Managing accounts payable efficiently is crucial for any business, and Xero provides a robust solution for handling supplier invoices, payments, and reconciliation. However, by integrating Kloo with Xero, businesses can take their accounts payable (AP) process to the next level, adding an innovative layer of automation, data-driven insights, and enhanced control. In this blog post, we’ll explore the key elements of Xero's AP workflow, while aiming to provide you with a guide on how Kloo enhances the process with cutting-edge features that streamline operations and improve overall efficiency.
Streamlining PO Management with AI-Powered Workflows and Smart Approvals
Generating Accounts Payable Reports in Xero with Kloo's AI Insights
Xero is a software known for simplifying financial management, and its Accounts Payable (AP) module is no exception. From entering supplier invoices to making payments and reconciling bank statements, Xero’s Accounts Payable functionality provides a centralised platform for managing your company's obligations. With the integration of Kloo, you can enhance this process even further by automating key tasks and gaining actionable insights to make smarter financial decisions.
As we know, Accounts Payable is the financial process that helps businesses manage their supplier invoices and payments, ensuring timely and accurate transactions. Xero’s core AP functionality allows you to:
But by integrating Kloo with Xero, businesses can add an intelligent layer of automation to this workflow, streamlining processes such as invoice approval and providing deeper insights into payment trends through Kloo's AP Analytics module.
While Xero alone offers several benefits, adding Kloo introduces an innovative layer of automation and data-driven tools that further optimise your AP workflow. Here's a quick run-through of the benefits that Kloo offers for Xero's AP workflows.
To maximise the benefits of Xero and Kloo, setting up your accounts payable workflow correctly is essential. From configuring your Xero account to integrating Kloo, a smooth setup ensures a seamless and efficient process.
The first steps in configuring your Xero account for Accounts Payable include:
Adding your suppliers in Xero is simple, and with Kloo integration, you can also sync contact details and payment preferences, ensuring that your records remain consistent and up to date across both systems. This helps in managing supplier relationships more effectively, as Kloo provides valuable insights into supplier performance and payment trends.
Setting up payment terms and methods in Xero, combined with Kloo’s automation features, ensures that payments are processed in a timely manner and that any discrepancies are flagged early. Kloo also helps automate recurring payments, allowing for seamless execution of your payment schedules.
Invoice management is regarded as one of the most crucial aspects of the accounts payable workflow, given that it stands as a main line of communication between a company and a supplier. It is also one of the core functions of the AP workflow that is the easiest to automate, thus giving way to innovative automation solutions that can allow it to be streamlined. Kloo arises as a viable solution in providing a powerful layer automation to the invoice management process by automating many of the manual tasks involved. Let's unpack how Kloo leverages AI to power invoice management in Xero.
In Xero, you can enter supplier invoices manually or rely on Kloo's AP automation capabilities to handle the entry process for you. With Kloo, invoices can be automatically generated from documents uploaded to the system, reducing manual input and the likelihood of errors.
With Xero, you can upload and attach supporting documents for each invoice, ensuring you have a complete record. Kloo streamlines this process by leveraging AI to automatically scan and categorise uploaded documents, making it easier to track and organise invoices without manual intervention.
Kloo's Smart Invoice Inbox takes manual intervention out of this step completely, by allowing invoices to be sent to a bespoke email inbox and having them be uploaded onto the platform without the need to log in. Upon receipt, Kloo uses AI to identify and categorise attachments as either an invoice or credit note, Invoice data is then extracted using OCR (optical character recognition) and automatically uploaded to Kloo and Xero.
Xero’s approval workflows allow you to set up multi-level approvals, ensuring that all invoices are reviewed by the right people before payment. However, integrating with Kloo adds an additional layer of intelligence to this process, automating the approval workflow based on predefined criteria and providing approvers with key insights to help them make quicker, more informed decisions.
Kloo understands that users with finance approver permissions are often busy and are flooded with many other approvals and outstanding tasks. With Kloo, designated approvers can receive and approve purchase order requests directly from their email inbox without needing to log into the platform.
Purchase orders (POs) are sometimes seen as an organisational burden and thus have very low adoption rates within the context of Accounts Payable management. However, they have a multitude of benefits and use cases in both improving the visibility and functionality of the procure-to-payment process. For a system like Xero, these features are not just one-sided. Kloo, which also has capabilities for AI-powered purchase requisition through its Purchasing Copilot module, simplifies the purchase requisition process with user-centric purchase requests, smart approval workflows (that actually flow) and automated PO generation. Let's dive into each of these features
Kloo's Purchasing Copilot module offers an intuitive solution for streamlining the procurement process, particularly for businesses using Xero. One of its standout features is the AI-powered purchase requisition system, allowing users to submit requests directly via email without the need for complex forms. The AI automatically processes the information and generates a requisition, removing the manual burden of inputting data and speeding up the entire process. This approach not only simplifies the user experience but also ensures that all necessary information is captured accurately.
