The Accounts Payable Tech Summit

December 6th-8th 2011

Making sense of today's accounts payable technologies by witnessing real end-user stories and experiences

Have you wanted to touch and feel technologies before you move into abuying-cycle?

Now’s your chance.

By attending the Accounts Payable Tech Summit, you will gain practical ideas for implementing the latest, smartest and most suitable technologies to get the fastest ROI. Join us in London to learn how to:

1. Lower cost per invoice

2. Control of the flow of financial data

3. Reduce supplier enquiries

4. Optimise working capital 

5. Increase productivity (i.e. invoices per FTE)

This year’s end user presentations will share their business cases, tips on implementation, baseline and finishline data showing the results derived from these technologies and the key lessons learnt.

Check the full agenda now

Our speakers will also build demos into their agendas to give you a close-up view 

STREAM A: Vendor master data and coding

11.00   Interactive discussion: Dealing with the root of your problems: what tools are available to optimise your master vendor data management?

Problems with your global vendor master data can grind your purchase-to-pay process to a halt. In this interactive session, one company discusses how to centralise management of your vendor master data, control unnecessary modifications and handle issues from business units around the world.

The audience will break into roundtable discussions to share tips for managing master vendor data.

STREAM A: Data Capture

11.30  Solving the paper jigsaw: how to manage your key AP documents effortlessly across multiple countries
You have thousands of documents to send to the right person out of thousands of staff across many different countries. Using a manual approach to get all signatures required for an invoice to get paid or an expense approved and reimbursed is a logistical nightmare.

In this session, Jurgen van Eetvelde shares how USG has implemented the Arco registration and payments system across 20 legal entities (with just 6 AP staff) to eliminate this hassle so you can:

• Read different types of invoices with advanced recognition technology
• Set up a complex authorisation matrix to ensure your invoices are paid on time
• Integrate invoice handling, approval and payment with your staff expense reporting and reimbursements

	Jurgen Van Eetvelde Manager Finance & Transactions USG PEOPLE

 
STREAM A: Automatching

12.00  Goodbye manual handling, hello smart automation: transforming the accuracy of your invoice processing
Not only is manual processing costly, but it is also slow, inaccurate and consumes your valuable staff ’s time! How can you transition quickly towards an automated approach? In this session, Carolyn Bywater shares how Kelda implemented an advanced data capture solution from Kofax with a customised SAP solution for workflow. Having significantly automated its process, Carolyn will reveal how to:

• Gain a true understanding of your accounts payable process
• Handle resistance to change to move from 20 years of manual processing to an automated approach
• Free up time so your AP can focus on controls and risk

	Carolyn Bywater Finance Centre Manager KELDA

STREAM B: Technology demos

11.00  Demo 1: End-to-end automation suites

Ian Ronayne, Ariba

11.30  Demo 2: e-Invoicing

12.00  Demo 3: Data Capture and workflow
 

Dan Young, Kofax

STREAM A: Automatching

14.00  Don’t let your AP staff turn into robots - using a 100+ line-level matching and exception handling tool to keep them human!
You have a high number of POs and invoices that need matching and want to simplify your manual process. What technologies can you use to automate checks for line items matching and how can anomalies be highlighted to speed up exception handling? In this session, Carol Griffiths shares how Stena Line implemented the PaletteInvoice web-based solution to solve this matching and exception handling challenge, touching on how to:

• Set matching tolerance levels and achieve almost 90% first time match rates
• Significantly speed up your exception handling and free up your admin staff when dealing with hundreds of line items
• Halve the time taken to process unapproved, aged invoices and tighten your control on authorisations

	Carol Griffiths Internal Control Coordinator STENA LINE

14.30  Stepping into the ‘Invoice Cockpit’
Imagine if your invoices fell into an invoice cockpit, and were automatched at line level and posted into SAP touchlessly. This is the reality of invoice processing at Pentland Brands. How did it implement the ReadSoft invoice cockpit solution so quickly into its business divisions? This session will explain how:

