Digital payments platform Edenred announced the purchase of invoice automation provider IPS, stating that this would provide customers of its corporate payment subsidiary, Edenred CSI, access to a completely integrated solution for managing the whole accounts payable (AP) process.
According to a news release from Edenred, the acquisition of IPS, with which it has been collaborating since 2015, would allow Edenred CSI’s B2B payment automation capabilities to be expanded to include IPS’ invoice automation solution, creating a comprehensive, integrated invoice-to-pay offering.
In order to provide both current and potential clients with a complete invoice-to-pay solution and open up new business opportunities, the press release states that “IPS’ effective platform and innovation-driven automated invoice processing solution will seamlessly connect with Edenred CSI’s digital platform.”
Edenred CSI covers all payment methods and connects with 350 enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, in contrast to IPS, which manages invoice automation from invoice collection to approval and has a data accuracy rate of 99.95%, according to the statement.
“IPS and Edenred CSI’s integration will create a 100% end-to-end digital procedure that will eliminate invoice exceptions while significantly boosting straight-through payment processing,” reads the press announcement. The statement stated, “Our combined experience transforming manual AP operations to digital will enhance the whole invoice-to-pay process.”
Chief financial officers (CFOs) from manufacturing and wholesale trade companies that had digitalized their payments, and the results showed that 91% of them claimed increased productivity, 84% reported improved working capital management, and 62% indicated cost savings.
More than a quarter of gig economy organizations see ineffective vendor interactions as a major issue and state that automating their AP systems is crucial to boosting their processing capacity. 83% of these companies claim they are unable to make payments in the currencies that the vendors want.
To that end, up to 75% of gig economy businesses see increased payables speed as one of the major advantages of modernizing their payables processes.
