Stampli’s Cognitive AI aims to handle all your businesses’s purchase orders autonomously

Stampli, an accounts payable (AP) automation startup, has introduced its latest innovation, Cognitive AI, at Oracle NetSuite’s annual SuiteWorld 2024 conference in Las Vegas.

Designed to streamline one of the most time-consuming processes in corporate finance, the AI solution aims to fully automate purchase order (PO) matching, a labor-intensive task traditionally managed by entire finance teams.

By blending large language models (LLMs) with carefully structured business logic, Stampli’s Cognitive AI represents a significant leap forward in financial automation.

Unlike other AI tools that focus on simple data matching, this technology mimics the complex reasoning and decision-making abilities of experienced AP professionals, fundamentally changing how companies handle PO matching.

Replicating human decision making with AI

Eyal Feldman, CEO and co-founder of Stampli, emphasized the uniqueness of the new offering.

“My background is in [Oracle rival] SAP, and I realized early on that structured processes like SAP and unstructured processes like Documentum could be combined for incredible efficiency,” he told VentureBeat in a video call interview last week.

Feldman said this marks the first time such a high level of human-like reasoning has been integrated into financial software.

Stampli’s leadership in the AI space is no accident. With nearly a decade of experience in AI-driven invoice processing, the company has built a vast, secure dataset through years of collaboration with finance teams.

This dataset, growing by $85 billion annually, provides the foundation for Stampli’s advanced solutions.

Feldman added, “While many companies are just beginning to explore AI applications, we’ve spent years orienting our technical architecture, data warehouses, and corporate structure around AI.”

Solving the PO matching puzzle

PO matching is a core task for finance departments, particularly for midsize companies that must reconcile large volumes of invoices against purchase orders. Discrepancies are common, ranging from inconsistent quantities and prices to missing deliveries and misaligned taxes or fees. Resolving these issues typically requires significant manual intervention, often consuming hours of work.

Feldman elaborated on the complexity involved in accounts payable workflows.

“The real problem of Accounts Payable is that it’s a collaboration process, not just an approval process. People have to figure out what was ordered, what was received, and how to allocate costs,” he said.

This collaboration across multiple departments is at the heart of Stampli’s approach to automation.

Other PO matching tools rely on proximity algorithms to flag simple matches, but these systems achieve success rates of just 20-40%, according to Stampli’s estimates.

In contrast, Stampli’s Cognitive AI automates the process almost entirely, achieving a 97% success rate in controlled tests. The company expects to push that number even higher as more data is collected through real-world usage.

Matt Andersen, CFO of Superior Masonry Unlimited in Fort Mill, South Carolina, shared his experience with the tool, describing the time savings it delivered. “The AI matched at 100% on every line on each of the 22 invoices that came in that day. Even though five of those invoices were around three pages long, the AI still matched everything perfectly. It only took me 15 minutes to review those invoices, compared to the many days it would have taken my team and I to process them manually,” Andersen said.

Nini Johnston, VP of Treasury at Modigent, a national HVAC service company, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the increased productivity her team has seen since adopting Cognitive AI. She noted, “Without Stampli, we would have had to hire five additional people to process invoices.”

Addressing labor shortages in finance

The timing of Stampli’s Cognitive AI launch couldn’t be better. A June 2024 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the finance and insurance sector faced a labor shortage, with 308,000 job openings and only 132,000 hires. Automation technologies like Stampli’s Cognitive AI are critical in helping finance teams do more with less, allowing companies to maintain productivity without adding headcount.

Andersen pointed to this benefit, saying, “As a CFO, I have to be working on the business, not in it. I need my team focused on thinking strategically, looking forward, growing the business, and navigating the changing economy. Let the AI do the basic tasks, so the team can utilize their human ingenuity.”

Feldman also highlighted Stampli’s core innovation in centralizing the accounts payable process. He explained, “We took the invoice and turned it into a landing page, a central hub where all conversations, documents, and approvals happen in one place.” This approach, according to Feldman, simplifies what has historically been a highly fragmented workflow.

“Accounts Payable isn’t just about paying invoices; it’s about reconciling data between vendors and internal systems, which requires collaboration across many departments,” Feldman said, further emphasizing the value of Stampli’s solution for companies dealing with complex processes.

Stampli’s Cognitive AI for PO Matching is available now as an add-on for customers using Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and SAP. Additional integrations with other financial systems are expected in the coming weeks. The company has plans to expand Cognitive AI into other areas of finance operations soon, continuing to leverage its deep expertise in automation and AI.

An online demonstration of the technology will take place on September 18, 2024, offering potential customers the chance to see the system in action. Invitations for the event can be requested via Stampli’s website.

With the introduction of Cognitive AI, Stampli continues its mission of optimizing financial processes. As businesses face increasing complexity in managing accounts payable, the company’s solution positions itself as an essential tool for modern finance teams looking to improve efficiency and reduce manual workloads.