The government spending deficit: a national issue with a local solution

UK councils currently face a total reduction of £4.7 billion in spending, which means they have to start making savings immediately, and that for many authorities means endangering frontline services.

But what if local authorities could save £80million straight away? The Audit Commission recommended local authorities facing deep cuts should review their financial planning and lessen the impact on service users by improving efficiencies. ReadSoft views automation of invoice processing in local authority finance departments as a sure fire way to improve efficiency, reduce costs and deliver better cash flow.

South Ayrshire Council is a case in point. Before it spoke to ReadSoft it was processing up to 150,000 invoices per annum. The process was decentralised with processing performed in 130+ separate sections. Each year these invoices were processed for a variety of more than 7,000 different suppliers using traditional paper-based methods. The resultant processes were labour intensive and left much room for improvement when interrogating and auditing.

South Ayrshire Council needed to modernise the Accounts Payable function in order to reduce costs and streamline processes and so turned to ReadSoft for help to not only increase the simplicity and efficiency in finance; but ensure that these procedures would become better-controlled. Today, rather than focusing on invoice processing; South Ayrshire Council is now able to concentrate on core business. Councillor Robin Reid, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Performance, says: “South Ayrshire Council is committed to achieving Best Value for our residents and realising a rapid return on our investment in ReadSoft is one way that we can be at the forefront of business transformation ensuring we meet the needs of our stakeholders and residents alike.”

Learn more about how South Ayrshire achieved this here.

For rapid reaction to the need for cuts, single tier, county and district councils can also quickly and easily deploy software as a service (SaaS) models in line with statements made by Tariq Rashad, Home Officer Lead IT Architect on the value of looking at Cloud based IT.

Local authorities can also pursue that option with ReadSoft Online, running invoice automation on an OPEX basis. That is a great way to start securing improved efficiency and really reduce costs.

To learn more about how your local authority can improve click here to download the free Local Government Efficiency Report from ReadSoft.

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

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

What’s new in DOCUMENTS?

Business runs on documentation:  letters; faxes; memos; meeting agendas; minutes; brochures; newsletters; application forms; expenses; invoices; sales orders; reports. It is an ever growing list, and each and every document has an impact on the operation and ultimate value of the business. The obvious danger is that the business drowns under this paperwork, unless there is an organised method for extracting business critical data and getting it to the right people at the right time through controlled, easy to manage processes.

Imagine being able to automate the reading of all your incoming business documents just as a human would. Completely regardless of format – paper, fax, email, PDF and so forth – be able to search and identify keywords, combination of words and layouts, logotypes and then take it beyond human ability by reading barcodes to determine the type of a document and which group it belongs to. And all at rates much faster and more accurate than staff could ever achieve.

At ReadSoft we understand the importance of data held on documents and how critical it is to release the value of that data into the business. This has been at the heart of the development of our DOCUMENTS software, which was designed to harness the power of optical character recognition (OCR) to first read any type of document. But then take that a step further by integrating intelligent classification, smartly associating relevant documents into logical groups and then extracting and tagging key information, ready to be inserted into an organisation’s business system. There it can be easily searched for and retrieved at a moment’s notice, which means businesses can at last show a complete audit trail and demonstrate clear compliance with legislation.

ReadSoft has continued to develop and improve the DOCUMENTS software to ensure client staff can concentrate on handling rather than sorting documents. The latest version (DOCUMENTS 7.2) brings a slew of new capabilities including the ability to handle incoming invoices with the same solution as other document types; scanner sorting, web verify and REPORTER for invoice processing are now all present; as are improved document separation; COLLECTOR enhancements and pre-packaged solutions for capture of Customer Orders.

But the real advantage of DOCUMENTS is that it is a complete capture production process, in one installation and with one license model. It can be set up and configured in the admin user interfaces rather than error prone programming and scripting, meaning DOCUMENTS can be up and running within a business quickly and easily, delivering that all important rapid return on investment.

Organisations that are considering a new invoice process or wanting to use intelligent automation to manage capture of documents will gain real advantage, and, if you already are using ReadSoft INVOICES within you business, DOCUMENTS 7.2 represents a simple way to further improve efficiency by automatic sorting and processing of other associated documents.

Taking control of purchase requests

It is not unusual to see businesses suffer from high per transaction costs and loss of buying leverage as a result of poor control over the creation and approval of purchase requests.

Pump manufacturer Allweiler AG is a company which identified a strong need for a purchase requisition processing solution to improve their procurement and reduce organisational issues. By deploying ReadSoft’s PROCESS DIRECTOR for purchase requisitions, the data from the purchase requisitions were automatically transferred to the SAP system. An order, simultaneously created for the buyer, can either be manually or automatically prepared, simplifying subsequent processes right up to and including automated invoicing. Boris Müller at Allweiler notes “The optimisations in Procurement also have a positive effect on the processes in Accounts. Order references make the automated assignment and subsequent processing with the invoice processing solution much easier.”  To read more about Boris’ experiences with PROCESS DIRECTOR click here.

So how can it work for your business? We believe the answer is a simple three step automated approach consisting of requisitioning, approval workflow and PO creation.

Authorised employees within your organisation can enter requisitions through an easy-to-use, simple web application or an SAP user interface. Users have 24-7 access to existing online catalogues to simplify and standardise the selection process. The requisitions then pass through a multi-level review and approval workflows which route requests within the organisation. Decisions are recorded in a visible audit trail, with requisitions and supporting documentation constantly available to designated approvers. With the requisition authorised, a purchase order is automatically generated in SAP. The purchase order is available throughout the entire P2P process for quick and easy matching with order confirmations, delivery notes, and invoices—simplifying transactions for any related business functions.

Our experiences of helping businesses optimise their front-end procurement processes, tells us that streamlining and standardising purchase requisitioning through an automated workflow is the best practice solution businesses need right now, and we estimate it can cut uncontrolled costs by as much as 26%. For further insight you can download our free whitepaper.

ReadSoft Online continues its stellar growth

The start of 2013 has been a busy period for the ReadSoft Online team. Launched throughout Europe less than 18 months ago to help businesses streamline their invoice approval process, ReadSoft Online exceeded all expectations growing exponentially during 2012.  This phenomenal growth created a buzz in the market and ReadSoft also announced a number of large partnership deals for ReadSoft Online during the same period.

Hosted on Microsoft Azure, ReadSoft Online is now approved for Windows 8 and Windows RT, Microsoft’s highly-anticipated new version of its Windows operating system, meaning businesses can access invoices in ReadSoft Online anywhere, anytime, from mobile devices or desktop computers, making the Accounts Payable process more efficient, and with that comes new savings.

Designed to support financial managers seeking an alternative to high capital expenditure, ReadSoft Online delivers a simple, straightforward Software as a Service (SaaS) option for automating supplier invoice processing. Fully scalable to meet all market expectations, ReadSoft Online leverages strategic partnerships with ERP vendors, auditing firms and international accountants to deliver a complete Cloud based workflow and archiving solution for businesses of any size.

And with ReadSoft Online we can now help businesses, large and small, to shorten manual invoice processes. Users can view the invoice image on screen and see detailed information, such as automatically interpreted invoice amounts, and accounting information. Built in features includes invoice approval and rejection, an overview of pending invoices and a user-comment system.  This means approved invoices can be automatically sent to your financial system in an instant.

ReadSoft Online has a state-of-the-art user experience that is intuitive and easy-to-use, while taking advantage of new advances such as Windows 8, touch screens and mobile devices.

Looking forward in 2013 the team will be introducing more capabilities within ReadSoft Online to further support SMEs that currently struggle to meet the CAPEX costs of the leading enterprise automation and workflow solutions. For those businesses, no matter the size, wishing to offload Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to the Cloud, ReadSoft Online provides a self contained low risk, low cost way to make a first move, and provides new ways for organisations to manage invoices, but also expenses, human resources and other general documentation.

