Who's Bought What - July 09
British Energy selects OB10
British Energy announced that it has selected OB10 after identifying an immediate opportunity to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the payment process. The company already has good terms with its suppliers, but wished to improve the efficiency and cycle time of the process.
British Energy had evaluated EDI previously and understood that it is limited to suppliers that send very high volumes of invoices. It was therefore too costly for the number of suppliers that would be able to use it. As OB10 manages supplier enrolment and the OB10 solution enables organisations of all sizes to send invoices electronically, this was the ideal solution for British Energy.
Robert Gilhooly, business services manager (finance), British Energy said:
“We were looking to make our accounts payable department more efficient and improve invoice processing accuracy and efficiency. We were aware of OB10’s reputation and track record of supplier enrolment and feel that we will be able to achieve our objective of having a more efficient team. This in turn will allow us to bring additional services into our Shared Services group, without having to grow the size of the operation in the short term. We are already on very good terms with our suppliers, however e-Invoicing will allow us to pay our suppliers across the country more efficiently and therefore further strengthen our ties with them. Joining the OB10 network offers us a flexible solution which supports our suppliers, enabling suppliers of any size to benefit from e-Invoicing.”
He added “OB10 has a significant presence among our current supplier base and this was also a key factor in their selection. Using e-Invoicing will allow our Shared Service function as a whole to manage more work and add more value across the organisation.”
CORT Shared Services Selects Brainware to Automate Accounts Payable Processing
Furniture rental company CORT Business Services has signed up to the Brainware solution to help automate its accounts payable processing as part of an initiative to help capture early payment discounts, the solution provider has announced.
CORT, a Berkshire Hathaway company that provides rental furniture for offices and homes, has selected Brainware Distiller to help consolidate purchase invoice processing for over 60 distribution facilities across North America into a single shared services centre.
"Prior to Brainware, the accounts payable process at CORT has been entirely manual," said Debbie Lansford, CORT Business Services' CFO. "Invoices were sent to all of our individual locations for approval resulting in errors, delays and lack of visibility into our payment obligations."
As part of CORT's corporate strategy to streamline operations and target world class performance, they decided it was time to upgrade the AP process and make it more sophisticated.
"In today's business climate, every good CFO needs to find new ways to manage working capital and cash flow," said Lansford. "Brainware's technology is awesome, and will enable us to recognise significant early payment discounts while avoiding a lot of the errors associated with manual payment processing."
SITA Signs Basware to Improve P2P Processes
Basware will deliver Basware Connectivity services to SITA Northern Europe Waste Services in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The expected turnover of the deal is approximately €500.000 over a three-year-period. The service rollout will be completed at the end of 2010. Basware Connectivity is a new set of services which enable suppliers and buyers of all sizes and maturity to transact electronically.
"We launched Basware Connectivity services as a complete solution in 2009 and are pleased to see that the service is well-received on the markets. Basware Connectivity service allows companies to handle purchase to pay processes online and to achieve fast return on investment, "says CEO Ilkka Sihvo, Basware Corporation.
"We chose Basware Connectivity service to improve our P2P processes," says Serge Flantua, Director Shared Services.
The Basware Connectivity service offers various ways to deliver e-invoices and purchase messages between suppliers and buyers related to Basware Enterprise Purchase to Pay Solutions. E-invoices and purchase messages are delivered through Basware Business Transactions. Basware Scan and Capture solution converts all paper invoices into electronic format. Basware Supplier Portal offers the ability for suppliers to key-in invoices, handle purchase messages and catalogues. Basware Supplier Activation service enables suppliers to convert paper invoices into electronic invoices.
OB10 and Schneider Electric Demonstrate Real ROI Through e-Invoicing
E invoicing network OB10 and Schneider Electric, one of the world's leading suppliers of power, control and automation solutions, recently co-hosted the webinar on ‘Implementing e-Invoicing & Payment to Drive Out Costs & Improve Cash Flow Management’. The purpose of the webinar was to provide a real-world case study of how joining OB1O can facilitate organisational cost savings and improve cashflow management.
Jointly hosted by Pam Carper, Manager of Disbursements - Schneider Electric, North America and Thayer Stewart, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development - OB10, the webinar allowed Schneider Electric to describe their AP environment prior to joining OB10, those key drivers responsible for the change and the benefits experienced as a result.
"Before we made the switch to OB10, we were not unlike many other global organisations with highly manual AP processes and multiple legacy systems," said Carper. "With 90% of our 650,000 invoices being manually keyed and 10% being handled through EDI, Schneider Electric was set to migrate to SAP in 3 years in an effort to incorporate greater efficiency. Although we were committed to that timetable, we did not want to wait that long without continued optimization in AP."
Since joining the OB10 network, Schneider Electric has enrolled the majority of targeted suppliers, significantly reduced errors, reduced cycle times and increased straight through processing - resulting in realised savings of over $200,000 to date and $500,000 in anticipated savings over the next few years.
To achieve these objectives, Schneider considered several alternatives, including outsourcing a portion of their AP functions, increasing their EDI capability and implementing an OCR solution.
"We were sceptical of the performance of OCR and realised, after limited implementation in one of our regions, it may not fully live up to our expectations," said Carper. "EDI was not feasible as well, as we were only able to enroll 10 of our suppliers after several years."
