As we continue in turbulent economic times, happy and engaged employees are more important than ever to their businesses, making those essential productivity gains that can give the edge over the competition.

Whilst pay-packets and employee benefits are near the top of most job wish-lists, rising costs and high inflation have caused some organisations to place increasing focus on another high priority: job satisfaction.

At Esker we take pride in our process automation solutions benefitting not only the top line of the company, but just as importantly the working environment of those teams involved in Source-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash. We believe it’s vital for organisations to understand that automation isn’t about reducing headcount, it’s about making those employees count, and here’s how:

Eliminating manual, mundane tasks
One of the main employee-focused advantages of automation is the elimination of menial, tedious and time-consuming tasks that can take so much of some team members’ days. These are things like data entry, manually keying invoices, searching for paper documents, and so on. Automating these essential but high-time-cost tasks gives way to a huge window of opportunity for better use of time for these staff.

Focus on value-adding activities
With all those hours freed-up from removing tedious tasks, employees find themselves with significantly more productive time, that they can now use to focus on high-value activities, personal development and creative solutions to problems. By giving them more time to be creative, automation can ultimately lead to more innovation.
Not only that, but automation also allows more time for inter-departmental and supplier relationships: instead of a rushed phone call to answer a question, employees can take the time to discuss properly and develop better working relationships with other teams and suppliers.

Taking pride in their work
The millennial workforce of today demands more than ‘just a job’ – they love to show off what they’re doing (hello, social media!) and have higher expectations for the work that they do. By making way for more meaningful work, increased flexibility, job mobility, and fewer obstacles to getting things done, employees value their responsibilities and take pride in the more purposeful activities that they’re undertaking.

A more productive, engaged and efficient workforce
Automated and controlled workflows in the S2P process make staff life easier. Intelligent and customisable dashboards mean that important information such as POs, invoices, supplier information and even KPIs are available at the touch of a button. Armed with accurate and automated information, human error is reduced, processes become more seamless, and employees are more efficient and engaged.

Esker’s Source-to-Pay suite is designed to help with all of the above: removing departmental siloes, streamlining procurement processes, improving enforcement of policy compliance, and enhancing supplier management with better visibility over the entire buying process.

As the world of technology continues to evolve, an ever-increasing proportion of the workforce are used to having technology play an essential and transformational role in their lives. It naturally follows that embracing this same mindset in the workplace will motivate and create a working environment that gives them the opportunity to meet their full potential.
Using tools such as AI-driven automation, businesses need to invest in digital transformation to get the best of both worlds: a technological foundation that helps attract and retain skilled workers while delivering real, perceptible business advantages.

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.

Read more insights from Jennifer Ball

The role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in business has never been more important. The sweeping digital transformation in the corporate world has been further accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic and IT security is ever more paramount since the war in Ukraine too.

CIOs are no longer confined to the roles of technical experts and enforcers of IT practices, but they have become craft-persons for the transformation affecting every business unit in a company. Accelerated automation of the Procure-to-Pay (P2P) and Order-to-Cash (O2C) processes are at the heart of these transformative challenges. Paperless automated solutions, providing full visibility whether at home or in the office, have improved overall company performance by reducing processing times, improving cost control and achieving full traceability.
For many companies who had to adapt extremely quickly to teams working remotely, those who had started their digital transformation journey were more resilient and able to adjust their working practices more efficiently. Those visionary CIOs had the necessary equipment to weather the storm.
In addition, there continues to be many other demands placed on CIOs: security, change management and the continuous optimisation of the information system.

Lessons learnt

Beyond the drama caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, an excellent learning experience emerges: 76% of CIOs believe that remote working due to lockdowns boosted the use of collaborative apps, such as company social networks, project and meeting management tools, and team messaging platforms¹.
A CIO is in charge of equipping teams with efficient automation tools and collaborative solutions such as SaaS, AI and RPA technologies. As cybersecurity and data security should take a prime position among the core values of a company, CIOs need to opt for solutions that are reliable, stable and resilient.
This also includes the adoption of automation solutions suitable for effectively managing and optimising customer and supplier invoicing and order management processes. Companies that had already adopted automated solutions for P2P and O2C processes were able to continue business activities and thereby contribute to keeping the economy going, whereas those that hadn’t, had to scramble and admit to themselves that they had squandered a valuable resource and opportunity.

