Experts Say the Opportunity is Large
The findings are consistent and conclusive. Leading consulting and research firms estimate that manual processes and human touch-points can add significant cost and time to processing internal orders. And that's before back-office error handling and resulting maverick spend are factored in.
These are crippling hidden costs in a business. Automating some or all of the "req-to-check" process not only saves hard dollars; it increases the time expensive go-to-market personnel can spend on customer-facing activities rather than administrative tasks.
Transaction |
Cost |
Manual Process |
$59 |
Source: Accenture |
Cycle Time |
Days |
Requisition-to-Receipt |
11 |
Source: Aberdeen, 2007 |
Process |
Time in Minutes |
Cost |
Generate a Requisition |
10.8 |
$8.82 |
Obtain Approval |
12.3 |
$6.77 |
Complete PO |
7.7 |
$5.84 |
Receive Goods |
3.3 |
$2.33 |
Invoice to Payment |
83.7 |
$27.00 |