Anytime, Anywhere AP Processing: Serrala, Microsoft & SAP

Accounts payable (AP) is a resource-intense and error-prone function in finance. Even with years of organizations engaging in digitization projects, many continue to have manual invoice processing that includes fragmented approval workflows, and siloed, disconnected systems. As a result, vendor payments can get delayed, discounts missed, and finance teams can lack the visibility needed across the process to proactively manage the invoice lifecycle. As efficiency and compliance remain a central focus for finance teams embarking in transformation projects, AP processes are ripe with opportunities for improvements.

The AP process requires flexibility anytime, anywhere to meet ongoing approvals. Yet, the approval process is still a challenge for many organizations. Approvals are managed through email, portals, spreadsheets, and systems that are often disconnected. This makes it difficult for finance teams to get accurate status updates, creating bottlenecks that cause frustration for procurement, finance, and treasury teams. Shifting AP operations to real-time monitoring and creating timely financial reports requires AP operations to be centralized and data to be consolidated across systems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is modernizing the AP function, giving finance teams back the control they need to proactively manage liquidity and cash flow in an organization. AI can automate invoice capture, classification, and direct approval routing. Finance teams can detect anomalies to flag possible fraud. They can optimize payment timing to avoid penalties and/or take advantage of discounts. Agents can be used to pull invoice data from systems. Finance teams can use predictive analytics to make decisions in real-time with insights about cash flow, liabilities, and vendor payment practices.

Serrala Microsoft Teams App

Serrala, a global leader in finance process automations that enables organizations to drive working capital performance, is giving customers in SAP environments an exciting way to improve AP collaboration and workflows. Leveraging AI, customers using its flagship Serrala Alevate (certified for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition) or Serrala FS² AP solutions now have access to the Serrala Microsoft® Teams app. The integration changes how financial transactions are processed and enables businesses to simplify the way approvals are managed, transaction status is monitored, and empowers finance teams to generate real-time financial insights with confidence.

The Serrala Microsoft Teams app enables users to:

• Review, approve, or reject financial transactions,
• Add notes or view supporting documents for audit purposes, and
• Track the status of financial transactions in real-time.

Even organizations processing a high-volume of invoices quickly and easily gain anywhere, anytime, processing capabilities through Microsoft Teams. Users can easily review, approve, or reject supplier invoices and credit limit requests in Microsoft Teams. Supporting documents and details for attachments are centralized in a single place. Colleagues outside the finance department no-longer must log into separate systems to activate steps in the process.

Designed to streamline collaboration between finance teams and business users, non-finance team members do not have to log into SAP. The Serrala Microsoft Teams app ensures faster approvals and efficient processing of financial transactions, eliminating delays and improving productivity. Notifications, workflow, and approvals are managed directly from the app. Reviewers can add notes, suggest additional reviewers, or update information in real-time, all within the chat interface.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

• AP workflows that deliver anytime, anywhere, access to real-time information to drive a faster more accurate process.
• AI capabilities give finance teams the ability to detect anomalies, eliminate AP bottlenecks, and provide predictive insights for decision-making.
• Simple workstream collaboration across the organization.
• More accurate decisions with access to documentation and support in a central
• Better audit readiness with invoices and support documentation in the same place.