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Executives in payment processing, accounts payable, and finance, have likely experienced firsthand the frustrations of dealing with dirty vendor data. Whether it’s incomplete vendor records, mismatched entries, or inconsistent formats, the challenges posed by unreliable vendor data in finance are real, and they have direct, far-reaching consequences for decision-making, compliance, and operational efficiency.
But how did we end up here? And more importantly, what can we do about it?
Over the past two decades, organizations have been flooded with data. From the sheer volume of transactions to the complexity of global financial systems and compliance regulations, it’s no wonder that some of that data is “dirty.” Let’s break down a few key factors that contributed to dirty vendor data in some organizations:
We’ve found that many organizations are still relying on legacy payment processing and accounting systems. These systems were never designed to handle the scale and complexity of today’s financial operations. They often don’t communicate well with newer technology which creates gaps where errors and inconsistencies can creep in.
While automation has significantly advanced, manual data entry is still prevalent in many organizations when it comes to vendors. Whether it’s inputting payment details, reconciling invoices, or updating supplier information, human error remains one of the primary causes of dirty data. The more hands that touch the data, the more opportunity for mistakes increases.
For data to be trusted, it must be governed. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to implement consistent data governance strategies. Without clear rules on how data should be entered, processed, and cleaned, it’s easy for inconsistent or incomplete data to slip through the cracks.
As organizations grow and evolve, data is often consolidated across different platforms and systems. Mergers, acquisitions, and even vendor consolidations lead to mismatched data formats, duplicated entries, and confusion. What was once a tidy data set can quickly become a fragmented mess.
The impact of dirty vendor data in payment processing and accounts payable is more than just a minor inconvenience. It has significant consequences, including:
Now that we’ve established how we got here, let’s explore how we can address the problem of dirty data and move toward more streamlined and reliable processes.
Start by creating a comprehensive data governance strategy that outlines how data should be entered, processed, and maintained across the organization. This includes creating standardized formats, improving data entry protocols, and ensuring that there are clear guidelines for cleaning and validating data on a regular basis.
Automation can significantly reduce the human error component in data entry. AI-powered tools, like Bedrock, can flag discrepancies and inconsistencies in real-time, ensuring data quality before it enters your systems. Our tool can also learn from past errors, improving accuracy over time.
To prevent data silos and discrepancies, consider integrating your various payment and accounting systems. By ensuring that data flows seamlessly across platforms, you reduce the chances of errors during manual transfers and consolidate duplicate or outdated information.
While governance and automation help, dirty data doesn’t just disappear overnight. Regular data cleansing and continuous monitoring are essential. We recommend setting up processes for periodic data reviews and corrections. The cleaner your data, the more confident you can be in your financial insights and decisions.
Dirty vendor data is a challenge faced by payment processing and AP in many large enterprises. By understanding how we arrived here and taking a proactive, systematic approach to clean data, you can set your organization up for better decision-making, compliance, and operational efficiency.
What role does Bedrock play? Bedrock is a cloud-based software platform that helps Fortune 500 finance departments recover billions of dollars in missing financial assets while delivering our preventative-AI model to ensure supplier databases are verified, compliant and clean. Finance organizations that trust Bedrock as their foundational platform include Sallie Mae, Citizens Bank, Dillards, Dropbox and Astellas.
Imagine a day when your vendor data is always clean, verified and meets all your compliance requirements – that’s the Bedrock solution. Bedrock’s 100% performance based solution enables you to lower IT spend with no out of pocket costs to keep your vendor data clean and pristine. Get in touch to learn more.