Document Delivery – BLOG ESKER UK

Still printing, organising, folding and stuffing your own business mail? Give Esker Mail Services a try!

Esker UK — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:27:00 +0000

Esker Mail Services is a secure, easy-to-use alternative that allows invoices and other documents to be sent out with a click of a button from any ERP or desktop application. Read our blog to learn about Esker’s new UK Print Centre, and our long-serving employees; Andy Phillips and Paul Kerry.

Meet Andy and Paul; they work in Esker’s UK Print Centre. In 2021 they processed 4 million pages for Esker customers.

Andy Phillips: Andy started at Esker in 2006, looking after Host Access Legacy solutions and Fax Renewals. In 2009, the UK Print Centre was set up, and Andy and a team of 3 other Esker staff would manage the Print Centre work for half a day, or two half days each per week.
Over the last decade, the Print Centre has developed, and its output has grown significantly. Andy has provided cover to the Print Centre throughout this time, and then since 2019, he has been working in the role of Print Centre Operations Manager.

Paul Kerry: Paul has worked in Esker’s UK Print Centre as a Mail Centre Operator since 2011. He initially worked part-time, but as the Print Centre has grown, has become full-time.

Esker Mail Services

https://cloud.esker.co.uk/fm/others/esker-mail-services.mp4

The Benefits

Deliver Documents Faster: With no manual intervention necessary, Esker Mail Services allows you to deliver business documents to postal services in less than 24 hours.

Stay Clued In & Compliant: “Hoping for the best” is not a strategy. With Esker, you get 24/7 real-time document monitoring, along with global support to ensure e-invoicing compliance.

Support Remote Work: Esker’s automated business mail services helps your company become more resilient and “future proof” by enabling mail to be sent even while not in the office.

Deliver One Document… Or One Million: Whatever your volume, Esker Mail Services has no constraints. Based on a unique concept of real-time document processing, individual or batch mailings can be sent when you want, how you want, and without any delays.

Be More Environmentally Friendly: We recycle all of our paper, card, toner and printer consumables so there is very little waste.

Peace of Mind at No Added Cost: Each document processed through Esker is tracked with a unique identifier (included on a bar code on each page), allowing companies to know with certainty that the right document and number of pages were delivered to the appropriate parties.

Follow Your Mailings from Start to Finish: Using the same unique identifier that ensures errors are avoided, Esker’s automated document delivery service also lets users track every piece of mail through an easy-to-use web portal. Everything from document validation to detailed status updates — even at the individual document level — can be accessed instantly.

Signed, Sealed and Delivered on Your Terms: Esker Mail Services allows you to customise your business mailings without ever having to handle them on-site. You can make your company’s business mail look just how you want it by choosing from different options (e.g., envelope size, printing in colour or black and white or adding attachments).

Benefit from Esker’s Secure, Worldwide Network: For businesses with customers worldwide, mailing documents can be extremely costly. Thanks to Esker’s global network of production facilities located in France, Belgium, Spain, the U.K., the U.S., Australia and Singapore, customers benefit from least-cost routing. Users electronically send their document to the production facility closest to the intended recipient so they can take advantage of local postal rates, lowering postage costs and delivery time.

Esker’s UK Print Centre Facts

The black and white printer processes 7,000 sheets of paper per hour
The colour printer processes 2,000 sheets of paper per hour
There are two back up colour printers
2 Blue Crest mailing machines stuff the letters into envelopes
Approximately 6 thousand envelopes can be processed for mailing per hour
During the pandemic Andy and Paul were classed as essential workers as they were printing and mailing critical letters and documents for health companies and schools
Documents are printed, stuffed into envelopes and sent for mailing within the same day that they are sent for processing
The new Print Centre opened in 2019. It is much bigger and has more room to move around, which is safer, and has much more room for storage and equipment
The new Print Centre is built for purpose and has a proper loading bay, a pallet truck and a sack truck for safe movement of stock

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

One Team Beyond Boundaries: Spotlight on Esker’s Customer Experience Team

Georgina Kershaw — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 10:44:45 +0000

Learn how Esker’s Customer Experience (CX) Team is dedicated to your ongoing success and customer journey

One Team Beyond Boundaries

Recently, I got to spend the week at our corporate headquarters in Lyon with the other Esker worldwide CX Managers. The motto of the week was ‘One Team Beyond Boundaries’, which is an important part of the Esker philosophy.

Due to Covid related travel restrictions, we have been unable to meet face to face and be in the same room for over 2 years, so this week was particularly special. All of Esker’s subsidiaries were represented: Australia, Asia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, USA and the UK.

