How ApprovalMax works with NetSuite to simplify accounts payable approvals
Accounts payable (AP) approvals are a crucial part of spend control, but they can sometimes hamper AP process efficiency. Read on to find out how ApprovalMax for NetSuite enhances financial controls by simplifying authorisations for a film production company.
Why approvals within Netsuite can be inefficient
Accounts payable authorisation is a critical element of financial controls. However, setting up an approval process that is fast enough and convenient for everyone involved is not an easy task. When approvals are handled manually outside of Netsuite, it leads to delays and inconsistencies, as people tend to make mistakes, especially when the stakes are high. When companies grow rapidly, the workload and the pressure rise, and having a manual process is no longer an option.
NetSuite offers approval workflows, but you need to purchase additional licenses for each approver, so the cost can be limiting for many companies. The result is added expenses and a lack of flexibility to change workflows or have several people approve expenses in a department. Setting up an approval workflow usually requires involving an external consultant, takes a long time, and isn’t possible for complex approval workflows across multiple departments.
ApprovalMax’s native integration with Netsuite enables users to create flexible approval workflows without the need to purchase many licenses.
A powerful approval add-on for NetSuite can solve these problems
The ApprovalMax app not only enables flexible approval workflows but also provides a seamless user experience for approvers. A simple approval workflow can be set up in ApprovalMax in a matter of hours, and you can quickly edit any settings whenever required.
With ApprovalMax, you do not have to provide approvers with access to NetSuite. This means that financial data in NetSuite is more secure. At the same time, there is no need to purchase a license for each decision-maker in your team. This approval automation software is also designed so that approvers can enjoy the decision-making process. Thanks to its convenient web interface, mobile app and the “approve from email feature” the authorisation process runs like clockwork.
Not only is ApprovalMax a straightforward solution for approvers, but you can also build workflows with as much flexibility as you need; this creates almost endless opportunities to customise your approval workflows. For example, you can have as many approval steps as you need and an unlimited number of approvers at each step. You can also define who approves what documents at each step (depending on the invoice amount or department) and you can even run parallel or sequential approvals, and much more. For every approved document you get an automatically generated audit trail, and the reporting functionality enables insights into the authorisation process.
How a multi-entity film production company uses ApprovalMax to save time, money and paper
Alina Zelenskaya, Head of Customer Success at ApprovalMax, talked to the CFO of a film production company that uses ApprovalMax for managing accounts payable approvals for Netsuite. Here’s what she found out:
“… ApprovalMax is a much more flexible solution at a great price. The notifications are automated, and when all the approval rules are in place, the approval matrix ensures that invoices are routed to whoever needs to review them.”
Alina Zelenskaya
“The film company processes a lot of invoices each month because of the nature of their work, so they needed to implement a robust approval process that saved them a lot of time and effort. Previously, they’d used Netsuite’s built-in approval workflow but found it was too rigid and difficult to amend; to get started, they needed third-party assistance to build out an approval workflow within Netsuite.
Netsuite’s built-in approvals also allowed only one person from each department to approve an invoice, and the company could only assign one invoice to one department. It also took a long time to set up notifications for approvers.
For their needs, ApprovalMax is a much more flexible solution at a great price. The notifications are automated, and when all the approval rules are in place, the approval matrix ensures that invoices are routed to whoever needs to review them.”
When speaking about the client’s move to ApprovalMax, Alina said:
“Moving the approval process outside of NetSuite makes it so much quicker; when you approve about 100 invoices per month (like the CFO of the company does) the time spent on each approval becomes very valuable. Add to this that there are also a lot of low-value invoices that are authorised by the financial controller and it’s easy to see how automating their approval processes helps save them time and money.
One of the most influential factors for the company was user experience. With built-in NetSuite approval workflows, the process was counter-intuitive and slow for approvers, whereas now it takes just two clicks to make a decision. With the mobile app, they can now approve from anywhere.
The audit trail and search features improve overall visibility: you can always check on the status of individual invoices and see the authorisation history for the archived ones.”
Powerful approval automation solution at a low cost
Our users say that using NetSuite for approvals is expensive because they need to purchase additional licenses for every approver. By adding ApprovalMax costs to their app stack, they not only save on cost per licence, but they also find they save even more when it comes to process efficiency and saving time.
Learn more about ApprovalMax for NetSuite and get in touch with our sales team
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