Going paperless in payables usually starts with a scanner, and that is the wrong end. The scanner produces images with nowhere useful to go, and the process afterwards is still paper-shaped. Starting from the record, then the approval, then the capture, then the channels produces a workflow where each step has somewhere to deliver to, and it is a shorter route to something that works.
First, the record
Decide where an invoice lives, what fields it carries, what statuses it can be in and who owns each. Everything else feeds this. Teams that skip it end up with images in a folder and a spreadsheet alongside, which is two systems that disagree within a month and is the most common paperless outcome.
Second, the approval
Move approvals off email and onto the record, with the document visible at the point of decision and the approval captured with a name and a date. This is where the biggest single reduction in elapsed time comes from, because approval is where the waiting is, and it delivers benefit even while invoices are still arriving on paper.
Third, capture, and only then the channels
With a record and an approval path in place, capture has somewhere to deliver and its value is immediate. Consolidating arrival channels comes last because it is the slowest change socially, involving suppliers and colleagues, and it can proceed in parallel with everything else rather than blocking it.
Questions people ask about accounts payable paperless workflow
Do we need to go paperless all at once?
No, and staging it is usually faster overall. A hybrid where paper is scanned at arrival and everything downstream is digital captures most of the benefit early.
What is the hardest part?
Usually the arrival channels, because it involves changing what other people do. Start it early and expect it to take a quarter or two.
What about historical paper?
Leave it unless you need it. Retrospective scanning is expensive and rarely repays; scan on demand when an old document is actually requested.