Another significant feature is Kloo’s approval workflows for Xero, which automate Xero's process of assigning approval tasks to the appropriate individuals based on predefined rules. This ensures that requisitions flow efficiently through the organisation, reducing bottlenecks caused by waiting for approvals. The system allows for conditional approvals and escalation if needed, maintaining financial control and compliance while improving speed. It also integrates seamlessly with email, enabling approvers to respond to requests without needing to log into a separate system.
Once approvals are granted, instant PO generation takes over, converting approved requisitions into purchase orders automatically and syncing them into Xero's platform automatically. This eliminates the need for manual order creation, saving time and reducing the risk of errors that often occur with manual data entry. Users can also easily track these purchase orders and their status, ensuring better visibility and control throughout the procurement lifecycle.
These features combine to create a highly efficient, user-friendly procurement system that streamlines purchasing activities, reduces administrative burdens, and enhances control over spending, making Kloo an ideal tool for businesses using Xero.
Kloo’s Spend Management module provides a comprehensive solution to help businesses maintain greater control over their expenditures. One of the core features is its real-time capabilities allowing users to have complete visibility over where money is being spent across the organisation. By integrating with Xero, Kloo provides a seamless flow of financial data, enabling users to monitor budgets, track purchases, and ensure compliance with company spending policies. This insight helps prevent overspending and empowers managers to make data-driven decisions to keep finances in check.
Kloo’s AI-powered contextual supplier negotiations allow businesses to optimise their purchasing decisions by leveraging data-driven insights. The system analyses historical purchase data and current market conditions to suggest negotiation strategies tailored to individual suppliers. This allows users to approach negotiations with a clear understanding of price trends and supplier performance. Additionally, Kloo offers supplier benchmarking insights, helping businesses compare their suppliers on cost, delivery times, and service quality. These insights empower companies to make informed decisions on supplier relationships, driving cost efficiency and operational effectiveness.
Furthermore, the system provides robust spend approvals and controls, ensuring that spending limits and policies are adhered to. Kloo enables companies to set rules for expense approvals, automatically routing transactions for approval based on predefined thresholds. This helps maintain compliance and ensures that all spending aligns with organisational policies before funds are committed.
Kloo’s AI-generated supplier insights, embedded directly in approval emails, bring valuable context into the decision-making process without the need to leave the inbox. When a purchase request requires approval, Kloo provides detailed supplier data, such as historical performance, pricing trends, and delivery reliability, directly within the email. This enables approvers to make informed decisions quickly, ensuring that they are not just approving based on cost but also factoring in the supplier’s overall reliability and value. This feature enhances efficiency while maintaining control over procurement.
Together, these features enable businesses to take full control of their financial health by automating routine processes, gaining greater visibility into their spending, and making informed decisions that positively impact the bottom line.
Xero’s reporting features allow you to generate detailed accounts payable reports, giving you a clear view of outstanding invoices and payment statuses. Kloo's AP Analytics builds on this by offering deeper insights into your payables, including payment trends, supplier performance, and cash flow analysis, all of which can be customised for better visibility.
Using Kloo's AP Analytics, businesses can go beyond standard reporting and identify trends in their accounts payable process. This includes tracking recurring expenses, identifying suppliers with the best payment terms, and pinpointing areas where payment delays are common, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that improve cash flow management.
With Kloo's integration, you can customise your reports even further, ensuring that you have a complete picture of your accounts payable process. From supplier-specific insights to overall AP performance, Kloo helps you monitor every aspect of your payables, providing the data you need to optimise procurement and payment strategies.
Integrating Kloo with Xero’s accounts payable module significantly enhances AP operations by leveraging AI-driven automation and real-time financial insights. With Kloo, businesses can reduce manual workloads, automate invoice management, and streamline approval processes, ensuring that tasks are completed faster and with greater accuracy. The integration also provides better visibility into cash flow and supplier performance, enabling more informed decision-making. By optimising the AP process through automation and custom workflows, Kloo helps businesses maintain control over spending and improve overall financial efficiency.
For more information on maximising your accounts payable process with Kloo and Xero, visit our Xero integration page to find out more about how Kloo can integrate seamlessly with your current workflows and processes.