Mapping Out the Customer Journey

We had a comprehensive schedule for the week, and made the most of the opportunity to meet, share and collaborate with all of the internal department leads that we work so diligently with on a regular basis. We all form part of our customers’ journey; R&D, Documentation, Training, Support and Marketing teams to name but a few. These sessions gave us the opportunity to listen to their internal and external vision and align our worldwide CX activities and offerings to our customers.

At the end of the week, we had some time to explore the beautiful city of Lyon. I also had time to sit back, reflect and appreciate, that during the week, we had such a wealth of knowledge, expertise and information at our fingertips. We have been able to take this back to action within our subsidiaries.

Underpinning all of this is the global determination of the Esker CX Team, to align our core values and philosophy; to provide an ongoing journey for our customers rather than a single interaction.

Esker’s Customer Experience Promise

Esker is committed to making our customers feel Valued, Understood and Engaged. We will act as a dedicated resource to answer questions and assist in your success using Esker’s solution. We provide you options for engaging with Esker to meet the level of interaction that’s right for you. This is our promise:

Georgina Kershaw

Georgina is the Customer Success Manager at Esker UK. She has been part of the Esker family since 2004.

Understanding the benefits of a harmonious business ecosystem

Sam Townsend — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 08:50:31 +0000

Having worked for Esker for quite a few years now, (far too many that I care to remember, as it shows my advancing age, or should that be, shows my increased knowledge of the multifaceted business benefits that can be realised through the automation of the cash conversion cycle?), one thing I know for sure is that the commitment from Esker to enable organisations to be resilient through tough economic times has always been one of the main areas we continually strive to improve. Enabling this resilience has never been more evident than in recent times. Who would have imagined that a global pandemic would have been so detrimental to the survival of so many businesses (not to mention the lives of those affected directly).

Over more than 35 years, Esker has always endeavoured to find better ways for organisations to communicate with each other and overcome barriers that quite often make business difficult to conduct. So when times of adversity strike the business world they require the reassurance that they can carry on regardless, or probably more importantly, learn ways to improvise, adapt and overcome such hardships, as and when presented.

Esker has always tried to encourage organisations to adopt the obvious advantages of streamlining processes and automating repetitive manual tasks, that add little to no value to an organisation’s ability to effect its bottom line growth. However, as we have seen with historic economic turmoil, it is simply not enough to just focus purely on your own survival by concentrating solely on scrutinising financial gains. Now, more than ever, with the increased symbiotic relationship between organisations, their customers, suppliers and partners becoming even more intertwined through common, shared challenges, it’s imperative to develop harmonious business ecosystems.

One way to do this is through the power of collective effort. If organisations start to understand each other better and the different working practices are adopted, then they will all begin to enable positive sum growth. Once people within organisations understand this, then processes can be changed to bring advantages to all business relationships involved. Inevitably this must also be aligned with having ‘the right tools for the job’ and making sure that they are correctly aligned as necessary. This can be achieved by looking both internally and externally at the technologies used.

Esker has always been at the forefront of simplifying business transactions between organisations through the development of the latest technologies. Our goals have always been to help streamline business processes, eliminate non-value added manual tasks as well as improve interdepartmental communication and the relationships between different stakeholders, through digitally transforming an organisation’s transactional operations.

This has now extended beyond that of the internal coercion of people, process and technology to a much wider ecosystem. Every action and reaction now has a direct impact on the way business is conducted and influenced, whether that’s giving you the ability to communicate with your suppliers 24/7 or allowing your customers to engage with you, how and when they wish to (or indeed not at all, through the increased use of self-service portals).

Furthermore, if an expectation is set to create a culture of continuous value, then the benefits will be maximised throughout every area of business with everyone involved all pursuing a utopian business excellence, from employees, customers, suppliers and partners feeling valued, understood and engaged.

I look forward to the coming years to see how business relationships continue to embrace a more harmonious view of working together (especially through turbulent times) and understand the ways in which Esker can help to enhance this through our end-to-end, process automation solutions.

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING

Developing Harmonious & Symbiotic Ecosystems is Essential for Recovery
Executive Insight by Emmanuel Oliver, Esker Worldwide Chief Operating Officer

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Remote Working is Easy with Esker

Mark Johnson — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 12:22:31 +0000

You may have noticed that Esker UK has a new address. We’ve moved to a new building a mile or two away from the old office with more space as the company expands.

