SharePoint vs OpenText: The Best Purchase Order Automation Tool in Scottsdale

In today’s competitive landscape, businesses of varying sizes must discover ways to increase efficiency and productivity, while cutting expenditures wherever appropriate.

A great place to start is with business process automation (BPA). Via BPA, you can simplify repetitive and time-consuming tasks, lessen the load on your staff, and improve your workflows by adding productivity and boosting precision.

There are a number of operations and business sectors that can benefit from BPA. Among of the most frequent adopters are Accounts Payable units who can utilize BPA to automate payroll, invoicing, and purchase order processing.

In this article, we’re going to hone in on purchase order automation - how it functions, why automation is a perfect option for this area, and assess two of our preferred PO process automation platforms: Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText.

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

What is Purchase Order Automation?

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

With automation, purchase requisitions can be produced in a few seconds using pre-formatted layouts, and transmitting capability can deliver approvals directly to the supply chain dealer after the approval process is complete.

This eliminates the need for manual interference, record filing methods, and makes the operation simpler and more controllable.

The Purchase Order Process

Though the purchase order process can differ slightly from one business to the next, the following provides a good example of a typical, by-hand purchase order process.

Step 1: The first step is to create a purchase order.

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

Step 3: Then, the purchase order must be routed to the vendor.

Step 4: Once completed, the business will then receive its product or service.

Step 5: The organization will then get the vendor invoice.

Step 6: The invoice will need to be examined and authorized, and payment is delivered to the supplier.

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

This might not seem like a great deal of steps, but to make this procedure to operate normally, all participants from your AP personnel, to sales agents, merchants, and supervisors, must all deliver correct, timely responses. Several companies can confirm that this is easier said than done.

There are several benefits to automating these steps, which we’ll discuss in the following section.

The Advantages of an Automated Purchase Order Process

There are a number of benefits to utilizing purchase order automation software for your company. These include:

• Reduced Expenses

• Time Saved from Manual Tasks

• Real-Time Insight Into Activities

• A Quicker, More Efficient Purchasing Process

• Decreased Human Error

• Improved Use of Human Resources

Now that we have reviewed what purchase order automation is, the elements of the process that could be automated, and the advantages of purchase order tools, let’s now go over a couple of our preferred automation options, OpenText and Microsoft SharePoint.

SharePoint vs OpenText

SharePoint Overview

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

Regardless, with the integration of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can quickly modify SharePoint’s capabilities to enable automation to many of your AP procedures.

Pros

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

• Moderate learning curve for new users

• Metadata search adds improved searchability

Cons

• No local information capture or imaging feature

• Struggles at meeting compliance requirements in a few industries

• SharePoint Online is not made to meet Corporate ECM needs

OpenText Overview

OpenText is similarly an ECM platform but provides advanced add-ons that empower firms to automate tasks, improve organizational functions, and decrease the risk associated with management and intellectual property.

Pros

• A superior choice for business with a high level of compliance

• Robust document filtering, management, classification, and access authorizations

• OpenText Documentum adds case and inventory management capabilities to its feature set.

Cons

• Complicated UX/UI

• Often demands professional tuning to guarantee that it meets organizational requirements

• Can be expensive for corporate features and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Comparison

How Wave Can Aid You in Implementing Purchase Order Automation in Scottsdale

The truth is hand-operated workflows in your accounting system just slow your business down, generate logjams and process headaches, and consequently hurt your progress and scalability.

Prolonged payment cycles can also lead to greater costs associated with purchase order and invoice processing, limit your transparency and control, and can disrupt your supplier partnerships.

At Wave, we can aid you in optimizing your AP processes completely, including purchase orders, procurement, data entry, payments, approval process, invoicing, and even file storage platforms.

We work closely with SAP, Netsuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, and ECM and ERP systems like the ones we’ve discussed in this post and also Oracle, Xerox, MFiles, and many others.

We can help you deploy your AP automation software on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model depending on your organizational regulations, budget, and compliance guidelines.

To find out more, connect with us today for a free consultation.