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

Considering the current competitive marketplace, companies of all sizes must develop ways to enhance productivity and efficiency, while lowering costs wherever necessary.

An excellent place to start is with business process automation (BPA). With BPA, you can simplify repetitive and time-consuming tasks, lessen the stress on your team members, and enhance your processes by increasing efficiency and boosting precision.

There are several processes and business sectors that could take advantage of BPA. Some of the most prevalent adopters are Accounts Payable departments who can use BPA to automate purchase order processing, payroll, and invoicing.

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

To start, let us talk about what purchase order automation is and how it performs.

What is Purchase Order Automation?

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

Via automation, purchase requests can be generated in a few clicks from pre-formatted layouts, and transmitting functionality can deliver approvals straight to the supply chain dealer when the approval workflow is finished.

This removes any need for physical interference, paper filing processes, and makes the operation smoother and more manageable.

The Purchase Order Process

Although the purchase order process can differ from one organization to the next, the following offers a good example of a standard, physical purchase order process.

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

Step 2: Then another team member will evaluate and approve/reject the purchase order.

Step 3: Following that, the purchase order should be routed to the contractor.

Step 4: Once finished, the business will then acquire its service or product.

Step 5: The vendor invoice will thereafter be received by the firm.

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

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

This might not seem like a great deal of steps, but in order for this procedure to go smoothly, all participants from your AP team members, to sales reps, suppliers, and supervisors, must all deliver correct, prompt responses. Several firms can attest that this is easier said than done.

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

The Benefits of an Automated Purchase Order System

There are many benefits to utilizing purchase order automation solutions for your company. These include:

• Cost Savings

• Time Saved from Hand-Operated Processes

• Real-Time Operational Visibility

• A Quicker, More Streamlined Purchasing Method

• Lessened Human Error

• Improved Utilization of Human Resources

So, now that we’ve established what purchase order automation is, the parts of the process that can be automated, and the benefits of purchase order software, let us 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 platform (ECM) that in its base form, is a program for monitoring, collaborating on, and distributing material.

Regardless, with the inclusion of Microsoft PowerApps Power Automate, you can simply adapt SharePoint’s features to enable automation to most of your AP processes.

Pros

• Superb UX/UI

• Short learning curve for new users

• Metadata search aid searchability

Cons

• No integrated data capture or imaging feature

• Weak at fulfilling compliance guidelines in some industries

• SharePoint Online is not made to handle Corporate ECM needs

OpenText Overview

OpenText is also an ECM solution but offers advanced add-ons that enable firms to automate processes, augment organizational operations, and reduce the risk related to administration and intellectual property.

Pros

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

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

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

Cons

• Intricate UX/UI

• Often requires expert tuning to guarantee that it fulfills organizational requirements

• Can be expensive for enterprise capabilities and add-ons

SharePoint & OpenText Pricing & Features Diagram

How Wave Can Help You Implement Purchase Order Automation in Orlando

The fact is that physical processes in your accounting system basically slow your firm down, generate logjams and process inefficiencies, and ultimately hurt your growth and flexibility.

Longer than necessary payment cycles can also lead to increased costs associated with purchase order management and invoice processing, reduce your transparency and control, and can disrupt your merchant connections.

At Wave, we can help you to streamline your AP processes end-to-end, including data entry, purchase orders, procurement, payments, approval process, invoicing, and even file storage platforms.

We work with Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Netsuite, Oracle, as well as ERP and ECM solutions like those we’ve examined in this article and also MFiles, Oracle, Xerox, and much more.

We can help you deploy your accounts payable automation tool on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid framework based on your organizational rules, budget, and compliance requirements.

To discover more, connect with us right now for a free consultation.