Accounts Payable (AP) teams face stalling automation that is limiting efficiency and the ability to add strategic value. SSON data shows that 51% of organizations have only adopted task-level automation such as optical character recognition (OCR), and 30% report no meaningful AI in AP yet. Many organizations also remain constrained by traditional FTE-based or fixed-price service delivery models, which reward processing volume over business outcomes.
This SSON Essentials Guide, in collaboration with Rossum, explores how agentic AI helps AP teams move past this plateau, and what it takes for Global Business Services (GBS) and shared services leaders to transform AP from a cost center into a strategic value engine.
Key Takeaways
- AP automation has stalled: Task-level tools such as OCR and robotic process automation (RPA) have improved processing speed but have not solved the underlying problems slowing AP down, leaving most organizations short of touchless, real-time operations.
- What makes agentic AI different: Understand how agentic AI interprets documents in context, validates against ERP and master data, and escalates only genuine exceptions, rather than flagging every mismatch for manual review.
- Removing the IT bottleneck: Learn how directing AI agents with natural language lets AP managers and finance process owners adjust workflows directly, within governed boundaries, without waiting on IT.
- Turning AP data into financial intelligence: Discover how real-time reconciliation and conversational reporting give finance leaders direct, plain-language access to root-cause insight instead of static KPI dashboards.
- The human + agent workforce: See how agentic AI shifts skilled AP professionals toward exception management, supplier relationships, and compliance monitoring, addressing process bottlenecks and freeing up staff for strategic value creation.
- Where organizations stand today: SSON Research & Analytics data shows only 21% of organizations have adopted agent-coordinated workflows, and just 5% have reached semi-automated or end-to-end agentic processes.
- Proof from Imperial Dade: See how end-to-end agentic AP automation cut invoice processing from 7–10 days to one day, reduced missed early payment discounts by 60%, and reached 96% average data extraction accuracy.
Download the report to understand how agentic AI moves AP past its current plateau, and what a practical, governed transition to agentic operations looks like for GBS and shared services leaders.
