From OCR to Autonomous Finance: Building an AI-Native AP Platform

AI is no longer an upgrade. What once took weeks, now happens in seconds. This is the promise of truly autonomous finance.

When it comes to AI, we’re way past the theoretical. I remember just a few years ago, in 2021, when we were discussing with businesses about Autonomous AI on the Tradeshift platform, it felt like something out of a distant future. The market just wasn’t ready for it

As a forward-thinking company, our clients often share our mindset. We had some trailblazers who decided to use Ada, our AI coding layer for AP automation, trusting her with up to 99.5% of their processes, even in those early days. 

This year, both we and the world have entered a new era of AI, chatbots, Generative AI, and beyond, transforming our personal and professional lives. It’s a shift I spoke about earlier this year at Davos. And true to form, Tradeshift is at the forefront of this innovation. We’ve embedded all the newest AI-powered technologies into our platform, from AskAda, our GenAI chatbot, to our latest Reporting & Analytics App, which is built on extraordinary Amazon technology: QuickSight and the conversational AI Amazon Q leveraging the latest Claude model from Anthropic for Dashboard level AI suggestions. 

In this article, I want to focus on one topic central to our mission: AI in e-invoicing and AP automation. Businesses everywhere are striving for optimization. The real question is: how do you get there?

Is autonomous finance the answer?

👉 Our AI-powered Reporting & Analytics app, gives buyers unprecedented control over AP data.

What is autonomous finance?

From my perspective as Chief Product & Technology Officer, autonomous finance isn’t just another buzzword—it’s the real deal, a paradigm shift that goes way beyond simple automation. We’re talking about harnessing the absolute best of AI and machine learning to achieve truly touchless financial operations. Imagine transforming AP, invoice processing, and PO matching from soul-crushing, labor-intensive functions into self-governing systems that just work.

Forget those earlier semi-automated approaches that still needed a human babysitter, like OCR or RPA. This is about near-zero human intervention, a system so smart it learns and improves with every single transaction. Our technology is designed to intelligently ingest, process, and reconcile invoices end-to-end, almost like magic. This isn’t just about tiny, incremental gains; it’s about exploding improvements in speed, accuracy, and operational efficiency. It’s a game-changer.

For finance leaders, CFOs and accounting directors, this isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s an absolute strategic imperative. It’s about freeing their teams from the grind of reactive, manual tasks and empowering them to dive into high-value activities: advanced forecasting, bulletproof compliance, and genuinely driving growth. This technology, I truly believe, is the cornerstone for building the agile, data-driven finance department of the future. It’s what sets us apart.

Is autonomous finance the right objective for my business?

Determining if autonomous finance is the right objective for your business depends on several factors, but for most forward-thinking enterprises, the answer is a resounding yes. If your organization is burdened by manual processes in AP and invoicing, experiences frequent errors, struggles with data visibility, or finds it challenging to scale operations, then autonomous finance offers a clear path to resolution. 

It’s especially critical for businesses looking to enhance their competitive edge through superior efficiency, reduced operational costs, and real-time financial insights. 

By adopting an autonomous approach, companies can reallocate valuable human capital from repetitive tasks to strategic initiatives, foster better supplier relationships through faster payments, and significantly improve compliance and audit readiness. 

Ultimately, if you’re aiming for a future-proof finance department that drives growth rather than just processes transactions, autonomous finance is not just an objective, but a necessity.

✨ The implementation of QuickSight and Amazon Q has transformed how we deliver AI-powered analytics to our users.

Is Tradeshift’s AI-native AP Automation platform going to help me achieve autonomous finance? 

The short answer is yes, but if you are here for the details here is what I can tell you: 

At Tradeshift, we didn’t just bolt AI onto an existing system. We built our platform with AI in its DNA, and that makes all the difference.

• Ada, our AI coding engine, has helped pioneering customers automate up to 99.5% of their AP workflows. From day one, she’s been learning continuously from your data, usage patterns, and corrections. And in our Fall Release, an even more powerful version is on the way.
• AskAda, our embedded GenAI chatbot, gives users instant, conversational access to product information and onboarding support—no more long training cycles or ticket queues. Even better? It answers in any language—even Fijian. (Yes, someone actually tested that!)
• Our new AI-powered Reporting & Analytics App, built with Amazon QuickSight and Amazon Q, transforms real-time AP data into predictive, actionable intelligence. With Q, the conversational AI, you can ask questions in natural language, across multiple languages, and get instant insights.
• The document-level AI suggestions are powered by the latest model of Claude from Anthropic, which delivers highly accurate AI suggestions from the very first transaction. It captures quantities, pricing, tax details, and line-level PO matching with exceptional precision. This is a key enabler of our end-to-end automation and ensures data integrity at scale.

Together, these capabilities deliver outcomes, not just features:

• Invoice processing speed: Top-performing platforms process invoices in ~2.9 days versus ~13.5 days for others, an 79% improvement in speed.
• Straight through processing rates: Leaders achieve ~51% touchless invoice processing, 1.8× higher than the average ~29%.
• Supplier support efficiency: Best-in-class teams spend around 50% less time responding to supplier inquiries. One of the most common inquiries? “When will I get paid?” With our Payment Predictor for Sellers report, suppliers can forecast their expected payment dates. This brings transparency and strengthens trust.

This is what autonomous finance looks like in action. And Tradeshift is delivering it today.

Final thoughts: AI isn’t optional anymore

As I said earlier this year at Davos, AI is no longer a futuristic concept—it’s an urgent strategic imperative.

The organizations that thrive in this new era will be the ones that embrace autonomy not as a cost-cutting tool, but as a catalyst for agility, insight, and growth. They’ll rethink finance not as a back-office function, but as a strategic engine.

At Tradeshift, we’re proud to be building the infrastructure for that future.

And we’re just getting started.

Discover how Tradeshift uses AI to simplify e-invoicing and AP automation