Unmasking the Sage Partner Solution: Five Key Insights from the Sage Partner Summit 2023

Last month, OnePosting ventured to Las Vegas, NV as part of the Sage Partner Summit where we unpacked some valuable insights around the Sage partner solution and  how Sage and OnePosting can be the integration solution you need to bring value to your business.

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Imagine journeying a whopping 5,000 miles to attend the Sage Partner Summit in the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas, in May, and amidst a bustling crowd of 2,200 global attendees, coming across someone who resides just a stone’s throw away, less than 10 miles from your home. Quite the statistical surprise, wouldn’t you agree?

This isn’t about pushing Sage, but instead, unpacking the valuable insights gathered at the Sage Partner Summit that hold relevance regardless of the software your company employs.  

Most of the Summit’s discussions were veiled in secrecy, yet we have culled five universal nuggets of wisdom that every business can appreciate, whether you use Sage or not and how this Sage partner solution along with OnePosting can be the right integration solution for your business. 

1. Optimize Your IT: One size does not fit all

The partners attending the Summit resell, implement, or integrate with solutions such as Sage 50, Sage 200, Sage 300, Sage X3, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, Sage Intacct, Sage CRM, and Sage HR.

Like Sage, many other ERP and Accounting Software providers also offer multiple solutions.  Primarily, these are generic solutions, with some industry-specific variants, such as those for the construction industry.  However, it’s important to note that specialized solutions, connected to Sage but tailored to address specific needs, often yield the best results for clients. Think about it – would you trust a general physician with your heart surgery?

Key Takeaway: Embrace specialized solutions that sync with your core ERP or Accounting Software to achieve the best business outcomes.

2. AI: Silent Workhorse Behind Invoice Automation

Mainstream and social media are abuzz with tales of artificial intelligence, and the Sage Partner Summit was no exception. Several sessions were dedicated to this futuristic topic. Yet, many are oblivious to the fact that AI and Machine Learning have silently been enhancing solutions like OnePosting for years. In fact, we were aboard the AI train long before it became the talk of the town.

Key Takeaway: AI is simply an enabler that help to deliver advanced solutions to meet specific business needs.

3. Common Ground: We’re More Alike Than We Realize

Interacting with partners worldwide, I discovered our clients grapple with similar challenges. Most are seeking efficiencies and access to timely, accurate information to aid decision-making. It might surprise you that about 90% of business processes overlap within industries, and around 80% are common across different sectors. The remaining 10%, however, requires specialist knowledge, expertise, and solutions.

Key Takeaway: Engage with peers from different industries; their insights could influence your business in unexpected ways.

4. Embrace Change: It’s inevitable

Change is the only constant. Yet, the accelerating pace of change can be daunting. Most Sage Partners agree that user acceptance of change forms the biggest hurdle in software implementation. Is your organization open to evolving, or is it entrenched in the ‘we’ve always done it this way’ mentality?

Key Takeaway: Involve staff early in the decision-making process of implementing a new solution. Ensure their needs align with the wider organizational goals. Here is how you can build a case for AP automation specifically.

5. The Need for Speed: Accuracy and Understanding Are Key

In our fast-paced, rapidly evolving world, having access to reliable, real-time information is paramount. Non-traditional data sources, such as solutions like OnePosting, equip procurement teams to negotiate more profitable agreements with suppliers and provide financial teams with novel insights.

Key Takeaway: Timely, accurate information is a game-changer. It can contribute significantly to your bottom line.

We often find that we share more common ground with others than we initially realize. In the business world, this rings especially true. Despite the general similarities, each business has its own unique nuances that demand specialist solutions. As such, businesses should strive to create a harmony of best-in-class solutions that seamlessly include integration solutions that can help run their business more efficiently. 

If you are looking for more information around OnePosting and our AP and AR solutions, connect with us. Take a closer look at our Sage Partner Summit experience through LinkedIn as our Chief Invoice Automation Evangelist, Finbarr McCarthy was on the ground in Las Vegas. 

A Glimpse of Day 1 at the Sage Summit

Insights from Day 2 of the Sage Summit

Wrapping up Day 3 of the Sage Summit

OnePosting Attends Sage Partner Summit 2023

OnePosting is excited to share that our team will be on the ground at the Sage Partner Summit 2023 in Las Vegas, May 22-24, 2023. This summit is exclusively set up for Sage Partners to gain insights, interact with other partners and discover solutions like OnePosting to help manage their businesses more effectively.

The Sage Partner Summit will take place in Las Vegas, NV May 22-24, 2023. This three day event is exclusively for Sage Partners who  represent Sage Intacct, Sage Intacct Accountant Program (SIAP), Sage X3, Sage Business Management Solutions (US: Sage 100 and Sage 300; Canada: Sage 300; UKI: Sage 200), Sage Construction and Real Estate (CRE), or the Specialized Solutions Group (Sage Fixed Assets, Sage HRMS, Sage CRM). We will be there on the ground too, engaging with partners on how OnePosting can help their clients achieve the financial accuracy they have been looking for. 

While at the Sage Partner Summit 2023, we will be sharing how our invoice automation technology helps organizations make better business decisions. This relies on timely, accurate, and comprehensive financial information. Bad financial decisions can cost companies more than 3% of profits, so OnePosting presents a fantastic opportunity for partners to equip their clients with information to help them make informed business decisions that contribute to their bottom line.

