Case Study: How We Automated Invoice Processing and Saved Our Client a Ton of Time
The Problem
Our client, a growing SMB, was drowning in invoices. Every week, their inbox filled up with PDF invoices from various vendors. And every week, someone had to go through them—open each email, extract the details, and manually enter everything into a Google Sheet. Not exactly the best use of time, right?
Here’s what they were dealing with:
- Manual Data Entry: Tedious and error-prone. One wrong keystroke, and suddenly, your books are off.
- Wasted Hours: The team was spending way too much time on this repetitive task instead of focusing on high-value activities.
- Disorganized Storage: Saving invoices manually to Google Drive? It worked, but it wasn’t exactly streamlined.
The Solution
We knew there was a better way, so we built them an automated invoice processing system using Make.com, with a little help from our AI friend, GPT-4.
Here’s how we did it:
- Gmail Integration: Invoices land in their Gmail inbox like usual. But now, instead of just sitting there, our automation grabs them as soon as they arrive.
- AI-Powered Parsing: GPT-4 steps in, pulls out all the critical details—who sent it, how much, and what it’s for—without missing a beat.
- Automatic Data Entry: The extracted data gets neatly placed into a Google Sheet. No more copy-pasting. No more errors.
- Secure Storage: The original invoice PDFs are automatically saved to Google Drive, safely tucked away in an organized folder structure.
The image below showcases the sample system we developed for them, leveraging Make, PDF.co, and OpenAI's GPT technology.
Why It’s a Game Changer?
Here’s why our client was thrilled: