Are Vendor Portals Built For Efficiency?

In the pursuit of business efficiency, many companies have looked at the vendor portal as a valid solution. Using vendors to upload and perform data entry on their own records seems like a dream come true. Is this an answer to ERP data entry challenges, or simply a band-aid with no real solution in sight?

Most vendors portals ideas stem from a basic need from deep within the operations and accounting department. That need is to obtain the essential information in order to process transactions. This is primarily a manual process performed by workers for endless hours each month in order to hand-key data from invoices and related correspondence documents.

For businesses, this means processing physical mail, faxes or digital documents and entering the data into the ERP system manually. The size of the team and the number of documents received each day can have an impact that makes this either a valid option or an endless uphill battle.

Enter the vendor portal. It makes sense to assume that the vendor would be the best source to upload and enter their own data. After all, they know their records more intimately than others would. Sprinkle in a discount or maybe a late payment scare and your data entry dreams all come true, right?

Not really, considering that the goal is not to strong-arm your vendors into becoming free data entry operators, but rather the collect the essential data your company needs to process transactions efficiently.

This data can include line items and would need to be verified and compared to match purchase orders. Simply have a vendor enter a few details is not enough to create real efficiency. And, from the vendors perspective, using their resources to perform data entry puts a strain on their team as well.

If the goal is to create both efficiency and accuracy, there are some proven options in today’s market that deliver the data processing speed you’ve been looking for.

Our clients at Webiplex use advanced solutions that can ingest documents from just about any physical and digital source, then utilize robotic process automation and artificial intelligence to extract the data you need to automate your accounts payable and other processes. We’ve created a brief comparison that shows the benefits of our solutions over the classic vendor portal, you can see it by clicking here.

Since our solution integrates with a wide range of ERP systems, documents can be viewed within the same screen that your team is already used to working with.

Don’t let vendor portals get in the way of true performance. Learn more about how we help your organization reach peak performance by leveraging the power and automation of PairSoft.