Not that I’ve been there much. As I write, England is still in lockdown. This means that only those whose presence is essential are allowed to travel to work, with everyone else expected to work from home.

Luckily for me, this has been relatively pain-free. Recently I was speaking to my friend who works as an IT consultant for one of the UK’s largest house developers. He told tales of roomfuls of laptops being provisioned as the company hurriedly prepared for its staff to work from home during the first lockdown in March. Luckily, the standard issue PC for Esker staff is a smart Dell laptop. I also have a dock, so it is easy to connect my laptop to the twin monitors I have at home. The Esker IT boffins have set up a solid VPN for us employees to use, so there is nothing I need to visit the office for. I’ve even got an app to allow calls to my work phone extension to be routed to my headset.

It’s not all beer and skittles, though. My desk is in the front room of my Victorian terraced home, so noise from the street can be distracting. And I do miss the camaraderie of the Esker UK office – the occasional Teams meeting isn’t quite the same.

Esker has also equipped many other businesses with the necessary tools for remote working, which has proved essential to many organisations over recent months, enabling efficiency within procure-to-pay (P2P) and order-to-cash (O2C) processes as well as communication with customers and suppliers.

SECURITY

Esker’s Business Continuity and Security teams have well-established support plans in place to give our customers peace of mind. These include:

Cloud-based platform with 24/7 availability that’s not location dependent, enabling support to all customers and partners from remote environments
2 independent operational centres in different locations to continually monitor the operational continuity of Esker’s platform
Customer support sites in 3 countries, allowing us to maintain global coverage
Esker Services availability to continue to support and deliver services to all of our customers

P2P

Esker’s P2P platform enables finance departments to remotely continue to approve invoices, effectively manage cash and maintain positive relationships with suppliers. P2P users have access to a supplier portal that enhances supplier/buyer collaboration and supply chain performance, and the Esker Anywhere mobile app allows users to carry out the following actions even while working remotely:

Track statuses of purchase requisitions & expense reports
Approve, hold or send invoices back to previous approver
Monitor KPIs from a customisable dashboard

O2C

Esker’s O2C solution plays a vital role enabling businesses to continue managing all customer interactions in a single platform: the right orders still need to get to the right customer at the right time, and cash collection cannot cease simply because operations are now remote. This is achieved through:

Esker Anywhere Mobile App which allows users to monitor KPIs & place/track orders from the palm of their hand
Self-service customer portal which enables customers to place orders, resolve disputes, etc. anytime, anywhere
End-to-end connectivity between all applications, enabling collectors, customer service & AR managers to perform critical tasks in real time & without delays

MAIL

Esker Mail Services allows organisations to send out large batches of customer invoices and other time-sensitive documents. With the touch of a button and 100% compatibility, documents can be mailed directly from the cloud, from wherever or whenever you’re working — saving time, money and peace of mind.

You can find out more at https://www.esker.co.uk/mobile-business-empowerment/

Mark Johnson

Mark is a Professional Services Engineer at Esker UK. He has been part of the Esker family since 2018.

6 Questions Around Business Process Automation: Trends, Benefits, Challenges and Potential

Alistair Nicholas — Thu, 07 May 2020 08:39:00 +0000

In the procure-to-pay (P2P) and order-to-cash (O2C) cycles, all processes are intertwined. A problem in one area creates a chain reaction that affects other processes. With paper-based processes still being used by many organisations, lengthy processing times, high costs, errors and low visibility are common obstacles that ultimately lead to a lack of P2P and O2C efficiency. Automating manual business processes delivers value by removing manual activities and giving staff the time and insight to work on strategic tasks.

We asked Esker’s Managing Director for Northern Europe, Alistair Nicholas, 6 questions around the trends, benefits, challenges and potential of using business process automation (BPA).

