This was a customer visit like no other!

Not only did we get good news about how the team are happy using Esker’s Order Management solution, but also a delicious lunch, and to top it off a tour of their state-of-the-art cardboard box factory.

Jaap Hellemons, Sales Improvement Engineer, at the Smurfit Kappa ELCORR factory in Etten-Leur, Netherlands gave us a terrific welcome. Smurfit Kappa first signed with Esker five years ago. Now four different plants use Esker’s Order Management solution and several more are interested in implementing it.

“I have so many employees asking me, when they can train to use Esker as they can’t wait to use it! Also when new customers come on board, they are eager to get them onto Esker as quickly as possible to enable touchless processing,” says Jaap.

Smurfit Kappa’s ELCORR factory has very short delivery times from paper to box!

Currently two of Smurfit Kappa’s customers’ orders are completely touchless, with others in the ‘touched less’ category, meaning the order input process is down from approximately 20 key strokes down to 2, which still saves the customer service team an immense amount of time.

Luuk Schrijver, Functional Application Manager, from the Smurfit Kappa TWINCORR plant, says, “Esker has been fantastic in reducing the number of manual typing errors – we just don’t have any now. Any user can work with Esker, it is so easy to understand and the IT support is excellent.”

Andrew ten Broek, Application Manager at Smurfit Kappa Benelux, adds, “The Esker dashboard and set up is so intuitive. It takes me just 15 minutes to teach a new team member to use Esker now.”

Factory Tour

The cardboard box factory tour was completely fascinating. We started by the 3 tonne paper rolls that are made from wood harvested from Smurfit Kappa’s own sustainably farmed forests. These are sent to the corrugator to make four different thicknesses of cardboard. Once through the corrugator, three or five sheets of paper are stuck together using a starch based glue. This is a difficult process and drying needs to be at a precisely controlled temperature, otherwise the cardboard starts to buckle and become misshapen.
Then it’s onto the drying store before going to an inline, rotary or flat-pack die cutter. Precise production planning is required to minimise waste, so often customers’ orders are combined together to reduce waste. All boxes at Elcorr are custom-made and custom-sized.

Cardboard boxes are printed using water-based ink with a maximum of six colours available with printing only on the outside. Printing is available on all sides of the box once it is put together. All of the cardboard made is FSC certified. The machines cleverly make cuts and perforations as required and indentations for folding, making it easy for the end customer to put the boxes together. Any trims and off cuts go to shredders and are recycled in one of Smurfit Kappa’s global recycling plants, to be used all over again!

We were extremely privileged to have such an extensive tour of the factory with the highly knowledgeable Jaap guiding us through each process.

It was great to see how Esker’s Order Management solution was a key factor in enabling Smurfit Kappa to fulfil its orders smoothly, accurately and on time.

When we asked the Smurfit Kappa Customer Service team what 3 words they would use to describe Esker, they answered:

• User-friendly
• Innovative
• Intuitive

Sosennah Every

As Advocacy Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Sosennah is responsible for our customer programme, including the Esker All Access Community Hub, customer testimonials and partner collaborations, and customer webinars and events. She has been part of the Esker family since early 2022.

Read more insights from Sosennah Every

Learn how Stelrad achieved fast and accurate Order Management with Esker’s AI-powered touchless processing. We shone the spotlight on Stelrad and created a video testimonial to celebrate its success.

We couldn’t be happier with the video testimonial that we worked on with the team at Stelrad and media agency, Open House Pictures.

Going back a step, the idea all started following a customer success story that we wrote with Cherie Bradford, Customer Service Manager, and Chris Harvey, Head of Marketing UK & Ireland, at Stelrad, as part of the customer advocacy programme for Esker customers.

The customer success story involved a couple of online interviews to discuss why Stelrad chose Esker in the first place and the challenges the teams were experiencing with the previous manual order management process. We also talked about the team’s objectives for automation.

“We wanted a solution that would make it as easy as possible for our team and our customers, and one that aligned with our strategic values,” said Chris.

We discussed the implementation process of Esker’s Order Mangement solution; how automation has made a difference to the day-to-day lives of the customer service team and what it means for Stelrad’s growth prospects.

Working together with our Customer Experience (CX) Team, we were able to run Power BI reports that clearly showed us the results that Stelrad has achieved since it started its automation process, and particularly since it implemented touchless processing at the start of 2021.
Cherie has worked tirelessly with the Customer Experience Team to ensure more and more orders are placed through touchless processing requiring no human input from order retrieval to processing. This has dramatically reduced errors and customer complaints and given the team some great results to shout about!

You can read Stelrad’s customer story here.

“Esker’s solution functionalities are key to helping Stelrad grow. I have worked closely with Esker’s CX team to reduce and eradicate errors and warnings and to enable the switch to touchless processing. This considerable investment in time has allowed our customer service department to operate more efficiently,” said Cherie.

All the elements of the customer success story were put together to create sound bites for our video testimonial. I worked closely with Sarah Baker, the Communications Manager at Stelrad, to put together a running order of the day’s filming and to ensure all health and safety requirements were planned for. We are very grateful to the whole team at Stelrad who were extremely welcoming and professional.

