A cloud with silver linings for local government finance

Local authorities face an enormous challenge to balance budgets while trying to avoid cutting services or raising charges. With central government support to single tier and county councils (STCCs) falling by 12% and district councils (DCs) by 16%, the Audit Commission has issued recommendations to local authorities to review their financial planning and management arrangements accordingly.

One way spending can be reduced with a minimal impact on the service user is by improving efficiencies.

To better understand local authority efficiency, ReadSoft recently compared financial teams to the number of invoices processed within 285 UK STCCs and DCs. This data was used to gauge how local authorities rank against a standard corporate benchmark where a top performer would exhibit a cost per invoice of less than 79p, and a non-top performer would show costs of greater than £2.41 per invoice processed.

The research indicated the important role the finance department plays in the annual operations of these STCCs and DCs, with more than 21 million invoices being processed per year.  But on average UK local government is still spending £2.61 per processed invoice above the industry benchmark cost.

Invoice processing represents the major function for ensuring successful cash flow within authorities and should be viewed as critical for accurate and meaningful budgetary decision making. Unfortunately the data suggests that only a small number of authorities demonstrate high levels of efficiency. Only 7.4% of local authorities actually achieve cost per invoice at sub 79p. The UK’s 404 STCCs and GCs process an estimated 30.6 million invoices, and with the application of improved efficiency within the invoice processing function alone would represent a total potential reduction in costs of close to £80m which need not be cut from frontline public services.

Faced with tightened budget, local authorities need to consider how to adopt technology to help drive these efficiencies without the capital expenditure. For once, the timing could not be better, as local authorities have the chance to deploy cloud computing based variants of invoice and document processing with low to no cost set up. These fully scalable opex offerings represent a real world alternative for STCCs and DCs struggling with traditional, costly manual invoice management.

ReadSoft Online is a cloud-based AP automation service. With all invoices immediately made available on the internet, straight-through processing can help local government to minimise manual work and improve cash-flow. With ReadSoft automation in place, not only will local authorities see immediate savings, but there are considerable implications for the AP staff. At a time when frontline services are massively threatened, drawing council staff from other, more forward looking service delivery activities to support AP drudgery is simply unacceptable.

Click to watch a short video explaining how ReadSoft Online can enhance government and local council invoice processing in the cloud.

What’s happening with shared service centres?

At the moment, Shared Services tend largely to achieve cost-reduction by pooling resources and by locating in areas where labour is cheap.  But there are a number of stumbling blocks that can make a Shared Service Centre (SSC) solution slower and more expensive than the original process. Organisations considering an SSC approach for their business need to ready themselves for an evolutionary process of modifications, defined by metrics and targets based upon today’s performance levels when compared against industry benchmarks.

They need sound strategies regarding the setting-up, development and expansion of their processes, with an emphasis on cost and volume, which may include securing process outsourcing capabilities, efforts to reduce errors, education of  staff  and process standardisation. These are all factors that suggest process automation as a positive measure, and yet this is one area where we see SSCs failing to fully reap the benefits of the latest technology.

More than 8,500 enterprises around the globe automate financial document processes, such as data entry, document classification, information matching against ERP systems, document work­flows and more with ReadSoft to achieve faster and less expensive document processing. Time Warner Cable, is one company that engaged with ReadSoft to update its internal operations and streamline its accounts payable function, making our automated AP solution part of its centralised AP processing. Read more about Time Warner Cable’s experiences setting up its SSC.

Equip yourself for future growth – Flexibility and scalability

View the free on-demand webinar below about how Shared Service Centres are achieving best in class performance.

Click here or on the image above to view the webinar.

Taking the complexity and costs out of e-invoicing

As more companies move to adopt e-invoicing they often discover the complexity of invoice types and formats that they receive can not only be a hindrance, but have considerable cost implications, particularly for companies receiving large volumes of e-invoices in XML format. Despite this, XML is attractive because exceptions are highly uncommon, making straight-through processing a reality.

The XML message format for e-invoices has been used since the inception of XML in 1998, with standards in place since 2001, and yet companies receiving XML invoices still run into limitations and problems when attempting to connect to an EDI to enable XML invoice automation. Common issues include all invoices in one message must be from the same supplier and supplier site; custom code conversions must be defined as part of trading partner setup; invoices in one message are limited to one organisation and tax groups may not  be supported. Also, suppliers need to generate XML invoices that comply with the relevant standards to ensure that these invoices can be received through the EDI and then processed.

As a result companies receiving XML invoices typically spend a large amount of money setting up and maintaining XML invoice automation. The cost to start up is estimated to be around £150-£200 for each supplier and may include monthly charges and/or volume-based fees.

Based on ReadSoft’s experience, for every 1,000 invoices there are approximately 200 suppliers in a typical mid-sized company, so outlay can quickly climb from £40k to more than a £1 million in a larger organisation.

