Example Return on Investment

A Supplier Portal plan with approximately 45 active suppliers using real-time access each month, time savings will primarily come from:

1. Reduced AP Team Involvement: Suppliers handle discrepancies, upload missing invoices, and review reconciliation status independently.
2. Streamlined Communication: Self-service reduces the need for time-consuming emails or calls for invoice verification and discrepancies.
3. Faster Reconciliation Process: Real-time data enables immediate action by suppliers, avoiding the wait times typical with batch reconciliation or periodic updates.

Estimated Time Savings Calculation

Assumptions

• Without Self-Service Reconciliation: Suppose each supplier interaction for reconciliation (handling discrepancies, status inquiries, uploads, etc.) takes around 20 minutes. For 45 suppliers, this would mean 15 hours monthly.
• With Self-Service Reconciliation: If self-service reduces AP team involvement by 75% (15 minutes saved per interaction), that would be about 11.25 hours saved monthly.

Annual Time Savings

• Monthly Time Savings: 11.25 hours
• Annual Savings: 11.25 hours × 12 months = 135 hours

So, over a year, you’d be looking at approximately 135 hours saved for the AP team, reducing manual involvement and freeing up resources for other tasks.

A subscriber with around 45 active suppliers uploading a combined total of 600 invoices yearly, enabling suppliers to handle their own invoice uploads via the Supplier Portal can lead to significant time savings.

Estimated Time Savings Calculation

Assumptions

• Time to Scan and Upload Each Invoice Manually: If each invoice takes about 5 minutes to scan, format, and upload manually, the total time for 600 invoices would be:

  • 600 invoices × 5 minutes = 3,000 minutes, or 50 hours annually.

• Time with Supplier Portal Self-Upload: With suppliers managing their own uploads, the AP team’s role becomes supervisory, primarily reviewing or approving as needed. Assuming this cuts down direct AP involvement by 80%, it reduces AP time spent to around:

  • 10 hours annually (20% of 50 hours).

Annual Time Savings

• Time Saved Annually: 50 hours - 10 hours = 40 hours

Thus, using the Supplier Portal for self-service uploads could save a subscriber approximately 40 hours annually in time that would otherwise be spent scanning and uploading invoices. This frees the AP team to focus on higher-value tasks while reducing manual data entry and administrative work.

When suppliers have real-time access to invoice statuses through the portal, they can independently check payment statuses, due dates, and any issues related to their invoices, significantly reducing the need for phone calls or emails to the AP team.

Estimated Time Savings Calculation

Assumptions

• Time for Each Supplier Inquiry: On average, each supplier call or email related to payment status or invoice issues may take about 10 minutes, including lookup and response time from the AP team.

• Inquiries Frequency: Not every invoice leads to an inquiry, but let’s assume that 20% of invoices (1 in 5) result in a call or email. For 600 invoices, that would mean:

  • 600 invoices × 20% = 120 inquiries annually.

• Total Time Without Self-Service: At 10 minutes per inquiry, the total time spent on handling these inquiries is:

  • 120 inquiries × 10 minutes = 1,200 minutes, or 20 hours annually.

• Time with Supplier Self-Service Portal: With real-time status access, most inquiries are eliminated. Assuming the portal reduces inquiries by 90% (since occasional direct communication may still occur), this would reduce the inquiry volume to:

  • 120 inquiries × 10% = 12 inquiries, or 2 hours annually.

Annual Time Savings

• Time Saved Annually: 20 hours - 2 hours = 18 hours

So, by providing suppliers with real-time access to invoice statuses, a subscriber could save approximately 18 hours per year in time that would otherwise be spent on handling supplier calls and emails regarding payment statuses and invoice issues. This not only improves efficiency but also strengthens supplier relationships by providing transparency and autonomy.

Savings with cloud storage of invoices

In a manual system without cloud storage, filing and retrieving paper invoices can add up to significant labor. 

Estimating 10 minutes per invoice for filing and retrieval:

Total hours saved annually: 600 invoices × (10 minutes ÷ 60) = 100 hours

Cost savings at $25/hour: 100 hours × $25 = $2,500

Switching to a cloud-based system could therefore save approximately $2,500 annually by eliminating manual filing and retrieval tasks for 600 invoices.