On the day… excitement and nerves were palpable in the air in the Stelrad showroom. Whilst Dan and Joe from Open House Pictures set up their cameras and lights, I went through the questions and answers with Cherie and Chris. After a few retakes and tips from Joe to look at him and not directly into the camera, to relax and talk naturally, Cherie really got into the spirit and was rattling through the questions like a professional.

We filmed for about 2 hours with plenty of breaks for water and coffee, which was when we got to find out little nuggets about factory life at Stelrad, the newest radiators being made, and also about Cherie’s African Grey Parrot; she’d practised her lines so many times in front of him, he can now say Esker!

Following the interviews, we donned our high-vis gear, protective eyewear and ear plugs and followed the camera team around the Stelrad factory. It was fascinating to see sheet metal being bashed, heated, steamed and painted to end up as a radiator! (Obviously there is a lot more to the process!)
The team also filmed the Customer Service Team using the Esker Order Management solution, and some external shots too.

Then it was over to Open House Pictures to edit the day’s filming into a 2.30 minute piece!

After a few additional edits and full approval from the Stelrad team, we are delighted with the result!

We are so grateful to Cherie and Chris for giving up their time for this incredible testimonial, but also for being fully invested in achieving the best results with us.

Enjoy the Stelrad video testimonial here

If you would like to talk to me about doing a customer success story and/or a video testimonial about your automation journey with Esker, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Sosennah Every

As Advocacy Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Sosennah is responsible for our customer programme, including the Esker All Access Community Hub, customer testimonials and partner collaborations, and customer webinars and events. She has been part of the Esker family since early 2022.

Read more insights from Sosennah Every

What is customer advocacy?

Customer advocacy is the act of building and nurturing relationships with loyal customers, who then act as spokespeople and champions for a brand, products, or services.
In some companies it is called Customer Success and in others Customer Experience. Here at Esker, we are the Customer Advocacy team and we are all about fostering long-term relationships with our customers, so we can work with them to create customer success stories, written and video testimonials and act as spokespeople at events too. What better way to endorse Esker than having a prospective customer, hearing an existing customer wax lyrical about our solutions!

Customer journey
The Esker customer advocacy journey starts right from the minute a new customer signs with Esker.

New customers will get a welcome letter sent from Alistair Nicholas, Managing Director at Esker Northern Europe, explaining about all the key contacts and various stages for setting up the Esker solutions and recommended training. I will also send a lovely hamper to welcome our new customer into the Esker family! It is always a great part of the job to get such positive comments back from new customers once they receive their welcome gift!

Once a customer has set up their solution, been through training and testing, they will be in Go-Live and Hypercare. At the end of their Hypercare time, I will introduce myself and talk through our Esker All Access – Community Hub. This is a great opportunity for me to meet customers and start to create an ongoing relationship with them.

I also like to send the team of users and super users that I meet some of our Esker goodies! We have tried to keep to useful products, and as much as possible, environmentally friendly too, to keep within our ESG commitments.

“Thank you for the welcome message and hamper. It is much appreciated. I will share with the team.
We are planning for the kick off meeting day. Once all in place, it would be a pleasure to update our LinkedIn page and tag Esker Northern Europe to celebrate the new partnership.
We look forward to working with you and the Esker team!”
Maeva Evans, ABB Group Ltd

“Thanks very much for the Esker goodies, the team loved them!”
Ruth Birkin, Novuna Business Cash Flow

Esker All Access Community Hub
This is a platform where customers can keep up to date with:

• New solution features
• Tips and tricks on using the solutions
• Esker news and events
• Connect with other Esker users
• Offer feedback and suggestions
• Engage in discussions to help get the most out of the Esker solutions.

Customers will also have the opportunity to:

• Connect with other Esker users and like-minded experts
• Gain exclusive access from across the globe and updates to Esker events
• Benefit from a direct line of communication with Esker to provide feedback, suggestions and ask questions
• Grow & develop their Esker solution expertise via our Resources Centre for self-paced e-learning, FAQs and new feature information
• Compete in fun challenges for redeemable points
• Receive exclusive Esker products and gifts

“I would highly suggest getting involved with Esker All Access as the tools they use to teach are very interactive and help a ton!”
Chris McDaniel, Credit Manager, Excel Industries

I regularly post new content on the hub each week to keep it fresh and interesting. There is a discussion thread element where customers can discuss any issues or highlight any solution queries they may have, so that they can get our global community to feedback and help them. It is a wonderful tool for like-minded individuals to share a common space.

The hub is also where users and super users can log into Esker University through our O2C or P2P Resources tabs. This is a treasure-trove of information and e-learning courses that is available to all Esker users. Any question about the Esker on Demand platform can be answered within this resources area, without having to go to the CX Team for queries.

We want to make our customers as self-sufficient as possible to find the answers they are looking for within the hub.

