As hotels continue to operate with reduced staff, more and more pressure is being placed on departmental teams to find ways to operate more efficiently. To aid hotel accounting teams with streamlining invoice processing, Aptech, the industry standard for hospitality financial management, has partnered with Zaru, a company providing automated invoice processing solutions for hospitality businesses across North America. The integration partnership is enabling hotel accountants to receive critical invoice information accurately and efficiently while eliminating paper, removing manual data entry errors, and capturing cost savings.

"COVID-19 brought a massive shift in business operations and has forced hoteliers to re-evaluate their operational strategies," said Sunny Khamkar, Zaru CEO. "Invoice automation is a key driver in productivity for the hospitality sector by making AP processes streamlined and efficient as business resumes. Our mission is to unlock the power of invoice data to help hotels and restaurants make better decisions."

"We are thrilled to be Aptech's newest integration partner and are eager to introduce our technology for the first time to the hotel space and deliver exceptional value," Khamkar said.

Here's how it works: Hotel staff scan up to 100 invoices as a batch and upload the digital pdf via Aptech's PVNG enterprise accounting platform. Zaru then autorotates the images, filters out non invoices or order sheets, and merges the multi-page invoice documents back into PVNG within 24 hours. Critical invoice attributes and General Ledger (GL) codes are extracted from the scanned images and used to create the invoice entries in PVNG. Together, it automates the AP process while providing valuable insight into operations.

The Naples Bay Resort & Marina is the first hotel to benefit from the Aptech / Zaru integration. General Manager John Reilly said the invoice processing solution is worth the investment.

"It's all about efficiency," Reilly said. "We used to have a team of five accountants; now we have two. We needed a way to streamline the accounts payable process and remove a lot of the mundane data-entry tasks associated with invoice processing. Before Zaru, our accountants scanned invoices one by one and input the data from each into PVNG. Today, they can scan a mix of invoices, upload them as a group, and then move on to other pressing AP matters. Zaru inputs all invoice data directly into PVNG and the next day the invoice data is back into PVNG and ready for coding and payment.

"We couldn't be happier that Aptech partnered with Zaru," he said. "Now our accountants are optimizing their time more efficiently and getting more work done in less time."

Aptech Vice President Cam Troutman said he knew Zaru would be a great fit for PVNG from the onset.

"Zaru provides end-to-end processing for the AP department by enabling hoteliers to receive critical invoice information within 24 hours," Troutman said. "Prior to COVID-19, back-office teams were already tasked with improving the efficiency of their operations through automation and integration. When the pandemic hit, it created additional challenges for teams to operate remotely with reduced headcounts. Our partnership with Zaru creates a process that makes day to day AP tasks more efficient and lays the groundwork to allow for remote operations as we continue to deal with restrictions related to the pandemic.

"Like Zaru we value this partnership because it truly complement's the Accounts Payable module within PVNG," he said. "Today our enterprise accounting suite is stronger than ever before with Zaru creating the efficiencies and advantages our hotel customers need and demand."

For more information on Aptech, visit www.aptech-inc.com. For details on Zaru, visit www.zaruapp.com.

About Zaru

Founded in 2015, Zaru was built on providing automated invoice processing solutions for hospitality, restaurant and university clients across North America. Zaru's automated invoice processing solution enables clients to receive critical invoice information quickly, accurately and efficiently. Automating this process allows clients to eliminate paper, remove manual data entry errors and capture increased operational efficiencies and cost savings. Visit www.zaruapp.com to learn more.

About Aptech Computer Systems Inc.

Aptech Computer Systems, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only provider of a fully integrated enterprise accounting, business intelligence and planning ecosystem to the hospitality industry. All clients are companies like yours, which own or manage hotels. Its solutions help customers at both the corporate and property levels understand their financial and operational data for faster goal achievement. The company is renowned for introducing business intelligence into the hotel industry and offers a solid resource of hospitality professionals. Aptech is an IBM Software Value Plus partner and Premier Solution Provider, as well as a Prophix Premier Business Partner. Incorporated in 1970, Aptech's state-of-the-art back office, true business intelligence and enterprise planning solutions are 100% hotel specific. Solutions include PVNG, Execuvue® and Targetvue. Clients comprise over 3,500 properties – including large chains, multiple-property management companies and single-site hotels. Execuvue is registered to Aptech Computer Systems Inc. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders. For more information, please visit www.aptech-inc.com.