If you’re looking to promote SaaS based automation and join the new wave with ReadSoft then get in touch with us!  

Last chance Oracle R12 workshop

Many organisations are either planning for, or have already taken the step forward to operate on Oracle Applications Release 12. Geared towards enhanced support for shared services, increased operational efficiency and flexibility, faster and simpler period end processing and simplified reporting, R12 boasts more than 2,300 new features over Oracle 11i. There are more than 300 in Oracle Financials alone.  For this reason alone it is easy to see why upgrading to R12 has developed a reputation for being challenging – even for the most on the ball administrators .

Within accounts payable, by automating invoice input and approval in Oracle E-Business Suite, there is huge potential for speeding up invoice processing and achieving better control over financial flow. ReadSoft’s automated invoice processing solution PROCESSIT is focused on improving the R12 automation function and giving improved visibility and control of that function.

The automation of invoice processing removes cost and increases efficiency in the payables process – it aims to replace the costly, time consuming, error laden manual management of tasks within the processing lifecycle during Invoice Registration, Reconciliation, Approval, Payment, Filing and Retrieval. This efficiency is largely borne through removal of paper from the process and enabling digital documents and workflow which is 100% integrated within Oracle R12.

Fully validated by Oracle, PROCESSIT is “ready-to-use” and will be familiar to users working in the Oracle environment.  Organisations can be up and running with R12, taking advantage of the new capabilities without staff having to learn a new system or being concerned over upgrades to the software. But for an upgrade to be successful means delivering on time, on budget and within your ‘downtime window’.

For organisations interested in moving to R12, or getting more from their Oracle investment, ReadSoft will be hosting a live workshop combining demonstrations, group discussions and presentations which will help in the evaluation and planning for a re-implementation or upgrade to R12.

Taking place in Covent Garden, London, 20th February 2013, the workshop will take attendees through the key functional and business benefits of R12, and how ReadSoft can help support the implementation of automated purchase-to-pay.  

To attend the workshop, register here.

Embrace efficiency through automation and cut back office procurement costs

Whether or not we slide into a triple dip recession this year, the economy for many has flatlined, which means if you are struggling to bring funds in, one clear strategy is to at least keep costs in check. According to the The Hackett Group, British businesses could cut up to 92% of back-office procurement costs. For this reason, before any business executes any project, it is imperative that to have an idea of the return on investment.

Whether your company is large or small, a key metric is how many paper invoices you process each year. As a general rule, companies who process 25,000 invoices or more often see the greatest impact of AP automation improving invoice efficiency fivefold. At this size there is a level of cash flow that can reap benefits from better payment terms and discounts—and feel the negative effect of invoice errors. A small percentage of efficiency improvement at this level can have a big impact on the bottom line.

An AP department’s invoice processing metrics have a profound impact on efficiency, productivity and cash flow. If your company processes invoices manually, each invoice must be sorted, entered, verified and matched against the purchase order. Errors and discrepancies must be re-keyed and verified. So the more invoices you have, the larger this bottleneck is—and the more complex the workflow process to keep things moving.

Inefficient invoice processing leads to delays, errors, duplicate payments—and a lack of accountability for all stakeholders.

A best practice goal for invoice processing is to have over 90 percent of all invoices handled automatically. This includes traditional paper-based invoices, which can be effectively handled electronically with today’s AP automation systems.

Because AP automation solutions can help reduce payment cycle times, improve payment terms and increase financial control and visibility, many companies have found that they can achieve an ROI as quickly as 6-9 months after moving to automated AP processing.
The AP Automation ROI calculator, with new 2013 efficiency figures, from ReadSoft is a free and simple way to quickly determine how your company could see a return, plus estimate general cost and time savings based on your current invoice volume, processing and handling. It is also important to consider other expenses associated with manual processing, such as invoice storage, postage, telephone lines and equipment rentals. These can all be reduced with the implementation of AP automation, further supporting a significant and timely ROI.