Customer Success Stories
I love contacting a customer after they’ve used Esker’s solutions for a good period of time and talking to them about their successes using Esker’s AI-driven automation solutions. It is incredibly interesting detailing their original challenges and objectives for automation, to then find out how the solutions have enabled proven benefits such as:

• Boosted employee morale
• Reduced order processing times significantly
• Saved businesses time and money
• Taken efficiencies through the roof
• Improved supplier relationships
• Reduced their environmental impacts, and so much more!

Some examples of customer success stories can be found here:

Customer advocacy at Esker is an extremely interesting and exciting role that collaborates with the Sales and CX teams to bring everything that is wonderful about Esker into the limelight!

Sosennah Every

As Advocacy Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Sosennah is responsible for our customer programme, including the Esker All Access Community Hub, customer testimonials and partner collaborations, and customer webinars and events. She has been part of the Esker family since early 2022.

Read more insights from Sosennah Every

If you understand cash flow techniques, you can get ahead of the market. You’ll even be able to predict cash flow, because you understand the revenue cycles of customers, vendors, suppliers and contractors.

According to a 2022 CBInsights survey, 68% of small businesses have an outstanding debt and 29% fail because they have run out of cash. Managing cash flow is therefore crucial to a company’s success.

Every business has high and low seasons; understanding upcoming expenses for employee overtime, replacement equipment costs and customer payment delays, all go a long way to ensure your business is well positioned to handle any bump in the road.

The first step is to determine the cash flow that your business needs. This is because cash flow enables growth, funds development and ensures that liabilities are met, avoiding insolvency.

What is Esker Pay and how can it help?

Esker Pay is an extensive set of integrated payment capabilities and strategic Fintech partnerships to help businesses unlock cashflow.

Fully integrated with Esker’s Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash solution suites, Esker Pay helps businesses better manage cashflow by eliminating manual, complex, and inefficient processes for both accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP).

Esker Pay’s end-to-end payment automation goes even further by reinforcing sturdy supply chains by providing early payment discounts and supply chain financing options, while also addressing fraud prevention, late fees and negatively impacted cashflow concerns.

Facilitating and Expediting Payments

“The axiom that ‘cash is king‘ has been reinforced over the last 2 years. When times are tough for many businesses, getting paid and paying suppliers on time can be a tall order”, said Catherine Dupuy-Holdich, Product Manager at Esker.

“With Esker Pay we offer the technologies and partnerships to facilitate and expedite payments.”

Esker enables companies to achieve true positive-sum growth at a time when business success depends on it by facilitating an ecosystem where companies, customers and suppliers create value together — instead of at each other’s expense.

What is Positive-Sum Growth?

For suppliers, prompt payment from customers results in secured cashflow. And for customers, paying suppliers and maintaining good relationships is key, as onboarding new ones can be costly and risky.

Esker has partnerships with leading Fintech companies like Stripe, Corpay, Wind River Financial, Jack Henry, SisID, Pytheas Capital Advisors, Payroc and SlimPay, and more; offering a range of payment capabilities, including:

• Domestic and international payments
• Supplier payment automation
• Supply chain financing (reverse factoring)
• Dynamic discounting
• Integrated payment methods (e.g., cards, direct debits, transfers, etc.)
• Factoring
• Early payment discounts
• Payment information verification

“And this is just the beginning,” says Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. “We will continue to enrich Esker Pay through technology developments and future partnerships to further optimise customer and supplier B2B payments, reduce risk exposure, and improve back-office efficiency.”

Esker Pay is available across the globe to all customers and prospects.

Supplier Payment Automation

To delve into each part of the Procure-to-Pay cycle, payment automation operates as the final stop along the supplier invoice automation journey.

This means that there is a faster invoice cycle time; suppliers are paid on time without errors, cementing businesses’ relationships with their suppliers; ensured compliance and more time for Accounts Payable teams to focus on other objectives and value added tasks.

Automating your vendor payments process is an essential step towards completing an effective end-to-end AP automation process and can offer your organisation a range of benefits both tangible and intangible.

“We’ll no longer be missing out on early payment discounts. That’s a huge value,” Novatech.

“30% in additional savings each month thanks to more early payment discounts captured,” Partstown

Customer Payment Automation

All along the Invoice-to-Cash cycle, payment automation facilitates the process of getting paid, making things easier for both the supplier and its customers and thereby enhancing the Customer Experience.

Customers can schedule or auto-pay their invoices online; ensure correct and on time payment; suppliers benefit from reduced DSO, and faster invoice settlement.

“Offering an e-payment tool went hand in hand with our use of Esker and e-invoicing delivery.” Toshiba Business Solutions

“Lowered past-due percentage by 4%, reduced average DSO and improved cash flow.” Trek

Key Takeaways

• Esker Pay is part of Esker’s global positive sum growth vision to facilitate supplier and customer payments
• Esker Pay offers a unified user experience that integrates seamlessly into the customer journey and strengthens relationships
• Esker gives our customers a new set of payment capabilities thanks to new strategic Fintech partnerships

Learn more on the Esker website, or contact us today for more information.

Sosennah Every

As Advocacy Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Sosennah is responsible for our customer programme, including the Esker All Access Community Hub, customer testimonials and partner collaborations, and customer webinars and events. She has been part of the Esker family since early 2022.

Read more insights from Sosennah Every