APOC

Tips for migrating accounts payable to the cloud

Digitisation in finance has been a relatively new trend in digital transformation efforts around the globe. However, as data and money have started to move at warp speeds, streamlined accounts payable (AP) processes, with minimal human intervention, have become the need of the hour. Cloud migration of your AP processes is one of the greatest solutions for improving the cost-efficiency, accuracy, and security of modern AP processes.

Reliance on cloud infrastructure and services is not new. As of 2022, 94% of global companies were using some form of cloud services and 67% of enterprise infrastructure was cloud-based. And as a result of 92% of the companies having a multi-cloud strategy in place (or in the works), experts estimate that the cloud-based accountancy market will be worth $4.25 billion by the end of 2023.

There are many reasons why a business might want to consider cloud migration for AP automation, including:

• Moving away from spreadsheets
• Meeting the evolving operational needs
• Achieving desired accounting efficiency

But where and how can you start this migration journey? Here are some useful tips and things to consider to make your cloud migration seamless and effortless.

Things to look out for before cloud migration

Deciding to migrate your AP processes to the cloud is vital to your business’s digital transformation journey. But there are some things you need to look out for and consider before choosing a cloud service provider. Here are some cloud migration tips to keep in mind as you contemplate AP cloud migration:

• Critically assess your needs and expectations from cloud migration.
• Evaluate the flexibility of the cloud service to meet and adapt to your evolving operational needs.
• Analyse your current workflows and operational needs, potential implementation time, and learning curve to find the best fit for your organisation.
• Emphasise of integration capabilities of the cloud service to ensure all your systems work together seamlessly.
• Check the level of access you should give to each employee and the cloud service provider. Detail the security protocols you will need, like access rules, authentication, and many more.
• Analyse and decide upon the features you need and reports you need to generate (like cash flow analysis, creditor analysis, receivables management, or profit reporting per item).
• Analyse one-time and recurring costs for cloud services and software.
• Schedule your migration to minimise disruptions and downtimes. Break down and document the migration process, with corresponding milestones, to simplify the process.
• Check the available support channels and accessibility from your cloud service provider for quick resolutions.

Pre-migration planning

And once you have selected the right cloud service and are ready to migrate your AP processes, here are some pre-migration tips that you need to consider before starting full migration:[2]

• Backup your data
• Select and map the accounting and AP data you want to migrate to the cloud
• Connect and configure your source and target accounting systems
• Run a demo migration before starting the full AP cloud migration

Once you have successfully migrated your AP processes to the cloud, do not forget to monitor and measure the performance of your accounting and AP systems.

Benefits of accounts payable cloud migration

Although there are some challenges to cloud migration of your AP processes, such as additional security measures, increased compliance requirements, integration with your existing ERP, or lack of awareness, it also comes with a host of benefits. Some of the major benefits you can gain with the help of cloud migration and AP automation are:

• Cost-effectiveness
• Security
• Accessibility
• Accuracy
• Speed
• Consistency
• Sustainability
• Tax and regulatory compliance

So, if you properly consider your needs and motives for cloud migration, choose the best features to suit your needs, and plan the data migration process to minimise business disruptions, you can streamline and future-proof your AP processes with the help of cloud-based accounting.

For organisations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed organisational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like living organisms will be imperative for business excellence. A comprehensive yet modular suite of services is doing precisely that. Equipping organisations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organisations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.

How can Infosys BPM help?

Infosys BPM cloud based accounts payable solutions allows you to leverage the next-gen technologies to transform your invoice-to-pay process for a value-added enhanced stakeholder experience. Services like End-to-End AP Workflow, Self-Service Supplier Portal, and AP Cockpit, can improve the three critical aspects for you – efficiency, effectiveness, and experience to create a profit centre with cloud migration.