The Benefits of AI for Automated Invoice Processing For Asset Managers

July 25, 2021 | Financial Industry

For some, the words “artificial intelligence” are associated with self-driving cars, sentient robots, and world-threatening supercomputers. However, artificial intelligence and machine learning are now being used to optimize a wide range of business processes including fee calculation, billing and invoicing.

Manually processing invoices can be a time-consuming, error-prone procedure that exposes businesses to reputational risks, compliance risks, and even fraud. However, with a billing and invoicing system that incorporates artificial intelligence (AI), asset management firms can process invoices more efficiently and with greater oversight.

Automated invoice processing allows companies to reduce accounts payable (AP) expenses while simultaneously reducing the potential for costly errors. AI invoice processing also gives asset managers the capability to quickly flag billing scenarios that need additional quality checks without the need for additional personnel.

How Does AI Improve Automated Invoice Processing?

AI-based invoice exception processing draws the attention of your staff when a fee calculation or invoice that the AI flags as potentially problematic.

AI-based invoice processing often touches various areas of the AR process such as:

• Data entry
• Invoice accuracy
• Streamlining workflows
• Bulk auto-approval
• Quick identification of variances

Redi2 Revenue Manager™ allows asset management firms to transform their traditional invoice and billing processes through the integration of industry-leading AI software. Here are a few of the ways that Revenue Manager’s AI-enabled software will help you collect revenue faster.

AI Improves Invoice Accuracy

One feature that asset management firms love most about Revenue Manager’s artificial intelligence is its ability to drastically improve invoice accuracy. Instead of checking every invoice manually for accuracy, Revenue Manager can be trained to identify and flag billing scenarios that require additional quality checks. By utilizing AI and machine learning through neural networks you can cut down on a wide range of human errors due to things like carelessness, fatigue, and general mistakes.

Bulk Processing of Invoices

Revenue Manager’s AI technology moves invoice processing from a manual, complex system—often involving spreadsheets to calculate fees client-by-client—to a streamlined, highly accurate process involving a fraction of the time.

Once Revenue Manager’s AI has been trained based on your firm’s billing practices and scenarios, you can auto-approve all of your firm’s invoices at once with the click of a button. It goes without saying that when you don’t have to manually check every invoice, you will receive your revenue faster.

Easily Identify Variances and Edge cases

Another powerful benefit of AI-driven automated invoice processing is the ability to easily identify variances in invoices between time periods. For example, let’s say a client’s fees rose from $10,000 to $20,000 between Q1 and Q2. Relying solely on human review, this variance may not be caught, which could lead to potential compliance issues.

However, harnessing the AI-trained processing power of Revenue Manager, variances can be easily identified and flagged for a closer human review without slowing down the bulk processing of invoices.  A person in your accounts payable department can then give the invoice a closer look to verify the fees are accurate, saving you the headache of compliance or reputational issues.

Reduce Overhead

Revenue Manager’s AI capabilities also help reduce you firm’s overhead. Traditionally, asset management firms need to scale up their accounts payable staff as their client roster grows to be able to keep up.

Revenue Manager’s automated invoice processing backed by artificial intelligence, gives asset management firms more capacity, processing invoices in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the staff. In addition, the machine learning and neural network features of Revenue Manager also allow firms to eliminate mistakes that could result in hits to the firm’s profitability, reputation, or both. This means you and your staff will have more availability to focus on things like new client acquisition, marketing strategies, and anything else that will help to scale your business.

Reduce Reputational Risk

At the end of the day, an asset management firm’s most important asset is its reputation. Without a strong reputation within the industry and among its clients, a firm will have a difficult time attracting new clients and keeping current clients.

One surefire way to quickly damage your firm’s reputation is to send out inaccurate invoices. No matter whether you’re overbilling or underbilling, these types of mistakes send a clear message to clients that your firm is not paying attention to details—and no investor wants to trust their assets to a firm that’s not paying attention.

Revenue Manager’s AI-enabled invoice processing features will drastically reduce the reputational risk your firm faces from billing errors. Being able to easily identify things like fee variances, billing scenarios that fall outside accepted ranges, and other anomalies allows your team to catch errors before they hit your client’s inbox.

How Much Time Can An Asset Manager Save With AI-Based Invoice Processing?

Although the time can vary based on the type and size of the firm, using an invoice processing automation solution can significantly reduce invoice processing time. In some cases, this can mean an overall 20% reduction in the time it takes to process the invoices for a particular billing period.

Invoice processing automation does this by getting rid of bottlenecks in the approval process. When employees are not at the office, an automated AR system can provide on-the-go access through mobile devices so staff can still approve invoices while they are out.

Automated Invoice Processing Means Revenue Faster

Billing and invoicing can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of any asset management firm’s internal processes. Not only does it require a considerable amount of manpower, but the associated human error involved can also expose your firm to potential compliance issues and reputational issues.

With Redi2 Revenue Manager,™ asset management firms can transform their billing and invoicing processes. Our enterprise revenue platform was built for scalable performance, which directly translates into increased profitability for your firm.

If you’re interested in learning more about Revenue Manager’s powerful suite of features including automated invoice processing, schedule a platform demo with one of our customer success representatives today.