If the CIO does not offer employees the professional tools they need to perform their jobs, they will often adopt workaround solutions that endanger a company’s security strategy. Because cybersecurity and data security should take a prime position among the core values of a company, CIOs need to opt for solutions that are reliable, stable and resilient.

The CIO: a catalyst of transformation

Digitisation is no longer a choice, it’s a strategic necessity that affects every line of business in a company. Going digital means rethinking all internal processes, with an explicit emphasis on management processes. Digital transformation is based on different organisational, human and technical factors. These are subject to constant decision-making processes and adjustments in order to ensure durable performance while simultaneously interrupting day-to-day operations as little as possible.

CIOs and their IT teams are the key strategists and coordinators of an effective, pragmatic and uniform approach to the digital transformation process. Listening skills, critical analysis and the ability to convey relevant instructions and recommendations are all essential qualities when the involvement of corporate Executive Committees (COMEX) comes into play.

The decisions made by the information systems team have very real ramifications throughout all of the business units. This demands a real awareness of the CIO to the needs of all business units as well as the ability to communicate effectively, constituting a multifaceted and fascinating mission for the CIO.

There are three key arguments for adopting automation solutions for P2P and O2C processes:
• Acceleration of document processing times, such as invoices, orders, remittances and delivery notes
• Visibility and traceability that can limit legal disputes and resolve them faster
• Simplified processes so employees can focus on higher-value tasks

A CIO’s experience of working with Esker

Jean-Luc Vielmont, CIO France at Algeco, says,
“The key factors leading to the success of the project were the close collaboration with Esker, effective change management and the ability to measure operational efficiency at every stage:
• Facilitation of interdepartmental cooperation
• Comprehensive change management strategies that involved end users from the onset of the project
• Reporting and dashboards providing clarity on the data flow results”

A CIO can turn challenges into opportunities by speeding up and facilitating digital transformation.
By meeting up with all business units on both a formal and informal basis allows the CIO to take charge of the process by listening to all stakeholders and advocating for the project.

Nicolas Bragard, CIO at Esker says,
“The CIO’s advantage is an ability to detect and measure the return on investment of each action to advance a company’s digital transformation. To meet this challenge, they need to step away from the day-to-day operations. Support ticket fatigue is a real risk. This is why opting for solutions with built-in ergonomics that are reliable, resilient and secure gives the most effective launch pad for a company-wide digital transformation project.”

The future – digital transformation … and then what?

Going faster, being more efficient and responsive. This is the essence of an Esker-designed digital transformation. Automation of P2P and O2C processes continue to accelerate with businesses facing tight deadlines. Regulations regarding mandatory e-invoicing are being enacted worldwide in the next few years, which will push businesses to automate their cash flow processes.
By utilising the experience and expertise of partners like Esker, CIOs will be able to ensure a smooth and stable transition to automation.

Contact us today to discuss your requirements.

¹ JDN survey/Club Décision DSI/IT Research. https://www.journawwldunet.com/solutions/dsi/1495671-lastrategie-it-des-moyennes-et-grandes-entreprises-francaises-face-au-covid

Alistair Nicholas

Alistair is the Managing Director of Esker Northern Europe

Read more insights from Alistair Nicholas

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, today announced a partnership with Fujitsu Asia, the regional headquarters for the Fujitsu group of companies in ASEAN. As part of the agreement, Fujitsu Asia will provide consultation, implementation and support for Esker’s Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash suites to their customers in Singapore. This alliance fully aligns with Esker’s growth strategy and will enable Fujitsu Asia to further develop its service offering.

Fujitsu Asia has identified key areas on which to focus their efforts to drive market digitalisation, which include the migration of business applications to the cloud. This approach helps organisations of all shapes and sizes to become more agile, profitable and efficient in even the most volatile commercial environments.