• An invoice cockpit works and what it looks like
• To reduce your cost per invoice, improve payments on time and track transactions for greater control
• To speed up implementation and get even greater ROI from your invoice cockpit

	Simon Swain Transaction Services Manager PENTLAND BRANDS

STREAM A: Workflow solutions

15.00  Global automation domination: how do you roll out one workflow solution across 20 countries?
Implementing a new workflow solution in an existing system environment and integrated with a scanning solution can be extremely complex. If you’re also going live in 20 countries while simultaneously centralising to a shared service operation your project just got a whole lot more challenging! In this session, Urs Jraeffker will share how IKEA:

• Implemented the Basware solution for workflow and integrated this with a scanning solution across five countries
• Centralised transactional work simultaneously in Poland and China
• Is overcoming resistance to change with its current roll out across 20 countries

	Urs Graeffker Project Manager IKEA

STREAM B: Technology demos

14.00  Demo 4: Cloud computing

14.30  Demo 5: Automatching

15.00  Demo 6: EDI
 

15.30  Afternoon Refreshments

STREAM A: e-Invoicing and EDI

16.00  How EADS is achieving 95% automation of 2.5 million AP invoices with a new flexible EDI format
Imagine this: you have to handle over 2.5 million invoices with over 22 different versions of SAP, with multiple companies across several countries. In this session, Bob McCartney will share how EADS is using b-process’s EDI+ solution along with classical EDI and Brainware’s Intelligent Data Capture technology to reduce manual processing from 30% to just 5%.
He will cover :

• How to implement EDI+ technology across so many backend versions of SAP
• How to onboard your diverse range of suppliers to your touchless processing strategy and decide which technology is best for you both
• Changing the role of your AP staff from purely transactional work to business partnering: what does this look like in practice?

	Bob McCartney Head of Accounts Payable EADS

16.30  Cut your paper towers in half! How to convert 50% of your AP invoices to electronic
Starting an e-invoicing programme is certainly not an easy ride, especially when implementing the technology across multiple countries. Obstacles such as local supplier considerations, crossborder issues, VAT legislation and formalities around invoices all need to be addressed to speed up your journey.

In this session, Trond Lindløkken will share how Elkjop conver ted 50% of its 550,000 AP invoices using the OB10 network, including:

• How to overcome internal resistance and involve your procurement teams
• Smart supplier onboarding strategies that make leaps in your electronic conversions
• Ways to ensure your invoices are all legally compliant

	Trond Lindløkken Finance Systems Manager ELKJOP

STREAM A: e-Invoicing and EDI

17.00  How can you use free e-invoicing for your suppliers to realise a speedy ROI for you?
So you are looking to lessen the burden of handling invoices, reduce your transactional costs and improve supplier relationships with e-invoicing? In the current financial climate, most companies are looking for a quicker ROI than ever when investing in e-invoicing. One way to achieve this is to have a new way to onboard your suppliers. In this session, Nick Wood shares how the Tradeshift solution is helping Anglia Support Partnership:

• Onboard 70% of suppliers with a winning ‘free e-invoicing for suppliers’ business case
• Target smaller suppliers who need more validation
• Significantly reduce the cost-per-transaction in AP

	Nick Wood Corporate Director NHS ANGLIA SUPPORT PARTNERSHIP (ASP)

	Jacqui Goulbourn Financial Services Business Manager  NHS ANGLIA SUPPORT PARTNERSHIP (ASP)

STREAM B: Oracle ERP solutions

16.00  Want true collaboration between procurement, accounts payable and IT? Stop silos with ERP-based invoice handling technology
Around three years ago, ICAP operated its purchase-to-pay process with a disjointed approach, and little communication between finance and procurement. After setting up its Oracle system for three-way match, electronic supply requests, supplier creation, electronic approval of expenses and POs and workflow, its invoice processing transformed, as did its functional integration.