"While doing our due diligence regarding OCR, we were introduced to electronic invoicing as another viable option," added Carper. "The more we considered it, the more it made sense because it worked with our legacy systems and didn't require hardware or software investments."
"OB10 offered Schneider a comprehensive package that included e-Invoicing, PO validation and PO flip," said Thayer Stewart. "In addition to the ability to receive invoices electronically from their suppliers, PO Validation ensures that the PO and PO line numbers are valid and open while PO Flip allows the lower volume Schneider suppliers to log into the OB10 web portal and quickly flip PO's into invoices, further reducing the chance for errors and increasing efficiency."
Carlsberg Drives Spend Management Success With Ariba
Ariba announced that it has signed an agreement with the Carlsberg Group, one of the leading brewing groups in the world. Under the terms of the deal, Carlsberg will leverage Ariba's on-demand offerings to lower its costs, streamline the efficiency of its procurement operations and position its business for growth.
'At Carlsberg, we are focused on increasing our earnings and expanding our business,' said Bengt Erlandsson, Vice President, Group Procurement, Carlsberg Group. 'Ariba provides us with access to technology and best-practice processes that will allow us to achieve our goals by better managing our supply chain and spend, reducing our costs and ultimately, improving our profits and competitive advantage.'
Carlsberg will use a combination of Ariba Sourcing 'On Demand and Ariba Contract Management' to drive a comprehensive spend management program aimed at consolidating spend across its operations, identifying opportunities for savings and driving them to the bottom line.
Jetro Cash & Carry and Restaurant Depot Sign Up to Transcepta E Invoicing
Transcepta today announced that Jetro Cash & Carry and Restaurant Depot selected the Transcepta electronic invoicing service to eliminate the costs and inefficiency driven by receiving paper invoices from suppliers.
Jetro / RD, the USA's leading wholesale cash and carry, serving grocery retailers and foodservice operators, wanted to improve on its existing paper based OCR process. Jetro / RD decided to position itself with a scalable approach to processing higher volumes of accounts payable invoices without adding overhead.
Previously, the company had attempted to convert suppliers to electronic invoicing using a typical EDI process. However, only a small percentage of suppliers were able to justify the costs and IT resource requirements necessary to participate. Jetro / RD researched a solution that would both maximise supplier adoption of e invoicing, to eliminate most of the paper, and leverage its existing EDI investments.
Transcepta was founded in 2005 with the goal of making electronic invoicing for Accounts Payable a reality, eliminating all paper invoices.
International Power and Gas Company Invests €200,000 in Solutions from ReadSoft
ReadSoft has received an additional order worth approximately €200,000 from a large European Power and Gas company. The order today, is an upgrade of the agreement signed already in 2004. The solution from ReadSoft will automate and optimise supplier invoice processing at the company's headquarters and will also integrate with the installed SAP system. The roll-out of the solution starts immediately
This European customer is one of the world's leading power and gas companies. The group employs around 93,500 world-wide and generated sales of €87 billion in 2008.
With the goal of making their accounts payable processes more efficient, this company decided to invest in ReadSoft's solutions already in 2004. The automated work process has proven very efficient and as their business keep growing the decision was made to expand the solution. With this latest addition the company now has an overall capacity to process 1.2 million invoices per year.
Albemarle & Bond Implement COA Solutions System
Albemarle & Bond, the largest pawnbroker in the UK, is implementing a financial management system with integrated cash flow forecasting, electronic procurement, business intelligence and document management and imaging functionality from COA Solutions. This new system will enable Albemarle & Bond to manage its cash more effectively, to support its future growth plans and aid financial and corporate decision making. The planned go-live for the COA Solutions system is Autumn 2009.
Stephen Wyeth, Financial Controller at Albemarle & Bond, says, “Our current financial system is outdated and restrictive and makes it difficult to extract information for management reporting. Its limited general ledger and lack of bank reconciliation also makes it difficult to maintain control of costs. After evaluating several software providers, we decided that COA Solutions’ system was the closest fit to our business and offered the advanced functionality we needed to support us as we continue to grow through acquisitions.”
With the new system in place, Albemarle & Bond will be able to produce management reports quickly and easily and will also have improved accessibility of financial information to aid decision making throughout the organisation. COA Solutions’ flexible cash flow forecasting module will also provide early detection of potential excess or cash shortfall to enable Albemarle & Bond to monitor its cash more effectively and maintain tight financial control.
Walki Group Powers Spend Management with Ariba
Ariba announced that Walki Group, a leading producer of protective packaging materials and technical laminates, will leverage its on-demand offerings to enhance its competitive advantage and fuel growth across its business. Under the terms of a new agreement, Walki will use Ariba® Sourcing™ On Demand to streamline its procurement process and drive rapid and sustainable savings across a wide range of goods and services.
“In the face of intense global competition, Walki remains focused on streamlining our operations so that we can continue to perform well in challenging, ever-changing economic conditions,” said Mikael Nováky, Vice President of Sourcing, Walki. “With Ariba’s on-demand spend management solutions, we have access to technology and best-practice processes that allow us to better manage our spend and reduce our costs so that we can achieve these goals.”
Delivered as a hosted solution, Ariba Sourcing On Demand requires no investments in hardware and can be quickly and cost-effectively implemented across locations and geographies.