What’s influencing and possibly changing BPA in the marketplace at present?
Obviously the ‘big’ buzzword for influencing BPA at present is digital transformation and how evolving technologies impact the way in which organisations can compete through automating internal processes and streamlining business practices across multiple areas of the business. When I’m asked to highlight what are the specific main influences, I would have to say that it’s a combination of 3 main factors; people, process and technology.
How are these influencing factors impacting the way organisations are using and adopting BPA?
The speed at which people can manage and absorb even wider ‘big data’ requirements is becoming more and more difficult, so implementing automated solutions that allow this to happen more easily are now business critical. Employees can then be empowered to concentrate on better supplier and customer relationships. Having the right automation technology in place helps eliminate the almost impossible task of manually handling masses of information involved in daily processes from all aspects of the Order-to-Cash and Procure-to-Pay cycles.
What are the main benefits with having BPA implemented and what are the impacts if you don’t?
BPA is at the heart of allowing an organisation to maximise their competitiveness in the marketplace. Rigidity is detrimental to a dynamic business that wishes to take advantage of being able to make quick changes when required due to continuously demanding customer requirements. Therefore, BPA should enable this through being easily customisable and collaborative between different systems within the organisation such as custom business rules, web portals and chat tools, to name a few. Having simple integration with existing software is also beneficial when implementing BPA meaning reduced upfront costs, downtime or interference with day-to-day operations. BPA will also enable data to be much more visible through intuitive user dashboards giving more control for smarter and more strategic decisions.
What are some of the challenges when implementing BPA?
Obviously when talking about any process automation within a business you have to buy in from your employees. Any new process change can be difficult to on-board, let alone one that may be perceived as a threat to a person’s job function such as automation. What needs to be conveyed is an understanding of this perceived threat and reassurance that automation is simply a means to enable that person to spend less time on non-value add tasks and more time on those that will help improve relationships internally as well as externally to help grow the business.
Where is BPA heading over the next year in terms of changes in technology, implementation and capability?
BPA will become increasingly important and effective with the continued advancements in robotic process automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Collaborative networks will continue to grow and information will strengthen between suppliers, organisations and customers.
What advice would you give to an organisation when considering BPA?
Make sure before any implementation goes ahead that your employees and all stakeholders involved in the process, are informed and engaged with the positive changes that the technology will have to their roles, both as individuals and as part of a wider team throughout the organisation. Look at current processes and pinpoint where quick gains can be made through process automation and don’t try to bite off more than you can chew! Finally, embrace new technologies such as those using the latest AI-driven advancements to help your organisation’s processes to become faster, more visible, scalable and compliant in order to reach your goals.

If you would like more information about Esker and how we can help your organisation to automate your business processes, please contact us today.

Alistair Nicholas

Alistair is the Managing Director of Esker Northern Europe

Worldwide Customer Experience Event

Georgina Kershaw — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 10:38:00 +0000

Over the last couple of years, Esker has invested heavily in growing our global Customer Experience (CX) departments, hiring Customer Success Managers, Advocates, Ambassadors and Specialists. We have been asking all Esker employees (not just the CX team) to consider and practice the VUE (Valued, Understood, Engaged) philosophy that is Esker’s Core principles.

As the Customer Success Manager (CSM) at Esker Northern Europe, I am delighted to embark on what will be an exciting journey and pivotal role within our office here in the UK. I am now 6 months into the role and thrilled that I was able to attend the very first Worldwide CX event. Visiting our corporate head office in Lyon at the beginning of March for this event was an exciting opportunity for me to meet and engage in person with other CX Managers from our Esker offices around the world. We spent the 3 days sharing best practices, discussing the common issues and challenges that we are all facing and currently experiencing, and more importantly identifying ways we can overcome these and ultimately achieve those “Good Vibes Only”.

We had the opportunity to meet and discuss topics with Esker’s internal teams. We spent the day with the documentation team, technical and support team and the R&D teams, we discussed and challenged how we can all be involved in bringing the ultimate customer journey to life and ensure we deliver the best Customer Experience we can to our customers.

After the long days in the office, we did also manage to have a tour of the beautiful city by night…

Georgina Kershaw

Georgina is the Customer Success Manager at Esker UK. She has been part of the Esker family since 2004.

Be our guest! Join Esker at a Forums International event and attend your first forum for free.

Claire Barker — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 09:47:59 +0000

Esker are proud to be a Corporate Partner of Forums International, bringing over 30 years of experience streamlining accounting processes to several of its credit forums including;

Attendance is for credit professionals of all levels and attending a forum for the first time is completely free, so you can experience the forum, gauge the benefits and meet the members before making a commitment to join.

Forums International run 10 Credit Forums across a range of industry sectors that each meet 3-4 times per year across the UK, Europe and beyond.
Forums are currently running virtually; if you have an internet connection and a computer with camera and microphone you will be able to join the meeting wherever you are located – and attendees have joined from around the world!

The objectives are for members to:

Gain tools and techniques to help them face new and existing business challenges
Increase and enhance personal skills levels and network with their peers
Gather information and intelligence to avoid successful fraud attacks & incurring bad debts.
Develop new & best practices
Help to improve their team’s productivity and results

You can also earn CICM CPD points at each forum.