Mark McGuire explains how to:

• Attain your business’ buy-in when preaching to departments not fussed about the relevance of controls
• Speed up your invoice-handling process adding levels of control, stripping out manual inter ventions and minimising maintenance
• Move from functional silos to an end-to-end P2P process – who takes ownership and why?

	Mark McGuire Transactional Operational Manager ICAP

16.30  Workflow magic – how to take the pain out of approval
Handling exceptions manually can be a painful and slow process. But fear not! Workflow solutions can really free up your AP staff ’s time to focus on more value-adding activities. But implementing them can be complex. So what are the rules to getting this set up intelligently? In this session Celia Matthews-Prescod will share insight on:

• How Ealing Council identified the rules it needed and then implemented them
• Communicating local considerations and overcoming resistance to change
• Linking other technologies, such as automatching, to your workflow and defining new value-adding responsibilities for your AP team

	Celia Matthews-Prescod Procure to Pay Manager EALING LONDON BOROUGH COUNCIL

17.00  Need an e-invoicing provider? Just use your ERP system!
Lots of people consider going to a third-party provider to adopt e-invoicing. But what about using your existing ERP system to do this? Qantas went live with e-invoicing using its existing Oracle platform and in a matter of months has already converted 66% of invoices in scope for e-invoicing to electronic (around 12,000 e-invoices permonth). In this session, David Hunter reveals:

• The huge communication piece between his three main stakeholders when migrating to e-invoicing with 3,700 suppliers
• Plans for a global e-invoicing roll-out and what to bear in mind
• Key results including halving mail volumes, reducing FTEs and tightening controls of the payments process

	David Hunter Payment Services Manager QANTAS

STREAM A: Audit recovery

11.00  A P-card programme that you can be in complete control of? Really?
Processing invoices can be costly, so why not eliminate them? One strategy is to use P-cards for supplier payments, but there is a perception that giving your staff these cards is ‘dangerous’ and spend may get out of control. Leeds City Council will have moved a significant number of invoice payments to its P-card programme by the end of 2011.
Christopher Penn shares how it is making its P-card programme a success:

• How to set central approval roles and maintain firm control of your spend
• User training and overcoming resistance to new technology and ways of working
• Additional ways to utilise your P-cards and strip out further invoices including single-use cards and punchout technology

	Christopher Penn Head of Central Payments LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

11.45  Let your suppliers do the work: how to set up ERS/self-billing with your most suitable suppliers
One way to increase the efficiency in the payables process is to reduce the manual data entry of invoices. Self-billing or ERS is a strategy you can use to achieve this, but it can only be implemented with certain suppliers and in the right way. So how do you know which suppliers are the best candidates and how do you make it work?

• Selecting and analysing payables metrics to find suitable vendor candidates for ERS
• Drawing up a matrix of roles and responsibilities – how exactly is procurement involved in your strategy?
• What key lessons have Exxon Mobil learnt after over a decade of using ERS?

	Leonardo Pucciatti Payables Project Manager EXXON MOBIL

STREAM B: Low volume suppliers

11.00  Stop throwing away your money! How to avoid duplicate payments without expensive audits
The Institute of Internal Auditors has found that duplicate payments make up 0.5% of annual invoice payments. So if your organisation spends £50 million annually then it is likely you are losing £250,000 or more each year. How do you continuously check for duplicate payments to claim back previous ones and also prevent future errors?

• Examining the business case for implementing duplicate payment checking solutions
• How to implement the technology and what results have been achieved so far?
• Essex County Council reveals its unanticipated benefits from using a payment checking solution and its plans for next year

	Nicole Edbrooke Head of Purchase to Pay ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

11.45  How to ratchet up your DPO with effective reverse factoring agreements
Some suppliers just don’t give an option to extend their payment terms, so a sure-fire way to increase your days payable outstanding (DPO) is to set up reverse factoring agreements. But selling the idea to the right suppliers and coordinating this with your bank can be a challenge. Hear how Nestlé is transforming its DPO with reverse factoring by:            

• Engaging with purchasing to identify and communicate with the right suppliers
• Selling the reverse factoring idea
• Working with the bank
• Understanding what training you need

	Vicky Lister Accounts Payable Manager NESTLE EU

STREAM A: e-ERS / Self-billing

14.45  Interactive discussion: Does invoice automation apply for one-time-only vendors (OTOVs)?
Some vendors can be particularly difficult to integrate into your grand invoice automation plan. For small and one time-only vendors, such as freelancers, what strategies are companies using to deal with this tail-end of suppliers?

