Who's Bought What - August 09
Basware E Invoicing Functionality Expands
Basware recently announced two new additions to its Business Transactions e-invoicing service, enabling instantaneous e-invoicing between customers and suppliers to speed up supplier onboarding.
Senders can now mail invoices instantly to their customers by a) using their own email software or b) print their e-invoices by using a Basware-configured virtual printer. The Basware Business Transactions e-invoicing service is part of the Basware Connectivity offering that was launched in March this year, providing a new set of services which enable suppliers and buyers of all sizes to transact electronically.
Both the email and virtual printer services will allow senders to quickly respond to the increasing customer demand to supply e-invoices, without any installation needed, while tracking services notify them of discrepancies in delivery and allow them to track the invoice progress at all stages. The printing solution also offers full encryption to ensure data security. Both of the services are fully compliant with invoicing regulations such as digital signatures and work not only when sending to Basware but also when sending to customers connected to any of the service providers in Basware’s global interoperability network.
SITA Northern Europe Waste Services (NEWS), the Northern European arm of the global recycling and waste management company, has a clear strategy in driving their suppliers towards e-invoicing to reduce costs for both SITA and the suppliers. An existing Basware Business Transactions customer, SITA is now encouraging suppliers to use the new sending options available via the service. Strukton Worksphere, a Dutch provider of building-related technical systems and facility management, also has a similar strategy with their suppliers. Both companies are now offering their suppliers the new Basware services as ways in which to send invoices to them.
SITA NEWS Director of Financial Shared Services, Serge Flantua, says: “SITA NEWS is moving towards greater use of the Basware Business Transactions service with the aim of reducing receipt of paper invoices to a minimum in the next three years. At the end of 2009 we are aiming to receive 25% of invoices through Basware’s e-invoicing service, whether that is directly through true xml-invoices, PDF conversion or supplier self service upload through the Basware Supplier Portal.”
Strukton Worksphere, which already receives 40% of its invoices electronically, is aiming for a similar goal. By using Basware’s new services, Strukton is targeting a 70% total e-invoice volume after one year of using the service.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s Purchase to Pay Operation Sign Version One
Pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has recently contracted with Version One to implement its document management and imaging systems. Improved efficiency, cost savings and enhanced supplier relationships are some of the key benefits Boehringer Ingelheim is experiencing as a result of implementing Version One’s systems.
Juliet Cherry, Treasury Manager from Boehringer Ingelheim, says, “We were using suboptimal and disconnected systems which proved restrictive. We recognised that we needed a more reliable and integrated document management system to streamline our purchase-to-pay processes.”
To solve its P2P issues, Boehringer Ingelheim implemented a document management and imaging system from Version One comprising modules for electronic form design, cheque printing, automated electronic delivery, document storage and automated data capture. All these solutions are tightly integrated into the company’s Proactis purchasing and BPCS accounting systems.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s incoming and outgoing business documents, including purchase invoices, purchase orders, statements, remittance advices and supplier details are now electronically stored. Paper documents arriving into the organisation are now scanned-in prior to processing. Once imaged, the documents are indexed and automatically tagged to the appropriate records in the accounting system. Users wishing to locate a particular document can do so quickly and easily by drilling-down through the accounting system.
Cherry comments, “Since implementing Version One’s document management, our purchase invoice processes have become significantly more efficient and cost effective. Suppliers now have 24 hour online access to imaged documents, such as purchase orders and remittance advices. As a result, the number of queries we now receive has decreased and we can pay suppliers in a more timely manner.”
Cherry continues, “In addition, as we are no longer printing, posting and duplicating documents, we have made considerable savings of time and money. We have also freed-up an entire room that was previously used for storing paper, can now retrieve copies of documents instantly from the desktop and are confident that they are being efficiently stored.”
Further time savings have been achieved by reducing administrative time spent manually entering data from purchase invoices and credit notes. Version One’s automated data capture solution, DbCapture, which uses the latest optical character recognition (OCR) technology, automatically recognises, verifies and extracts the relevant data from incoming documents. This data can then be uploaded to the core financial system, reducing manual data entry by up to 80%.
Chemicals Co Lanxess Joins Elemica
Elemica, the supply chain execution network in the chemicals industry has recently announced that Lanxess, a global leader in specialty chemicals, has streamilined its purchase to pay processes to hundreds of suppliers via the Elemica Business Process Network. Lanxess and its suppliers will benefit from touchless orders, a boost in productivity, reduction in errors, and lower cost of doing business.
Historically Lanxess has received transactions from suppliers via a myriad of feeds. Switching to Elemica, Lanxess has had the benefit of consolidating the receipt of electronic transactions.
BPO MailSource UK Selects Kofax
Kofax recently announced it has been awarded a contract to provide a distributed capture solution to MailSource UK, a leading BPO provider of mailroom and document management solutions that is part of the Document Solutions Group at Swiss Post. The value of the contract to Kofax is more than $1.3 million.
MailSource UK will implement Kofax software to support a number of customers, including a major financial services company, to capture, classify, extract and deliver data from incoming mail composed of both structured and unstructured documents and forms. The Kofax software will be deployed across a number of European countries, all linked to one of Swiss Post’s data centers, from which the resulting images and data will then be delivered in a standardised format to customer workflow systems and repositories.
