Enterprise AP automation: How to evaluate a platform

According to IFOL (2026), 77% of organizations worldwide still enter invoices into their accounting systems by hand, and only 19% describe their AP function as mostly or fully automated.

For enterprise teams the gap shows up in two places first: invoices keyed by hand and volume that outgrows headcount. The ERP connection then decides whether a fix holds.

This guide takes those pains in turn and shows what to look for in an enterprise AP automation platform to fix each one.

Key takeaways

• Capture and checking before posting remove manual keying, so your team reviews only the exceptions and the invoices that need a decision
• End-to-end AP automation has six stages from intake to archiving, and each one replaces a manual step
• The ERP connection decides the project: IT owners favor standard connectors over custom development, and an ERP migration changes the timeline
• Each role lives with a different pain, from rework for the AP team to the missing approval trail for the auditor

What is enterprise AP automation?

Enterprise AP automation is software that takes supplier invoices from receipt to posting at large-company volume, with approval and a full audit trail along the way. It connects to the ERP that holds purchase orders and books the invoice, so finance teams stop keying data between systems.

Your team still keys invoices by hand

Manual keying is where AP time goes. Invoices land in a shared inbox, someone sorts them, and the data is typed into the ERP, sometimes twice.

Automation moves that work in front of the ERP. The software captures each invoice and checks its data before anything is posted. Your team then reviews the exceptions and the invoices that need a decision.

With Doxis, bofrost* replaced hand-approved paper invoices that traveled between departments with automatic capture of email invoices and a workflow-steered approval process. The company now meets its cash discount deadlines.

Two capabilities matter most here: recognition that copes with new supplier layouts without setup for each layout, and checks against ERP data before posting.

What end-to-end AP automation covers

AP automation from end to end runs from the moment an invoice arrives to its long-term archive. The table shows what each of the six stages does and which manual step it replaces.

A vendor that covers only some of the six stages leaves your team to bridge the gaps by hand. Score each vendor against all six.

Volume grows faster than your headcount

Volume turns small error rates into large queues. At thousands of invoices a month, even a high match rate leaves a steady stream that needs a person, so the platform has to route those cases to the right owner with context.

Growth also adds approval layers. Invoices route through cost center owners and finance controllers with different thresholds, and an absent approver must not hold up a payment.

Audit expectations tighten with volume. SOX controls for public companies call for evidence of who approved an invoice, and IRS record retention rules require you to produce the record years later.

Exception routing by owner and an archive that keeps the approval history with the invoice show whether a platform scales.

Eli Lilly processes 600,000 invoices a year in nearly 100 countries with Doxis

Eli Lilly receives roughly 50,000 invoices a month from suppliers around the globe. With about 50,000 employees and a worldwide organization, the company wanted lower processing costs and a clear view of every incoming invoice.

The solution was built into Eli Lilly's existing ERP workflow and now runs in nearly 100 countries.

• 600,000 incoming invoices processed a year on a global scale
• Full visibility over every incoming invoice
• Return on investment after 18 months

Your ERP connection decides the project

IT and ERP owners treat the ERP connection as a deciding criterion, and they prefer standard connectors to custom development.

How the two systems exchange data

An ERP's accounts payable module holds the vendor master and purchase orders and posts invoices to the ledger, and it expects invoice data to arrive already keyed or loaded. AP automation software works in front of that module and hands the ERP verified postings, so the ERP stays the book of record.

The ERP supplies vendor data and purchase order data. The AP platform uses them to verify each invoice and prepare the posting. After approval, the platform sends the posting data back, and the invoice lands in the ERP as a standard document.

Three integration types cover most ERP setups, and each one decides who builds and maintains the connection.

Embedded in the ERP

The AP software runs inside the ERP's own interface and matches against live ERP data. The test is whether approvers and the invoice monitor work inside the ERP.

Connection service for a cloud ERP

A connection service reads vendor and purchase order data from a cloud ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 and prepares the posting. A maintained connector with a named owner after go-live keeps this type from turning into a custom project.

Standard interfaces or a custom connector

Other ERPs connect through standard interfaces such as REST or database connections, or through a connector built for the system. An interface your ERP already offers keeps the work small, and someone has to own building and maintaining the connector.

When an ERP migration is coming

ERP migration plans shape AP decisions. A connection built on custom code in the current ERP becomes a second project when the ERP changes, while one built on standard, certified connectors carries over.

Certification for both your current and your target ERP release is the safeguard.

What AP automation changes for each role

Automation shifts the work of everyone who touches an invoice. Each role lives with a different pain and judges a platform by something different.

For the head of AP and the AP team

In some teams, rework alone takes one to two hours per user per day. Someone sorts the shared inbox every morning, enters the data, and enters it again in the ERP.

The platform captures invoices from every channel in one intake and checks the data against purchase orders held in the ERP, so keying and sorting give way to reviewing exceptions.

A platform worth shortlisting handles new supplier layouts without setup for each layout. Ask what share of your own invoices post untouched.

For IT and the ERP owner

IT carries the risk when a release stops accounting work, and it answers for where data is stored. An ERP migration with an unclear timeline makes every new connection harder to approve.

The platform brings invoice capture, approval workflow and archiving together, so IT works with one vendor. It runs in the cloud or on premises, so a cloud restriction does not rule it out, and it offers encryption and an audit trail.

Certified standard connectors matter most here, along with a clear owner for the connection through ERP upgrades.

For the CFO

CFOs weigh time to payback and whether the project competes with other priorities. Late payments cost cash discounts, and invoices that nobody can see make liabilities hard to forecast.

Eli Lilly gained full visibility over every incoming invoice and reached a return on investment after 18 months. bofrost* meets its cash discount deadlines.

The test is a rollout plan with dates, backed by a reference customer on a similar timeline.

For procurement

Procurement owns the purchase orders that invoices are matched against, and it joins the evaluation to settle commercial terms. Unclear license scope and a price that grows with volume slow the decision.

The platform matches each invoice against the purchase order, so the order data procurement maintains drives the check.

Pricing should state what grows as invoice volume rises and which licenses the bundle covers.

For approvers

Approvers sit in business departments, and an unfamiliar approval step holds up payment. Training takes time away from their own work.

Doxis Invoice for SAP includes an optional approval app that runs in a browser or on a mobile device, with substitution when an approver is absent and a four-eyes check.

Sign-off should work outside the ERP, with training that fits their schedule.

For the auditor

Auditors need the invoice and the record of who approved it and when. Without a system, that record gets rebuilt from mailboxes before every audit.

The platform archives each invoice with its approval history, so the record sits with the document, and retention rules follow your policy.

What convinces an auditor is a recorded history of every step and archived invoices that cannot be altered.

Run enterprise AP automation on the Doxis ICA platform

Your team stops keying invoices and your volume can grow without matching headcount, while your ERP stays the book of record.

Doxis Intelligent Content Automation (ICA) is an AI-driven platform that combines enterprise content management, business process management and intelligent document processing. It runs in the cloud, hybrid or on premises.

The platform that captures and archives your invoices also runs approvals and connects content across ERP, CRM and Microsoft applications, so AP can be the first of several processes you automate.

Doxis gives your finance team:

• One intake for invoices from every channel
• Matching against purchase orders held in your ERP
• Approval workflows with release, forward and reject actions, plus substitution when an approver is absent
• Archiving of each invoice with its approval history, retention rules and an audit trail
• One platform for contracts, supplier documents and HR files, so AP can be the first of several automated processes
• Interfaces to your ERP, CRM and Microsoft applications

Doxis is a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Document Management 2026.

Request a free demo below to see how it fits your ERP setup.

FAQs about enterprise AP automation