Guest Column: 10 Things To Consider Before You Go Into An AP Shared Services System

By Kevin Ryan, KeyMark

A company acquisition. Forecasted volume increases. The need to streamline or have more security and visibility controls. These are some of the reasons organizations decide to build accounts payable (AP) shared services systems to consolidate processing from multiple locations to one central location. Is a shared services solution the direction your organization has chosen? Have you decided to keep the processing in-house after evaluating outsourcing operations in comparison with leveraging the experience and expertise of your existing AP staff?

As you evaluate automation versus increasing staff to accommodate the increased volumes, you'll find that there are many solution options ranging from basic archival to fully automated capture and workflow processing. Let's take a look at the top ten considerations to keep in mind as you examine the various shared services options