This reduces manual processing, decreases operating costs, increases data accuracy and productivity and improves profitability for MailSource UK. It also enables the BPO firm to efficiently and cost-effectively meet service level agreements that specify the delivery of images and data within hours of their receipt.
“BPO providers serving document-centric industries need solutions to handle complex distributed environments and rigorous client service level requirements quickly, efficiently, accurately and securely, and Kofax delivers on all counts,” said Alan Kerr, Executive Vice President of Field Operations at Kofax. “Manual processing of high-volume, mission-critical documents emanating from multiple locations is costly, time-consuming and prone to error. Automating this processing increases productivity, generates significant cost savings and accelerates ROI for BPO firms like MailSource UK and their customers.”
Proactis Rated "Excellent" in Gartner E Procurement Report
The spend Control and e procurement software company Proactis have been rated as “excellent” in a recent Gartner report in terms of product viability against 14 of the world’s best-of-breed eProcurement vendors.
In the “Critical Capabilities for Best-of-Breed E-Procurement Vendors” report, industry analysts Gartner assessed the most common capabilities required by clients in an eProcurement system: Proactis scored 4 out of 5 or higher on 9 of the critical product capabilities and was awarded a rating of the full 5 out of 5 in the areas of Internal Store Support and Basic Purchasing Functionality.
With the increase in demand for eProcurement solutions, this timely report provides a valuable tool for companies looking to control and streamline their indirect spend. They can use Gartner’s assessment of the world’s 14 best-of-breed vendors to evaluate and shortlist appropriate solutions for their organisation.
To access a complimentary copy of the Gartner report, visit www.proactis.com/gartner
ETA Ascon Star Group Saves $4.9 million dollars with Ariba
ETA Ascon Star Group Loading, a Dubai-based diversified company, have realised savings in the region of $4.9 million dollars through the use of the Ariba solution.
An early adopter of Ariba® Sourcing™ On-Demand, ETA has successfully leveraged the solution to standardise its sourcing process, aggregate its spend and deliver fast, measurable results by sourcing more than $55 million dollars in spend in various categories.
Based on its success with Ariba Sourcing, ETA has entered into a separate agreement through its group company Star Portal LLC to become Ariba's partner to sell Ariba® Spend Management™ solutions within the Middle East.
"The current state of the global economy has pushed every organization to take a close look at their spend and take action to effectively control it," said Ravindra Sharma, General Manager & Group Director, Middle East & India, Ariba. "ETA recognized early on that spend management was the fastest, most efficient way to do this and by implementing Ariba's on-demand solutions has been quickly able to deliver results that are not only measurable, but sustainable over the long haul."
UK Construction Company Implements Version One
A leading UK producer of crushed aggregate, ready mixed concrete and coated materials has recently implemented Version One’s electronic document imaging system.
Hillhouse Quarry wanted a solution which would integrate tightly with its Access Dimensions accounting system. The solution is being used to electronically store proof of deliveries (PODs), speeding-up cash collection and improving cash flow.
Charles Toyn, Accountant from Hillhouse Quarry, says, “With the economic climate as it is, our construction customers are taking even more time to pay us and so if we can’t provide them with signed delivery notes when requested, there’s little hope we’ll ever receive payment. This is why it is so important to be able to efficiently produce a delivery note alongside all sales invoices and have all PODs securely stored and easily accessible.”
Before Version One, Hillhouse Quarry used to manually file and retrieve all signed delivery notes and in the event of having to provide a copy POD, it would have to be located by hand, photocopied and then posted to the customer. This was time-consuming, prone to lost PODs and inefficient especially when a delivery note needed retrieving from Hillhouse’s secondary archive consisting of damp boxes in a derelict building.
Toyn says, “We identified the need for a reliable and fully-integrated document imaging solution that could provide quick and easy desktop access to PODs. This would speed-up the resolution of customer queries and put an end to lost PODs, thereby speeding-up our cash collection processes. After scouring the market, it was apparent that Version One was not only capable of delivering the functionality we required but was also proven to integrate into Access Dimensions.”
Using Version One’s software, up to 6,000 PODs each month are scanned, tagged to the appropriate record in Hillhouse Quarry’s Access finance system and electronically stored. Authorised staff can now instantly view the imaged PODs either by drilling down through Access Dimensions or via Version One’s web browser. These PODs can then be emailed to customers, resolving queries within minutes.
Toyn comments, “Using Version One, we are now billing more efficiently and collecting money faster than ever before which is particularly important when dealing with customers that are financially insecure. We have also improved cash flow, are freeing-up document storage space and by resolving queries in a timelier manner, our customer service levels have also been improved.”
Hillhouse Quarry will soon be electronically storing all its sales invoices to further improve cash collection efficiency and is also looking at implementing Version One’s automated invoice processing system, DbCapture, to speed-up the capture of purchase invoice information, streamlining its purchase-to-pay process. This system uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to automatically capture data from imaged invoices, reducing manual data entry by up to 90%.
