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API OUTSOURCING COMPLETES NATIONWIDE STAFFING SURVEY

St. Paul, MN, June 1, 2005 – API Outsourcing, Inc., a business transformation outsourcing company focusing on billing and accounts payable process automation within the staffing sector, announced the completion of a survey regarding billing needs in the staffing industry. CEOs, CFOs, Vice Presidents and Directors gave their opinions on billing issues, future automation goals and the business implications from outsourcing. Some of the results of the survey include the following.

Cost to Generate an Invoice

Over 69% of respondents believed the cost to process an invoice is under $5. Industry wide cost studies, on the other hand, calculate this expense to be in the range of $6.98 to $23.62 when factoring total costs including creating and presenting the invoice, resolving disputes, applying payment and adding in receivable carrying costs. This disparity suggests that senior management may under-appreciate the full financial impact the billing process may have on their financial results. Additionally, this situation may make it difficult for these senior staffing managers to recognize and take advantage of the significant cost benefits that can be achieved through billing automation.

Areas Offering Significant Improvement

Automation and process improvement were indicated to be important priorities. In examining enhancements required in their billing processes, 42% of the respondents ranked improving imaging/data capture of timecards as their top improvement for the year, followed by cash application and payment reconciliation. Discrepancy resolution was listed as the next most important priority to address in the upcoming year.

Outsourcing Barriers

Of participants that did not currently outsource, concern regarding loss of control and the perception that it was too expensive, were the main reasons to not outsource (39% each). Interestingly, other recent surveys have identified loss of control as a top reason why senior executives did not outsource despite findings by Accenture that 87% who outsourced a finance function reported that the change had actually improved or had no adverse impact on the quality of governance and compliance in their companies.

As far as outsourcing being perceived as too expensive, since companies may not realize the true cost of processing a bill, outsourcing expenses can seem initially high. Typically when outsourcing the billing function, a savings of 30-60% of the existing processing costs can be achieved.

36% of survey respondents who did not outsource were uncertain of the advantages from outsourcing. This indicates that while organizations are currently spending more than $6 trillion dollars globally on outsourcing, the benefits of outsourcing the billing function within the U.S. staffing industry are not well recognized.

Findings from Companies that Do Currently Outsource

Of those who outsourced processes, the top reason those companies chose their outsourcing provider (36%) was because of the provider's ability to offer transformational service. Success with their outsourcing partner was measured most often by their flawless execution of services (38%), followed by cost savings (29%) as the most important factor. This research suggests that companies are looking for strategic partners versus outsourcing vendors that offer tactical solutions. Moreover, although cost is an important factor, quality of service still ranks number one.

If you would like to receive the survey results summary, email sales@apioutsourcing.com, or give us a call at (651) 675-2631.

About API Outsourcing, Inc.

API Outsourcing, Inc. (API) is a leading provider of state-of-the-art billing and accounts payable automation solutions. Headquartered in St. Paul, MN, outsourcing services are delivered through onshore production facilities located in Minnesota and Wisconsin. API delivers services to transform clients' manual paper-dependent billing and accounts payable processes into innovative automated processes. The company currently manages over 250 million transactions for clients annually. Clients benefit from the significant increase in process efficiency, profitability and financial control. API is a Six Sigma service provider. Please visit www.apioutsourcing.com or call 651.675.2600 to learn more about the business benefits being delivered to clients.

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