Moving Beyond OCR: How Ascend AP Delivers True Accounts Payable Automation

OCR Technology: A Great Start for AP Efficiency

As businesses look to modernize their accounts payable (AP) operations, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has become an important tool for streamlining invoice processing. Solutions like Workday’s Supplier Invoice Automation (SIA) leverage OCR to extract invoice data, reduce manual data entry, and speed up workflows—an excellent first step for many organizations.

However, as AP teams handle increasing volumes and more complex invoices, the limitations of OCR technology alone begin to emerge. While Workday OCR provides valuable time savings for simple processes, companies seeking true AP automation will need a more advanced, scalable solution.

This is where Ascend AP stands apart—bridging the gap between OCR efficiency and full AP automation.

What Makes Ascend AP Different?

Ascend AP isn’t just about processing invoices faster—it’s about transforming AP workflows from start to finish. By combining intelligent automation with advanced features, Ascend AP helps businesses eliminate manual intervention, improve accuracy, and scale without needing to grow their AP team.

Here’s how Ascend AP goes beyond Workday OCR:

1. Touchless Invoice Processing

Currently, Workday OCR can only help AP teams extract basic invoice data, and every invoice still requires manual touchpoints for review, validation, and approval. Ascend AP changes that.

With Ascend AP, there's 97% header line recognition and 60% touchless processing guaranteed—from ingestion to approval—without manual intervention. This difference ensures that invoices flow smoothly, avoiding bottlenecks in exception queues. AP teams only focus on exceptions, freeing up valuable time to prioritize strategic initiatives. For most companies, this level of processing exceeds what’s typically needed, offering both efficiency and reliability.

Example: For a company processing 100,000 invoices annually, Ascend AP reduces manual touchpoints by thousands of hours—equivalent to saving upwards of 28,000 hours of work! 

2. Superior Accuracy and Intelligent Recognition

OCR accuracy is critical for reducing errors and manual corrections. Ascend AP delivers consistently high accuracy rates (90%+ for header fields) right out of the box.

Unlike standard OCR solutions, Ascend AP uses machine learning to continuously improve accuracy and adapt to your unique invoice data.

• Faster Supplier Recognition: Ascend AP recognizes suppliers within 3–5 invoice scans, compared to 10–15 scans for other tools.

• Line-Level Data: Ascend AP can extract and match complex line-item details, ensuring invoices align with purchase orders—even when formatting is inconsistent.

• Non-PO Invoice Automation: One of Ascend AP’s most impactful benefits is its ability to automate non-PO invoices. While many solutions struggle with the unstructured nature of non-PO data, Ascend AP leverages a unique combination of logic based rules and prediction engines to validate and complete missing line items so they are routed correctly. This means businesses can confidently process invoices that don’t originate from purchase orders—without manual intervention—saving significant time and reducing bottlenecks in approval workflows.

3. Smart Email Ingestion and Routing

Many companies have large, decentralized systems that require support from first ingestion. Currently, Workday OCR lacks the ability to automatically split documents with multiple invoices or support multiple email inbox ingestion, instead requiring manual intervention on each occurrence. 

Ascend AP makes email ingestion seamless:

• Automatic Routing: Invoices are automatically directed to the correct team or inbox based on supplier or invoice rules.

• No Manual Forwarding: Unlike Workday OCR, Ascend AP doesn’t require IT teams to set up manual forwarding rules.

• Supplier Communication: Ascend AP enables two-way communication with suppliers directly from the platform, streamlining resolution of invoice discrepancies.

4. Built for Scalability and Complex Workflows

For growing businesses, AP processes need to scale without adding headcount. Ascend AP is designed to handle complexity with ease, offering:

• Rule-Based Automation: Ascend AP allows users to create document rules on demand, instantly applying existing rules to invoices for fast, accurate processing. This customization option ensures businesses can adapt Ascend AP to their existing workflows without disrupting current processes. Enabling additional customization with Ascend AP is easy for your team to manage if items change - with Workday OCR, custom coding by their in-house team is often required to make these similar adjustments

• Support for Decentralized Teams: With multiple inboxes, team-specific routing, and collaborative tools, Ascend AP supports AP teams across different locations or departments.

5. Analytics and Tracking That Drive Results

Ascend AP doesn’t just automate—it empowers. With robust analytics and tracking features, AP teams gain full visibility into their workflows, including:

• Real-Time Reporting: Easily monitor invoice statuses, processing times, and exceptions.

• Performance Dashboards: Track KPIs to measure efficiency gains and identify bottlenecks.

• Audit Trail Insights: Every action is logged, ensuring compliance and simplifying audits.

These insights help teams continuously optimize processes, drive decision-making, and showcase the ROI of automation.

Transforming AP with Ascend AP

The bottom line is, accounts payable processes don’t need to be a bottleneck. By moving beyond basic OCR technology, Ascend AP empowers businesses to:

• Eliminate manual tasks and focus on exceptions.

• Improve accuracy and reduce errors.

• Scale efficiently without adding headcount.

While tools like Workday OCR offer a helpful starting point, Ascend AP delivers the automation and flexibility modern AP teams need to thrive.

ERP Certified Partner

Ascend was built for Workday customers specifically, adding value for enterprises with AP processes beyond normal complexity. Our solution seamlessly integrates with Workday’s platform, ensuring smooth data flows, minimal implementation effort, and a consistent user experience. This partnership underscores our commitment to providing Workday users with an AP automation tool that enhances their existing ecosystem while delivering unmatched value.

Ready to experience true AP automation?

Learn how Ascend AP can transform your AP processes today.