Invoice processing solutions is a category covering four distinct capabilities, and the commonest expensive mistake in this area is buying the one that does not address your constraint. A week of measuring where your time and elapsed days actually go points clearly at one of the four, and the measurement costs an hour a day.
If keying is the constraint
A team typing every invoice into an accounting system benefits directly from capture, and the benefit is measurable in an afternoon by timing ten invoices. This is the clearest case for capture and the one where its business case is strongest, because the saving is arithmetic rather than a projection.
If waiting is the constraint
Short work spread over long elapsed times means the constraint is routing and approval, not entry. Workflow with named approvers, automatic cover and escalation addresses it directly and usually costs less than capture. Most teams that measure honestly find themselves here, and most projects start elsewhere.
If exceptions are the constraint
An exception queue dominated by missing orders and missing receipts is not a software problem at all: no product can compare documents that were never created. The fix is a purchase-order threshold and receipt discipline at the delivery point, both free, and both raise the ceiling for any tool bought afterwards.
Questions people ask about invoice processing solutions
How do we measure the constraint?
For a week, record per invoice how it arrived, whether it had an order and a receipt, the minutes it took and the days it waited.
Can we address more than one at once?
You can, and phasing usually lands faster. Each phase should deliver on its own rather than waiting on the next.
What if the measurement points upstream?
Then the first project is free, which is good news even if it is not the news anybody expected.