In response ReadSoft has developed a more efficient and cost effective way to process complex XML invoices with multi-channel capture. Enabled for all important financial documents, ReadSoft can fully integrate straight-through processing within organisations’ existing systems. The new capabilities included in INVOICES 5-7 will help businesses achieve greater automation rates and make it even easier to adopt e-invoicing.

All e-invoices (image, PDF, and XML) are processed in the same way as paper invoices, scanned, digitized, and data automatically extracted. Attachments are processed to separate invoices within a document or sort out junk emails; critical invoice data and line-item details are quickly and accurately extracted; while first-time suppliers are identified from master data. The SmartXML technology processes any XML format and standard, including Svefaktura, Finvoice, OIOXML, OLOUBL, and E2B.

Invoice information, including barcodes, and other supplier-specific data, is captured and validated against available purchase order, goods receipt, and master data, with  automated checking of sums, supplier data, dates, and tax amounts. Once validated the invoice data enters resolution workflow, where any discrepancies and missing information are flagged for user verification. Exceptions are routed to a workflow integrated within the ERP for resolution.

With enhanced self-learning technology which retains knowledge from supplier-specific invoices, the software will automatically correct recognised errors, so accounts payable staff only need to validate invoices with exceptions. But with extremely accurate data extraction there is a considerable increase in straight-through processing as most XML invoices can be processed without any human intervention.

With the expanded capability to automatically process complex XML invoices, businesses can achieve significant benefits from AP efficiency in terms of flexibility and cutting the set up and administration costs usually required for handling new invoice types and formats.

Click to learn more about INVOICES from ReadSoft.

http://www.readsoft.co.uk

Start climbing the corporate ladder this summer

Read the job specifications here

If like most of the UK you watch The Apprentice with a sense of bemused outrage that these people are somehow in business, let alone on our televisions, and think you could do better, then ReadSoft has the perfect summer opportunities for a young and ambitious student wanting to break into business, and for those with a flair for sales & marketing seeking to develop their own career.

If you have an interest in research and marketing, have the ability to work to tight deadlines and want to gain real experience in a global business organisation then ReadSoft wants to speak with you. The company is seeking an applicant for a two week Market Research Internship based in the company’s Central Milton Keynes HQ. This is a great opportunity to gain real experience, develop skills and improve your CV working in a market leading company boasting clients such as BP, Vodafone and Barclays. The internship will enable the successful candidate to gain valuable knowledge of marketing processes in a role which will incorporate creation of prospect databases, research and in depth analysis on competitors and markets, database analysis and data mining for financial reports.

If you want a broader challenge ReadSoft is also seeking, on a commission only basis, summer interns within Sales and Marketing. If you have excellent communication skills, including on the telephone, are able to work to your own initiative and have a strong interest in sales and performance related roles, ReadSoft is offering a valuable opportunity to prove yourself, potentially leading to permanent employment.

Interns will be expected to lead reporting and analysis, creating email campaigns and supporting social media outreach within the marketing function. Prospect segmentation, database management and appointment booking will underpin business development challenges targeted on telesales, business development and performance related tasks.

If you think you have what it takes to make a difference at ReadSoft please contact either Sam Gossage or Jeffrey Hocking on 01908 688010 or email info-uk@readsoft.com for further information.

http://www.readsoft.co.uk

 

Facilities Management – a question of sustainable cost reduction

8 Top Tips for Facilities Management

Facility Managers are all faced with one overwhelming task in the current economic climate, delivering sustainable cost savings. The problem with cutting costs is that more often than not these deliver a short term salve to current FM issues without addressing longer term issues.

So how do you deliver ‘more for less’ while still reducing operating costs?

If you fail to identify or thoroughly understand the pain points then altering or adjusting processes will provide little intrinsic long term value, so benchmarking is an invaluable starting point as it helps to provide data for effective decision making. It helps in the creation of goals and action plans, and crucially demands gathering of performance measurement data, all of which helps justify or reject practices and resultant costs.

Benchmarking really depends on having quality data which can then support strategic FM planning, and this means thoroughly understanding what is required by the organisation to successfully operate. The opening question you need to ask is what services can be benchmarked or examined in more detail to probe potential savings?

The answer varies depending on the organisation in question but there are a number of typical areas which the Facility Manager needs to understand in terms of how processes rate against other and where savings not only can be made, but need to be made.

Typical benchmarks will incorporate: utilities; costs of building operations; organisational structures; space utilization, ratios of number of workers used; outsourcing; housekeeping and security services; building and grounds maintenance; disaster recovery and strategic facilities planning; project management processes; performance-based contracting; customer satisfaction and service level agreements. It is also necessary to consider external trends in both business and FM if benchmarking is to have validity.

A benchmarking process provides data critical for questioning current processes, but to see real value from the activity requires the right questions be asked.

• As a starting point you must understand what your current processes cost and ask if there a better, more effective way in which to save costs and improve efficiency?

