Webinar--Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your Accounts Payable Operations to the Cloud
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Are you tired of costly slowdowns in the invoicing approval process due to errors and other manual bottlenecks? Frustrated with the growing pile of invoices that are impossible to track? And the subsequent calls from vendors wondering why payments are late? Join Esker for this educational webinar to learn why 2014 is the year for accounts payable (AP) automation. Discover how a fully integrated, cloud-based automation solution can help your company: Greatly reduce the risk of late/duplicate payments Process vendor invoices up to 65% faster Lower purchase-to-pay costs up to 60% Oversee the entire AP process with 100% visibility Support global invoice processing needs
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Webinar--Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your Accounts Payable Operations to the Cloud
- 1. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE PAPER-FREE IN 2014: TAKING YOUR AP OPERATIONS TO THE CLOUD 2014/02/18 www.esker.com
- 2. INTRODUCTION – ABOUT THE SPEAKER Jon Seaman Inside Account Executive • Esker Jon Seaman joined Esker in May 2011. As Account Executive, he has responsibilities for developing business and assisting companies looking at automating Fax/Postal Mail, Accounts Receivables, Accounts Payable and Sales Orders. Prior to joining Esker, Jon worked in software sales and for an educational distributorship company, which sold many different software titles, including Adobe, Symantec and FileMaker. Jon has a bachelor’s degree from UW-Whitewater. Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 3. AGENDA About Esker Customer Success Story(Albemarle) Challenges of Manual Invoice Processing Accounts Payable Automation in the Cloud Solution Demonstration Additional Resources Q&A Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 4. ABOUT ESKER Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 5. ESKER OVERVIEW €40.3m in sales achieved in 2012 20m 300 business documents processed by month employees 28 years of field experience +11,000 Founded in 1985 active document management customers worldwide 1 4 OUT OF Esker employees dedicated to product development +160,000 SaaS users Listed on AlterNext Paris since 1997 Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud +4,500 SaaS Customers
- 6. WORLDWIDE PRESENCE USA France UK Asia Australia • • • • • Lyon, France – Headquarters Madison, WI, USA Derby, UK Munich, Germany Montreal, Canada • • • • • • Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud Madrid, Spain Milan, Italy Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sydney, Australia Singapore Brussels, Belgium Germany Spain Italy
- 7. ONE SOLUTION FOR ALL BUSINESS PROCESSES Automate Eliminate Unify Simplify any process as needed in multiple formats and through multiple channels. the need for various products or costly separate components. A web browser is all that is required. customer and supplier communications, and free up IT and CS departments. user adoption with a similar user interface for all processes. Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 8. CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY: ALBEMARLE® Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 9. CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY: ALBEMARLE Key Driver: – Mixed processes spanning the globe along with a need to move to a shared services model. Solution: – Cloud solution allowing for growth and worldwide usage. Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 10. RESULTS – ELECTRONIC INVOICING Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 11. RESULTS – HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY LEVELS Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 12. RESULTS – INCREASED SUPPLIER SATISFACTION Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 13. CHALLENGES OF MANUAL INVOICE PROCESSING Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 14. THE GREAT PAPER CHASE OF AP Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 15. WHO FEELS AP PAIN? CFO Buyer Vendor Invoice Cycle AP Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud Supplier CEO
- 16. 5 OBSTACLES PREVENTING AP SUCCESS Processing Delays Reduced Accuracy $ High Costs No Visibility Difficult Data Retrieval Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 17. WATCH THE FULL WEBINAR Click on the button below, and watch the full webinar on demand to discover how you can conquer the 5 Obstacles that Prevent AP Success with Accounts Payable Automation in the Cloud. Duration: 60 minutes Click here! Paper-Free in 2014: Taking Your AP Operations to the Cloud
- 18. www.esker.com
Editor's Notes
- Before I get into the solution, let me start off by highlighting an Esker case study who is utilizing the AP solution…Albemarle
- Albemarle is a leading global producer of polymer solutions, fine chemistry and catalysts. Albemarle’s products are used as additives to, or intermediates for, a wide range of products manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, cleaning product manufacturers, water treatment companies, electronic goods manufacturers, refineries, and paper and photographic companies.Headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA, Albemarle operates on a global scale, employing approximately 4,000 people and serving customers in approximately 100 countries.ChallengesAlbemarle’s global invoice processing largely took place at two shared service centers in Dalian and Budapest. These efforts were previously supported by an aging, four-line fax server. Manually processing approximately 13,000 invoices per month in multiple languages had a negative impact on visibility and productivity, and caused a number of other performance issuesDue to an antiquated fax system, state-of-the-art functional capability was also a challenge and was a requirement for any new Accounts Payable (AP) solution. Albemarle’s current fax server wasn’t equipped to be used on a worldwide scale, provide OCR, or create invoices in their ERP.SolutionAlbemarle initially considered a “quick fix” approach, consisting of replacing the existing fax system, but retaining the current process, as well as an outsourced solution where faxes would be delivered to an independent location. Albemarle looked into 4-5 different suppliers, but selected the Esker solution because it delivered the functionality they required at competitive pricing. So, let’s take a look at some of the results…
- Now let’s look at some of the benefits…Prior to Esker, Albemarle was processing 13,000 invoices per month – manually. Today, its electronic processing rate is at a time-saving and cost-reducing 90%.Utilizing Esker’s email invoicing capability has allowed Albemarle to reduce the number of paper invoices received by mail from 60% to 10%.-90% electronic processing rateUtilizing email capability has allowed Albemarle to reduce the number of paper invoices received by mail from 60% to 10%.
