What your AI action plan could look like.

1. Business context

A hypothetical small business processes 200 invoices a month. Staff enter invoice details manually, check purchase orders and resolve discrepancies. The team wants less repetitive entry while keeping control over payments.

2. Opportunity and assumptions

This calculation excludes exception handling, setup, monitoring and maintenance. It is an estimate, not a promised result. At an assumed £25 per staff hour, the gross monthly time value would be about £308 before those costs. Time freed does not automatically become cash saved.

3. Suggested pilot

1. Collect representative invoices with sensitive details removed and map the current approval process.
2. Extract the agreed fields into a review queue. Do not approve payments automatically.
3. Check supplier, amount and purchase-order matches; route uncertainties to staff.
4. Run in parallel with the current process until errors, exceptions and handling time are understood.

4. What to measure

• Total staff time, including corrections and exceptions.
• Accuracy by field and the proportion requiring review.
• Tool costs, support effort and any rejected or duplicated invoices.
• Whether staff can operate and recover the workflow without assistance.

5. Next decision

Continue only if the measured benefits justify the total cost and the process owner is comfortable with the controls. Otherwise, adjust the pilot or choose a different opportunity.

Read the invoice automation guide →