Business Networks Deliver Powerful Weapons for Finance and AP. Learn how at #SAPPHIRENOW.

In its TV ads, Capital One humorously portrays Vikings as savvy warriors of financial management. For Ariba’s James Tucker, this analogy of savvy financial warriors armed with the right weapons aligns with his vision of transforming Finance and Accounts Payable (AP) functions into strategic weapons for companies.

James is the global director for Ariba’s network and finance solutions and he’s a passionate advocate for helping financial professionals unleash the prowess within their functions.

With data visibility, process automation and trading-partner collaboration powered by business networks, Finance and AP can become unshackled from the burdens of too much paper, too many people, and inefficient processes. The results transform Finance and AP into nimble functions that are skilled at slashing costs and capturing more cash. Doing so, Finance and AP help enable innovation and business growth.

It starts with the invoice. With nearly 80% of business transactions still paper-based, data that could identify cost savings and better cash management opportunities is hard to see and share … essentially trapped in paper.

With e-invoicing, companies unlock data to facilitate:

• error-free invoices that speed up processing time and lower operating costs
• contract compliance and better pricing
• new opportunities to maximize cash management with pre-negotiated contract savings and early payment discounts that can generate high-yield, risk-free returns on short-term cash

Suppliers benefit too because the visibility they gain enables them to better predict cash flow by collaborating with their customers to use dynamic discounting and receivables financing. Suppliers also save time, resources, and costs because there’s no longer the need to chase after invoice and payment status with calls to their customer’s AP department.

The return on savings are big … companies can capture millions that can be reinvested for business growth.

Want to learn how to become a savvy financial warrior? Meet James at the Business Networks campus and interact with him in his micro-forum session Automate Invoice Management Along the Invoice Maturity Curve.

For more about his views on invoice management, business networks and performance measurement strategies, read James’ postings at The Networked Economy blog and follow him on Twitter @jbtucker3.

Photo credit: © Oleg Samoylov – Fotolia.com