• How could the structure of the delivery organisation change to reduce inefficiency? Is there a quicker, more centralised way of doing things?

• What opportunities are there to reduce cost by challenging behaviours, specifications and demand?

• What supply and demand savings are achievable across all utilities services? Is there a cost effective way to automate procurement?

• What could you offer suppliers that would incentivise them to be proactive in both identifying and delivering savings? Can you be quicker and more effective?

• Would centralisation and economies of scale purchasing provide savings opportunities?

• How can process automation technologies be used to drive efficiency?

Asking the right questions in the first place is the key to successful cost savings. For further advice read the 8 top tips on how to develop FM processes and cut costs. 

 

Sales Orders: a challenge for business

achieve better results with your sales order processing

Almost every organisation recognizes the value of processing sales orders quickly and accurately in today’s economy. New research conducted by Dynamic Markets on behalf of ReadSoft shows, despite the high proportion of management who are engaged with handling sales order paperwork, that this crucial area of business is typified by ignorance and an under-appreciation of the scale of the task.

87% of companies identify challenges associated with sales order processing, and for half it remains too time consuming. On average organisations estimate it takes more than a week (51.4 hours) to handle the paperwork associated with a single sales order. Such delays are typically the result of manually chasing and keying in information – Are goods or services available?  Does the price match the quote? Will the customer’s deadline be met?

At the heart of the issue is the paper driven process. Over half (53%) of organisations questioned still receive orders in paper form through the mail, and 74% over the telephone requiring manual input. Today almost all (93%) companies have to handle some form of paperwork when it comes to processing sales orders. This makes the task both labour intensive, slow and prone to error.

More than three quarters (77%) of organisations questioned believed that the time involved in the manual processing of sales orders is holding back the growth potential of their company. This is an opinion increasingly held by those in the most senior level positions, who were increasingly shown to be deeply engaged with rectifying the issues which spring from managing sales order paperwork.

To be able to process sales orders quickly and accurately requires a change in the approach to how paperwork is handled, from the moment it arrives to how it is directed through workflow and how errors are identified and dealt with. ReadSoft delivers a working environment where automation brings an end to the drudgery of business administration.

Through the application of software, ReadSoft is able to automate the processing of sales orders, capturing any layout, paper or electronic, immediately minimising errors in manual input. When integrated with an organisation’s ERP system, something 48% describe as extremely important, automation software delivers clear sight of quantities, customer identity and the status of outstanding business which is necessary to bring control back to the process. The large majority of sales orders can then be processed in a matter of minutes, rather than days. Any discrepancy automatically enters the workflow for correction in a matter of hours.

Automating the sales order process enables organisations to become more business agile. They can react quickly to the needs of the customer and improve cash flow which translates into greatly improved customer relations, and that is better for business.

www.readsoft.co.uk

 

AP Teams Assemble!

Accounts Payable News and ReadSoft unite to discover AP’s latest SME heroes

Nominate here

Are you an AP team that works well together and produces outstanding results? Is your team forward thinking, willing to take risks or dedicated to delivering innovation in your day to day operations?

Well now is the time to sing your praises. ReadSoft is teaming up with Accounts Payable News to find the UK’s best AP team – SME; one that exhibits a supportive, communicative work ethic to deliver best in class results.

The 2013 APN Awards offer a chance for AP professionals to be recognised for commitment, dedication and excellence across a challenging business environment which demands focus and dedication.

ReadSoft’s Ashley Kirk, an award-winning member of the ReadSoft finance team with direct responsibility for AR and AP, will be joining the judging panel.

“We will be looking for teams achieving best results,” says Ashley. “Key will be those teams able to demonstrate seamlessly efficient improvements which resolve the issues of excessive training, deliver less work for administrators, improve reporting and compliance, and crucially demonstrate cost reduction throughout the AP process.”

The winning AP Team of the Year – SME, should be able to demonstrate process improvements used effectively by all the team members; show where new technology has been recommended and then be able to give proven results, which include cost savings.

What will set apart the winning team will be the ability to demonstrate a team work ethos which recognises excellence in all key workers, not just an individual. That team will have to be imaginative and show intelligent performance.

“The winner will be a team with personality and drive, one which embraces the new, innovates and challenges existing wisdom with regards to the procedures we see in AP teams,” says Ashley. “All the judges are very excited to see what smaller British businesses are able to accomplish and look forward to celebrating their outstanding achievements.”

To be in with a chance of being named AP Team of the Year – SME, the nominated organisation must have a turnover of less than £50m pa. If you work in a team you’re proud of, of have dealt with a team you think is exceptional in its performance, acknowledge them today by nominating them for the AP Team of the Year – SME Award. The nominations are open until 9^th August, and the shortlist will be announced on the 16^th.

Ashley and the rest of the judges will then convene to choose the winner to be announced on the 8th October.

www.readsoft.co.uk