All of the Forums are specifically designed to create the maximum benefit for all credit professionals that attend. The agendas are fresh and innovative and speakers deliver high-impact presentations that add value. This allows the forums to be very current, topical and responsive. We address business challenges, develop best business practice as well as the opportunity to network with your peers.

If you are interested in attending or would like to find out more about the Forums that Esker supports please get in touch with us at info@esker.co.uk

Claire Barker

As Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Claire is responsible for generating leads for Esker's business process solutions specifically within the area of Accounts Receivable through a variety of marketing channels. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

Quit Paper™ this World Paper Free Day

Claire Barker — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 09:47:17 +0000

Today is World Paper Free Day. An annual campaign launched by the Association for Information and Image (AIIM), World Paper Free Day encourages businesses to stop using paper for one day in order to see the benefits of a paperless office.

According to research, the average office worker uses about four dozens sheets of paper per day, of which about half is considered waste. Although the technology exists to transform processes into paperless ones, a lot of businesses still have traditional-based filing systems which require considerable space, equipment and maintenance.

Going paperless helps businesses save space and money, boost productivity and keep information more secure while also making sharing it easier.

Esker‘s goal is to help organisations to Quit Paper. If your organisation has problems with paper use, Esker can help you. By automating document processes your organisation can significantly reduce paper use and increase its efficiency and sustainability. Esker provides AI-driven solutions to automate the entire P2P and O2C cycles and can help you today. Give us a call this World Paper Free Day. .

Claire Barker

Good Vibes Only: My First Week at Esker

Laura Cook — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 10:48:22 +0000

From shop floor to office. It’s quite a contrast! Last week I started my new role at Esker as an Administration Assistant. After many years of working in retail this environment is quite a change, all be it a welcome one, and I am grateful for the opportunity.

There is much to learn. Firstly, what is Esker all about? Document Process Automation, this I have learned, but what does that entail?

Throughout the week I scheduled meetings with different members of the team to help me build a picture of Esker, the individuals who work here and how my role fits in. One thing became apparent to me immediately. Esker, I’m told, is a great place to work. From speaking to various members of staff from different departments, this rings clear. The people are genuinely passionate and proud about what they do. Everyone I spoke to showed enthusiasm, belief and knowledge of the business. So, it came as no surprise to me that many members of the team are long serving and experienced employees. With such job satisfaction, why leave?

Now back to Esker. I learned Esker started out as a software vendor back in 1985 with the vision to help businesses deliver their paper documents electronically. The benefit to this I asked? Simple answer; Esker’s solutions make the job easier, saving time and paper as well as improving efficiencies.

Esker is recognised today as a leader in AI-driven process automation software with over 600,000 users worldwide, including many large and well-known companies. The growth is clear, with more than 600 employees in its 10 subsidiaries around the world, a figure that has recently increased significantly. It’s exciting to be a part of it.

So, a week in to my new job, how do I feel? Well, with a friendly and helpful team, good working atmosphere and a business that appears to be going from strength to strength, what is there not to be positive about? The potential for opportunity and expansion is motivating and refreshing. I look forward to what will hopefully be a bright and successful future with Esker. I think I will be happy here.

Laura Cook

Laura is an Administration Assistant at Esker UK. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

One Team Beyond Boundaries – Summer in Lyon

Jennifer Ball — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 12:32:14 +0000

Early August in Lyon: sunny, scenic and… somewhat deserted! Between mid-July and the start of the September, thanks to the bank holidays, summer heat and school break, many French employees leave the city on grandes vacances. Whilst it might have left me with a slightly skewed view of the city, you’ll find no complaints here about quieter roads, space on the metro, quick(er) seating and service at restaurants.

In my new role in marketing, I spent a week in Lyon for training at Esker’s head office in
Villeurbanne: a slick, modern building overlooking Parc de la Tete d’Or, usually home to over 300 employees.

The training itself had us working with and meeting colleagues from across Esker’s teams and office locations throughout the week, as well as exploring and understanding our solutions and technology.

And at the end of a long day in the office – time to enjoy the so-called ‘capital of gastronomy’ and explore the historic sights. My recommendation? Take the funicular up to Fourvière for spectacular views across the city; make time to go inside the basilica to see the dazzlingly ornate mosaics and gilt work. Then head back into the old town for a menu du jour, washed down with plentiful French wine.

Jennifer Ball

As Marketing Co-ordinator for Esker UK, Jennifer manages Esker UK's marketing campaigns and events for S2P solutions. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.