I have been working on data capture projects for some 13 years now and seen the software gradually evolve over that time.
But still it seems that there is not an off the shelf solution to invoice reading that can be quickly installed and configured to work for most businesses without spending days of consulting time of fine tuning and customising.
We have undertaken about 6 such projects in as many months and each one is different. Even when customers are using the same finance system, each seems to somehow contrive odd exceptions to what would be considered ‘normal’ and all customers seem to think their way is most obviously the best way to operate. Good news if you’re providing the configuration services, but the associated costs of doing this must be preventing the uptake of the technology and holding back the industry.
Maybe as companies switch their financial systems to SaaS models things will stabilise and there will be some more consistent practices around Accounts Payable.
Consistency of operation would enable vendors like ourselves to reduce the entry price of this technology and make it available to businesses for whom it is currently out of reach.
Tim