SharePoint vs OpenText: The Best Purchase Order Automation Software in Kansas City

Given the current competitive landscape, businesses of all sizes must develop ways to boost efficiency and productivity, while reducing expenditures wherever possible.

One of the best places to begin is with business process automation (BPA). Via BPA, you can streamline repetitive and laborious processes, ease the burden for your team members, and upgrade your workflows by adding productivity and raising accuracy.

There are a variety of tasks and business sectors that could benefit from BPA. One of the most prevalent adopters are Accounts Payable units who can utilize BPA to automate invoicing, purchase order processing, and payroll.

In this piece, we’re taking a closer look at purchase order automation - how it works, why automation is a perfect fit for this area, and evaluate a couple of our preferred PO process automation tools: Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText.

To start, let’s discuss what purchase order automation is and how it functions.

What is Purchase Order Automation?

Automated purchase order solutions utilize business software equipped with robotic process automation (RPA) technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) to automate the purchase order process.

Via automation, purchase requisitions can be generated in a few seconds using pre-formatted layouts, and forwarding capability can send approvals directly to the supply chain vendor once the approval process is finished.

This removes the need for human involvement, record filing processes, and makes the operation simpler and more controllable.

The Purchase Order Process

Though the purchase order process may differ from organization to organization, the following provides a good example of a conventional, physical purchase order process.

Step 1: The first step is purchase order creation.

Step 2: Then another colleague will review and approve or reject the purchase order.

Step 3: After that, the purchase order must be routed to the merchant.

Step 4: Once finished, the organization will then receive its product or service.

Step 5: Then the company will receive the vendor invoice.

Step 6: The invoice should be reviewed and authorized, and payment is delivered to the supplier.

Step 7: The final step of the purchasing process is to file the relevant documents to generate an audit trail.

This may not seem like many steps, but to make this workflow to go smoothly, all participants from your AP staff, to sales agents, vendors, and executives, must all provide accurate, prompt responses. Several firms can testify that this is easier said than done.

There are many benefits to automating this procedure, which we’ll review in the next section.

The Advantages of an Automated Purchase Order System

There are several advantages to utilizing purchase order automation tools for your company. These include:

• Cost Savings

• Time Saved from Physical Tasks

• Real-Time Visibility Into Operations

• A Faster, More Optimized Procurement Process

• Reduced Physical Error

• Improved Use of Human Resources

Now that we have established what purchase order automation is, the aspects of the procedure that can be automated, and the benefits of purchase order tools, let us now talk about a couple of our favorite automation options, OpenText and Microsoft SharePoint.

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

SharePoint is an enterprise content management software (ECM) that in its base form, is a tool for monitoring, collaborating on, and publishing data.

However, with the integration of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can simply customize SharePoint’s features to enable automation to most of your AP processes.

Pros

• Superb user experience and user interface (UX/UI)

• Short learning curve for new users

• Metadata search improves searchability

Cons

• No native information imaging or capture feature

• Struggles at fulfilling compliance guidelines in a few industries

• SharePoint Online is not designed to handle Corporate ECM needs

OpenText Overview

OpenText is also an ECM solution but provides advanced add-ons that empower companies to automate processes, augment organizational functions, and reduce the risk connected to management and intellectual property.

Pros

• An excellent choice for business with a high level of compliance

• Powerful document management, classification, filtering, and access restrictions

• OpenText Documentum expands its features with case and inventory management functionality.

Cons

• Complex UX/UI

• Usually demands specialist tuning to guarantee that it fulfills business needs

• Can be pricey for enterprise functionality and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Diagram

How Wave Can Aid You in Implementing Purchase Order Automation in Kansas City

The truth is manual workflows in your accounting system simply slow your company down, create logjams and process inefficiencies, and sooner or later hurt your progress and flexibility.

Prolonged payment cycles can also result in higher costs associated with purchase order and invoice processing, limit your transparency and control, and can disrupt your supplier connections.

At Wave, we can aid you in optimizing your accounts payable (AP) processes completely, including purchase orders, procurement, data entry, payments, approval process, invoicing, and even document storage tools.

We work closely with Netsuite, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Oracle, as well as ERP and ECM systems like those we have discussed in this post and also Oracle, Xerox, MFiles, and much more.

We can help you deploy your accounts payable automation software locally, in the cloud, or in a hybrid concept depending on your organizational regulations, budget, and compliance requirements.

To discover more, reach out immediately for a free consultation.