Expand the benefits of Sage Intacct for your clients by implementing our ZERO Error data extraction technology to automatically process vendor invoices, bills, credits, and statements.

You could simply implement an OCR or even an AI assisted OCR technology, but it cannot deliver 100% accuracy, and regularly leaves clients frustrated at the level of manual intervention required.

OnePosting complements your offering by:

    • Providing clients with visibility of pricing issues on their vendor invoices

    • Enabling clients to redeploy staff from manual, labor-intensive tasks to more productive, margin-enhancing ones

    • Enhancing the ‘stickiness’ of your relationships with clients

    • Generating a new recurring income stream for your business

Increase Client Satisfaction and Retention 

Provide a new, accurate, timely data source to enable clients manage their businesses more effectively and they will thank you for it.

Win New Business

Do you have a prospect you feel is wavering on the decision to select Sage Intacct? Demonstrate its flexibility by showing how our ZERO Error technology linked to Sage Intacct dashboards provides tools to manage more effectively, with greater control, while streamlining operations.

New Revenue Stream

You already have relationships with clients so why not add a new income stream – you make the introduction, OnePosting closes the sale, and you generate a new source of income.

Upside for Little Effort

You know your client base, so you can easily identify prospects that could benefit from supplier invoice automation.

Stand Out from Your Competitors

Recommending our ZERO Error technology combined with Sage Intacct demonstrates innovation and adaptability that complements how you differentiate your business from your competitors. Whether you are a Sage Reseller, a Sage Tech Partner, a Sage Service Delivery Partner, or a Sage Advocate, the deployment of Sage Intacct with a client places it at the core of their financial control and gives you an opportunity to become an indispensable part of their business.
The benefits of OnePosting for your clients are financially very significant, and in combination with Sage Intacct the benefits extend much further. The Sage Partner Summit 2023 is the perfect opportunity to connect with us to discover if OnePosting is a fit for your clients. Together we will look at the industry sectors of your client, the nature of their businesses, typical volume of vendor invoices received, typical current processes, and any other insights you may have, and jointly, we will agree if the OnePosting service is a fit for any of your clients.

The Problem with OCR Invoice Scanning

OCR invoice scanning (Optical Character Recognition) is what most people think of when they hear supplier invoice automation. Scanning is very old technology, which dates back to the 1930’s and was often used by banks to read bank account numbers on cheques. Although the technology has improved, is it still reliable?

Today, we have the ability to take a photograph with a phone and have text extracted from an image, and many companies have added layers of AI (artificial intelligence) on top of the existing OCR to enhance its capabilities, but just how good is it and can we rely on such old technology

Providers of AI enhanced OCR invoice scanning solutions often claim a 99.8% accuracy rate, but does that accuracy translate into invoices that are being processed? 

We wanted to test this accuracy, so we signed up for an account with a leading OCR company and uploaded 7 sample invoices to put it to the test. The invoices used were based on real invoices that we have received, but all of the content was entirely fictitious. 

The Good News

After we uploaded the 7 invoices, we observed that key information from 5 of the 7 invoices was read perfectly. These invoices would be capable of being processed electronically without issue. On the remaining two invoices, one was read with 99.79% accuracy, while the remaining invoice was read with 99.84% accuracy. 

The Bad News

Unfortunately, there were a handful of errors that were identified on the other invoices. The OCR imaging technology on which AI supplier invoice processing relies, returned an invoice total of $52,389.25 on the Jerry Madden Live Wire Electrical invoice when the actual total was $2,389.25. This is a very large discrepancy, which you can imagine creates a series of problems when using such technology. 

There were 466 characters on the invoice but 1 character was incorrect which gave the 99.79% read accuracy.  However, the character that was misread, a ‘5’ instead of ‘$’ altered the total of the invoice by $50,000. A big problem!

The Sam Stone Inc invoice had more significant issues.  Even though 622 characters were read, with one incorrect, giving a 99.84% accuracy rate, the OCR invoice scanning technology again misread the dollar symbol as a ‘6’, resulting in a $3,643.61 invoice being returned as a $63,643.61 invoice, which resulted in a $60,000 discrepancy.

This invoice test tells us that even if current OCR invoice scanning solutions are AI assisted, they are attempting to read and decipher numbers (and letters) from ‘photos’ of invoices.  It is unlikely that the underlying technology can ever work flawlessly in a real-world situation because of the quality of the invoices presented. Issues with fonts, overprinting, and many of the other challenges associated with processing vendor invoices can create these discrepancies. 

Overall Test resulted in a 71.43% success rate

This is based on invoices successfully processed, not the number of characters read.  7 invoices were submitted, resulting in errors on 2 which equates to a 71.43% success rate. It is impossible to predict. 

What is the Solution?

With OnePosting, we don’t use Scanning or OCR technology to scan invoices. We have developed a unique technology that works to extract data from invoices that does not use OCR. Instead, we have developed a ZERO ERROR data extraction technique that reads postscript language used to display and print PDF documents. This results in more accurate data, where we read the true data from the invoice, not an interpretation of a “photo,” which results in extracted data that is 100% accurate. 

If you are looking to get 100% accuracy when it comes to your invoice data, book a meeting with us.