• Examining the tools on the market that can handle OTOVs
• What can your procurement function do to help?
• What do you do? Share ideas with your peers in our roundtable discussions

	Facilitated by  Nicole Edbrooke Head of Purchase to Pay ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

15.30  Afternoon tea
 

16.00  Is 100% touchless processing possible? Perhaps an outsourced scanning bureau can help…
Most companies lack the in-house capabilities to carry out line-item scanning, which can allow 100% match rates between invoices and purchase orders (POs). In this session, Alber t Buijze shares how ASML implemented Logica’s scanning capabilities with AFI’s technology to achieve 95% (world class) payments on time, significant reductions in cost per invoice and the ability to move to 100% touchless processing by end of 2012. Attend this to hear:

• How to communicate with your vendors when moving invoices to a scanning centre
• Ways to control and integrate your outsourced scanning with SAP
• Tips on how to move to completely touchless accountspayable processing

	Albert Buijze AP Manager EMEA and US ASML

STREAM B: Travel and entertainment expenses reporting

14.45  How can you keep travel and entertainment expenses under control?
Keeping track of all your company’s expenses manually is not really a viable option today as firms are running on an increasingly global basis. With a need for tight controls and visibility on T&E spend coupled with moving towards a paperless office, what are the options available? In this session, one company shares:

• The business case for your T&E solution and how to choose the right provider for you
• How to set up the controls you need to make your T&E solution really work
• Overcoming implementation challenges and training issues for you to consider

16.00  How can suppliers answer their own queries?
Enhancing invoice-process visibility with supplier portals Vendor portals can provide a new level of visibility so you can see where every invoice is in your process. They are a collaboration tool between your internal P2P stakeholders and your vendors and can significantly reduce your transaction costs. In this session, one company will share valuable lessons around:

• The complex scenarios and security issues to consider
• Improving your payments on time and opening opportunities to use early payment discount schemes
• How to target vendors when rolling out your vendor portal globally

Package

Preview prices

Registered & paid by
23 Sept 11

Preview prices

Registered & paid by
21 Oct 11

Preview prices

Registered & paid by
11 Nov 11

Standard prices

Premium Plus Conference + 3 Learning Labs

£1796 + VAT
Save £800

Premium Conference + 2 Learning Labs

Standard Plus Conference + 1 Learning Lab

Standard Conference Only

Bring your team! sharedserviceslink.com understands the value of team knowledge sharing. Groups booking at the same time from the same company receive the following discounts (discounts apply to the full price only and cannot be applied retrospectively). Only one discount is applicable per non-member. In order to qualify for the early bird discounts, bookings must be received with payment before stated date. UK VAT is charged at 20% - (Events held outside the UK - France VAT is 19.6%). We do not combine discounts but we will honour the discount that is better for you.

To make a group booking call +44 (0)20 3176 2623

Bring your team!

Teams of 2 10% discount
Teams of 3 15% discount
Teams of 4 20% discount
Teams of 5 25% discount
Teams of 6 30% discount
Teams of 7 35% discount
Teams of 8 40% discount

Satisfaction Guarantee At sharedserviceslink.com

We are absolutely confident that you will receive value for money. To give this belief credence we are offering a money-back guarantee if you feel you have not experienced value for money from attending our events. There is no catch. To qualify for this you need to ensure you liaise with Susie West directly before the end of the conference, and that you attend all conference sessions over the two days. Learning Labs are not included in this guarantee. All refunds will deduct a 10% administration fee.