Edenred Buys IPS to Create End-to-End Solution for Managing AP

Digital payments platform Edenred has acquired invoice automation vendor IPS and said this will give the clients of its corporate payment subsidiary, Edenred CSI, access to an end-to-end integrated solution for managing the entire accounts payable (AP) process.

With the acquisition of IPS, with which Edenred has been collaborating since 2015, Edenred CSI’s B2B payment automation capabilities will be expanded to include IPS’ invoice automation solution, creating a complete, integrated invoice-to-pay offering, Edenred said in a Monday (Oct. 17) press release.

“IPS’ efficient platform and innovation-driven automated invoice processing solution will easily integrate with Edenred CSI’s digital platform to offer both existing and new clients a comprehensive invoice-to-pay solution, unlocking additional growth opportunities,” Edenred Chief Operating Officer of Payment Solutions and New Markets Gilles Coccoli said in the release.

Edenred CSI provides coverage of all payment methods and integration with 350 enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, while IPS handles invoice automation from invoice capture to approval and provides a 99.95% data accuracy rate, according to the release.

“The integration of IPS and Edenred CSI will create a 100% end-to-end digital process that will reduce invoice exceptions while significantly increasing straight-through payment processing,” IPS Founder and President Greg Bartels said in the release. “Our combined experience transforming manual AP processes into digital will be leveraged across the entire invoice-to-pay process.”

A PYMNTS survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) from wholesale trade and manufacturing firms that had digitized their payments found that 91% reported improved efficiency, 84% reported improved working capital management, and 62% reported cost reductions.

Red more: How Payments Automation and Digitization Can Reduce Errors and Streamline Transactions

Beyond those benefits, automating and digitizing payments — and the processes that surround them — could allow accounting staff to focus more on big-picture operations, improving the company as a whole, according to the “AP Automation Tracker®,” a PYMNTS and Beanworks collaboration.

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