How Much Does It Cost to Communicate with Vendors?
How much does it cost your organization to answer a vendor invoice status inquiry?
Don’t feel badly if you don’t have the answer at your fingertips. According to a recent survey by Financial Operations Networks and InvoiceInfo, only 1 out of 10 respondents track AP customer service metrics, making the cost to communicate with vendors the most overlooked AP activity metric.
But these costs can really add up as vendors become more cash-flow sensitive. Interestingly, most cost-per-invoice calculations don’t get granular enough to break out the cost of these activities.
How much is at stake? Just take payment status inquiries, for example. Statistics show vendor inquiries are made on 3% to 15% of the invoices a company receives and each inquiry takes 3 to 20 minutes to resolve.
Of greater concern is that vendor communication activities are increasing. Today’s vendors email and call about invoice payment status with increasing frequency, putting additional strains on already scarce AP resources. Vendor questions can include “Have you received our invoice?” or “Has our invoice been approved?” or “Has our invoice been paid?”
The good news is, InvoiceInfo has developed a simple, convenient, effective and easy-to-use tool to track AP customer service costs. The AP Vendor Communication Activity Analysis is available to you at no cost. And of course, once you have the metrics, you’re on your way to deciding how best to contain the cost and to measure the positive impact of vendor communication operational improvements.
If you would like to learn how much you are spending to answer invoice inquiries and communicate with vendors, call (678) 335-5735 today or request your AP Vendor Service Activity Analysis online.
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Financial Operations Networks (FON) is a financial operations company whose products help accounts payable teams prevent payment fraud: VendorInfo, a vendor portal; InvoiceInfo, a supplier portal; DisbursementControls.com, a membership resource for disbursement controls; and VIMCOE, which provides accounts payable certification. FON is a Nacha Preferred Partner.
FON strengthens front-line control points across vendor onboarding, supplier maintenance, and payments — verifying vendor information, validating bank account ownership, running compliance checks, and reducing exposure to business email compromise (BEC) before payments are made.
VendorInfo is a vendor portal for onboarding: it verifies tax IDs, screens OFAC and validates bank account ownership before a vendor is paid. InvoiceInfo is a supplier portal for after the invoice: suppliers look up invoice status, payment dates and remittance advice themselves instead of emailing AP. Both sit on top of the same ERP and are often used together.
Yes. FON offers specialized programs including the AP Payment Fraud Prevention Certification and the Accredited Vendor Information Professional (AVIP) Certification to help finance professionals strengthen expertise and advance their careers.
Request a demo and our team will walk you through how FON can strengthen your controls, reduce fraud exposure, and improve AP efficiency based on your organization’s goals.
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