What is invoice scanning?
The term invoice scanning is often used to describe the digitization of supplier invoices as the first step of the accounts payable process.
Invoice scanning vs. invoice data capture
The term invoice scanning is sometime used to broadly mean digitizing a paper invoice. But in today's increasingly digital world, hardware scanners are actually rarely used. Instead, many organizations rely on an invoice data capture solution that automatically extracts invoice data from e-invoices or pdf files.
In the case an organization still receives supplier invoices on paper, you can manage invoice scanning internally manually scanning the invoice and sending it to the accounts payable (AP) solution. Alternatively you may outsource the invoice scanning process to an external party and hence only handle the digitized version of the invoice.
Invoice scanning is the first step in AP automation
Invoice scanning and data capture is the first, and important, step in digitizing your accounts payable process. Once the supplier invoice data is available in a digital format you can streamline and automate your invoice processing to save time and resources. Most accounts payable (AP) automation solutions on the market today include invoice data capture functionality so that companies can automate the workflow all the way from invoice receipt through coding and approval to payment.
Read more about invoice scanning and data capture
Read this blog post: Invoice Data Capture - a Small But Essential Part of AP Automation
Explore more definitions in this blog post: Key terms for AP professionals