Advanced Exchequer (Exchequer), a leading accounting and business software provider, has announced the launch of its integrated optical character recognition (OCR) solution. Exchequer OCR has been developed to enable organisations to make significant efficiency savings by automating the approval of purchase invoices, reducing manual data entry by up to 80 per cent.
By integrating with the Exchequer finance and Document Manager solutions, Exchequer OCR solution reduces the need to re-key invoice data and associated administrative errors. It also significantly decreases the cost of processing invoices, which has been estimated by analyst firm Gartner as between £4 and £25.
Greg Ford, Managing Director of Advanced Exchequer, said: “Exchequer OCR significantly cuts the time and costs involved with manual invoice processing to ensure organisations can maximise profitability. With a more streamlined system that does not rely on manual data entry, staff are also freed up to focus on more value added work.”
After an invoice has been scanned into the Exchequer finance solution, Exchequer OCR captures the data and matches it to a supplier within the database. It is then automatically archived electronically in Exchequer Document Manager, so it no longer needs to be printed out and physically stored on site. This will reduce costs and decrease paper flow around the business.
The OCR technology also works with PDF invoices sent via email. These PDFs can be picked up from a shared folder and processed in the same way as hard copy invoices, removing the need to print and scan documents, resulting in environmental savings as well as reducing the time and costs of manual administration.
Ford added: “The launch of this OCR solution is an exciting step forward towards a fully automated invoice entry and processing system. By dramatically reducing invoice processing costs it has the potential to save all organisations considerable sums of money every year and typically pays for itself within just six months. As the economy begins to return to strength following the recession, it remains important for organisations to achieve efficiencies that will give them the competitive advantage.”
