Institute of Finance and Management and Tungsten Network Launch First-of-its-Kind Initiative to Identify Supply Chain Friction
PORTLAND, ME and LONDON, UK (PRWEB) May 05, 2017 -- The Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) and Tungsten Network today announced a partnership to help organizations measure and eliminate friction in the processes they use to pay for the goods and services they buy from suppliers.
Organizations continue to streamline Procure-to-Pay (P2P) processes with automation and best practices, but sources of friction remain. Common causes of P2P friction include the use of paper and lack of digitization in the Procure-to-Pay process, supplier invoices with errors, a lack of internal visibility, poor collaboration among internal stakeholders and suppliers, onerous compliance processes, and fraudulent supplier payments. IOFM and Tungsten Networks’ collaboration on this first-of-its-kind initiative attempts to measure and track the forces that are hindering P2P processes.
To track this, IOFM and Tungsten Network will survey Accounts Payable and P2P practitioners in the United States and the United Kingdom to learn the primary causes of P2P friction, the level of P2P automation, the time spent each week dealing with issues related to P2P friction, and trends in the level of friction. As part of the initiative, IOFM and Tungsten Network will provide educational resources to help organizations identify and eliminate P2P friction.
Additionally, IOFM and Tungsten will also survey practitioners at IOFM’s AP & P2P Conference & Expo, May 7-9 in Orlando, FL, on the level of friction in their P2P cycle. IOFM Editor of Special Projects Mark Brousseau and Tungsten Network Vice President of Client Relationship Management Sean Norton also will present a session on the “Facts of Friction in the Supply Chain and How to Effectively Remove It,” on Tuesday, May 9th at the conference. The session will detail the cost of P2P friction on buyers and suppliers, and the steps organizations can take to remove P2P friction.
“Every business has friction in its Procure-to-Pay cycle. This initiative will measure for the first time the primary sources of P2P friction, and the impact of P2P friction on the supply chain,” said IOFM Executive Director Brian Cuthbert. “Identifying and eliminating P2P friction will help businesses accelerate their supply chain to increase cash flow and profit margins, and reduce the cost of goods.”
“Tungsten Network believes that removing Procure-to-Pay friction is the linchpin to enhancing global supply chain efficiency. Our mission is to help customers eliminate P2P friction through digitization,” said Tungsten Network CMO Connie O’Brien. “Developing this friction finder tool with IOFM will help our customers identify and remove friction from their supply chain.”
About IOFM
The Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) is the leading organization providing training, education and certification programs specifically for professionals in accounts payable, procure-to-pay, accounts receivable and order-to-cash, as well as key tax and compliance resources for global and shared services professionals, controllers and their finance and administration teams. IOFM has certified nearly 20,000 financial operations professionals worldwide through its four certification programs. With a universe of over 100,000 financial operations professionals, growing certification and membership programs, and a keen understanding of the issues and content needs critical to the profession, IOFM is the trusted source of information in the evolving field of financial operations.
About Tungsten Network
Tungsten Network is a secure e-invoicing, purchase order services and workflow platform that brings businesses and their suppliers closer together with unique technology that revolutionizes invoice processing, maximizes efficiency and improves cash flow. Delivering trusted connections and streamlined transactions, the network also provides users with real-time spend analysis and offers suppliers access to invoice financing through Tungsten Network Finance, a form of alternative finance for businesses. Tungsten Network processes invoices for 70 percent of the FTSE 100 and 72 percent of the Fortune 500. It enables suppliers to submit tax compliant e-invoices in 47 countries, and last year processed transactions worth over £133bn for organizations such as Alliance Data, Cargill, Deutsche Lufthansa, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Mondelēz International, Henkel, IBM, Kellogg's and the US Federal Government. Trusted, passionate and proven, Tungsten is making the digitization of global commerce between buyers and suppliers faster, easier and smarter.
Jason Lavigne, Institute of Finance & Management, http://www.iofm.com, +1 (207) 842-5499, [email protected]
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