- Posting invoices in SAP with minimal intervention and 100% visibility has allowed Albemarle to go from an average of 60 invoice transactions per day per AP processor to 85 per day per processor. The top processor has reached as high as 200 invoices in a single day!-Higher productivity levels.Albemarle went from running an average of 60 invoice transactions per day per AP processor, to 85 per day per processor (the top processor has reached as high as 200 invoices in a single day).-Improved employee efficiency.With better visibility and fewer manual tasks, less employees are required to process the same amount of invoices.
- By reducing processing errors and ensuring timely payments, Albemarle has been able to provide a more consistent, responsive and favorable experience for its 8,500 suppliers globally.-Increased supplier satisfaction.With more time and resources available to dedicate to suppliers, satisfaction levels have improved, which has an effect on cost savings (e.g., ability to negotiate better pricing, etc.).-Electronic archiving and anytime-access.Esker helps with the electronic archiving of invoices for Albemarle’s 8,500 suppliers globally, freeing up offices and warehouses, and allowing Albemarle to easily access those invoices from the same platform.
- I’m going to review the steps that are taken during a typical inbound invoice process. The process I will describe is for a typical commercial invoice that was generated from a Purchase Order issued by the company. This process does change depending on the type of invoice you receive, and whether it was a PO or non-PO generated invoice — but for the sake of simplicity we’ll just focus on a typical PO invoice for now.In a basic AP process, the invoice arrives, in most cases through postalmail. Once the invoice is received, someone has to physically open the mail and determine where the payable needs to go, which may be through an approval process. Then someone has to key the invoice information into the ERP application so it can be paid. To make sure the goods were received, someone has to go back to the person who ordered to make sure they received the goods or services and were you satisfied with them. Manager approval may even be required if the invoice has not been approved for payment, or of it is over a certain dollar amount. Then in many cases, the invoice is archived, typically in a file cabinet. Many companies have entire rooms filled with filing cabinets storing paper invoices and related documents and a lot store older information in storage systems outside the company, which takes up a lot of space and can make retrieval very difficult.
- A manual vendor invoicing process doesn’t just make life a little harder for AP specialists, it affects a whole range of other roles within the company. Take a look at this chart.CFOs are looking at the bottom line, and seeing a waste of money on the entire process. The cost of a manual AP process is just too high. They’re looking at different ways to maximize ROI for the company, and when they see a non-revenue generating activity that is depleting fiscal resources for the company, they’re going to look really hard for something to reduce the cost impact of that activity. In this case, it’s AP.Buyers are affected by an inefficient, AP process because they cannot leverage cash discounts to lower supply costs (AP dept. could receive these if they were able to pay on purchases early). The AP department itself is affected … especially when trying to respond to inquiries from suppliers. Trying to track down a paper invoice that could be sitting in a file cabinet somewhere … or even in a file box in storage, is a waste of time and a waste of that AP personnel resource.The CEO is pretty much in the same boat as the CFO on this … they’re seeing the high capital and material costs and obviously want to alleviate the expense. It’s true that the AP dept. isn’t likely to be a revenue generator, but it shouldn’t be draining the company’s resources as much as it could be with a manual paper process.And finally the supplier — most businesses want to work with a company that pays its bills on time and correctly. If an invoice is lost and unpaid, that supplier suffers too.
- AP departments all share common objectives for achieving success. But when using manual methods to process and handle vendor invoices, the ability to achieve these goals is often hampered by five primary obstacles: Processing Delays:Manual slowdowns can lead to missed vendor discounts, late payment penalties and even strain supplier relationships. Reduced accuracy:Errors are common in manual processes and can be trouble when it comes to impacting working capital and compliance. High costs:Resolving processing errors not only decreases staff productivity, it ultimately drives up the average cost per invoice. No visibility:Lack of process visibility and control makes it harder to assess AP operations and develop strategies for improvement. Difficult data retrieval:From audits to vendor inquiries, finding information quickly can be difficult when invoices are stored and retrieved manually. Manual steps in AP processing (keying in, review, coding and approval) are not only expensive and inefficient, they can also put your company’s credit rating and regulatory compliance at risk. Even so, nearly 80% of all vendor invoice activity is still paper-based.
- Now I will open up the floor to questions out there: