CONTRIBUTOR
President and CEO,
xSuite 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has grown through the years and is continuing to advance in many contexts which include risk analyses, purchase recommendations, protection mechanisms and more. When a business chooses to employ AI and machine learning, they can use it to scan through posts, reviews and ratings on social media to assess how their business is doing. 

There is even potential for AI in invoice capturing, removing the hassle that many businesses face with manual invoice capture. Companies are finally beginning to figure out the role AI plays in business success. Has your company figured out how best to use AI? Here are three ways to determine if your company has maximized AI’s potential for the future: 

  1. Your Company Has an Understanding of Weak AI 

AI has only figured out how to perform the tasks it was specifically developed for. Weak AI is limited to a predetermined area. For example, a voice-activated system has pre-programmed responses and can only function within those parameters of specific voice prompts. 

It’s important that when deploying AI your company ensures that legal and ethical responsibilities are considered. Since AI is unable to answer all of our questions just yet, it is important to acknowledge that mistakes can and will occur and it is the responsibility of the company to take accountability. AI should only be used as a tool, since it lacks human consciousness. 

  1. Tedious Tasks are Being Eliminated 

AI has grown in popularity over the last few years because companies are beginning to realize how efficient it can be for automating laborious tasks and analyzing data. It has the ability to save the company a lot of money in the long run since it can do the same job humans do. A common misconception is that AI will take over most jobs. 

In some cases this may be true, but there is also a lot of potential for higher job demand for software and engineering jobs, due to AI. There are also benefits to replacing jobs with AI in order to give humans more time and attention to put toward tasks with higher importance. Conversely, there are some jobs which only humans can do, so eliminating tedious tasks that don’t require close attention will save lots of time. 

  1. They Have Figured Out Good and Not-So-Great Applications 

Artificial Intelligence may also be used to automate processes. Processing incoming invoices is a great example of how certain AI applications make more sense than others. In order to ensure your company is using the right tool, you must first determine the invoice type. For example, there is only one question that needs to be answered in order to determine whether a document is a Financial Accounting Invoice (FI) or Materials Management Invoice (MM). In this case, it makes more sense to use a specified set of rules for this task rather than AI. 

Another use for AI is agent determination, which is the work of entering into the system which employee is in charge of which papers and duties. This can be quite time-consuming in organizations with hierarchies that have evolved over the years and have inadequately-defined processes and responsibilities. Even if the decision-making logic can be entered manually, AI could save time and money. However, it is evident that issues of compliance play a role in agent determination when it comes to approving invoices. These can be distinctly-stated in processes of predetermined rules. It is crucial to ascertain whether complete automation based on AI algorithms is really feasible, because AI cannot give 100% certainty. 

Additionally, AI undoubtedly has a role to play in document training. Content of incoming bills must generally adhere to legal requirements, as there are no standards for how invoices must appear. They have an almost endless variety of layouts as a result, even if some variations may be slight. It’s impractical to train the system with layouts of hundreds or even thousands of supplier invoices, due to the time and efficiency required. 

Finally, It can be incredibly time-consuming and, in some cases impossible, to specify every single criteria for account assignment in advance. A list of recommendations produced by the system would be helpful in this situation. Both options, showing prior account assignments or basing the list on AI, are beneficial. If you’re considering using AI, you should think about the data required for accurate account assignment. Automation works better for recurring items like G/L accounts or cost centers than for one-time or transient objects like Software Development (SD) orders and projects. 

Artificial Intelligence in Summary: 

In conclusion, AI offers both advantages and disadvantages. If automating operations with AI is something you’re considering, you should first determine what data is required and from where. Frequently, (Enterprise Resource Planning) ERP systems’ historical data is insufficient. It may be necessary to have a lot more information than is currently available, and not all of it may be in a digital format. Along with that, AP automation can be a wonderful tool for software users to digitize the vendor invoicing process and create a more efficient AP workflow. 

AI can be a very helpful tool for streamlining and automating procedures, nevertheless, especially if these constraints are taken into account. Your automation of document-based procedures could advance significantly as a result of using it. In summation, don’t be afraid of AI – its ROI can be well worth the investment.