supply management solutions on behalf of enterprises in the Global 2000 and public sector makes us eminently qualified to advise our clients to make smart decisions in this area. For more information, visit www.ardentpartners.com. 

About Transcepta

Transcepta offers an intelligent procure-to-pay (P2P) platform that enables accounts payable (AP) and procurement teams to achieve 100 percent straight-through invoice processing across their supply chains, without scanning or OCR imaging. Using artificial intelligence, the platform eliminates invoice exceptions, uncovers potential supply chain disruptions and transforms the way enterprise organizations manage and collaborate with suppliers. Since 2005, the world’s most respected companies and organizations have partnered with Transcepta for e-procurement and AP automation to make informed, data-driven decisions and drive increased profits. For more information visit Transcepta.com.