AP (accounts payable) automation platforms reduce manual work in the invoice-to-payment cycle: capturing invoices (email, scan, OCR), matching to purchase orders, routing for approval, and issuing payments. Major platforms include Tipalti, Stampli, Bill.com, AvidXchange, and MineralTree.
For customer portals, AP automation is what makes vendor portals work on the buyer side: when a vendor submits an invoice through the portal, AP automation routes it through approval and payment without human handoff. See Vendor Portal Software.