“Fujitsu’s expertise increases our opportunities to enable businesses in achieving positive-sum growth through technology adoption,” said Albert Leong, Managing Director, Esker Asia. “Together we help businesses efficiently speed up their cash conversion cycle, particularly in today’s hybrid working model.”

This partnership strengthens Fujitsu’s vision of sustainability by building trust in society through innovation and with Esker’s AI-driven automation solutions, Fujitsu Asia empowers businesses to achieve even more. By leveraging technologies such as AI, machine learning and robotic process automation, they can achieve efficiency, collaboration and visibility.

“We are happy to partner with Esker to help businesses automate their financial processes and undergo their own digital transformation,” said Goh Kok Tiong, Head of Application Services, Fujitsu Asia. “Through the automation of tasks, companies will be better able to prioritise their commercial opportunities and innovate with agility.” 

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

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

Read more insights from Esker UK

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, today announced the launch of its Customer Enquiries Management solution add-on to help customer service departments address enquiries faster and free up staff to focus on customer-facing activities. Seamlessly integrated with Esker’s Order Management solution, this add-on serves as a digital assistant for the customer service email inbox by classifying and routing messages to the right recipient or the right process.

Traditional email applications often cannot handle the email volumes that crowd the customer service inbox. Emails eventually get dumped into a few different folders, requiring someone to spend hours sorting and forwarding them to the appropriate recipient. Performance is further hampered because there is little to no visibility over which enquiries were answered and a lack of flexibility for other customer service representatives (CSRs) to take over, if necessary.

To improve the process, Esker’s Customer Enquiries Management solution uses AI capabilities to classify emails, such as RFQs, orders, status requests, remittances or claims into categories. Classified enquiries can then be answered using predefined email templates or routed via email to the appropriate person, department or process. Requests are addressed promptly, preserving good customer relationships. Thanks to automation, CSRs have more time to spend on added-value tasks focused on customer satisfaction.

Esker’s intelligent dashboards provide full visibility over the entire process, displaying real-time counters and KPIs to monitor and analyse customer enquiries by type, date or customer, enabling CSRs to quickly identify necessary process improvements.

Esker’s Customer Enquiries Management solution has made the CSR team’s job at Palmer Holland, a North American chemicals and ingredient distributor, noticeably easier. Using automated enquiry classification and routing, Esker’s solution provides CSRs with a collaborative platform to triage and analyse all 5,000 of its monthly customer requests quickly and easily. “It takes maybe a second or two to validate an enquiry now. The time savings is one of the biggest benefits,” said Aiza Toor, Customer Service Manager at Palmer Holland. Routing emails now only takes four hours a week, as opposed to four hours a day, thanks to Esker’s accurate AI-based enquiries classification.

“The addition of our Customer Enquiries Management solution to our Order-to-Cash suite aligns with our positive-sum growth strategy, as it helps both suppliers and customers build stronger relationships and improve the efficiency of their business processes,” said Aurélien Coq, Order Management Product Manager at Esker. “We help empower customer service departments with more strategic, fulfilling work and at the same time provide their customers with an improved experience — everyone wins.”

Esker’s Customer Enquiries Management solution is available worldwide.

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

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

Read more insights from Esker UK

In law, force majeure is described as an act of God, unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract. Force majeure would be bad if the contracts had been mutually beneficial, and good for the party who had wanted out. In life, force majeure is an irresistible compulsion or superior strength. If in your favour, say helping you in an ordeal, then your victory is assured. However, if it is against you, you’ve lost. Whether in law or in life, whether for you or against you, the power is on a grand scale. The results, the cost or benefit, will therefore also be devastating or grand.

The prevailing global force majeure is the pandemic. Devastating in human cost and grand in short-circuiting the production of not just one, but several vaccines, from 10 years to 10 months. Force majeure, miracles, revelations are life and situation changers.

Behaviours have changed since the pandemic hit. People embraced this digital age’s new tools at home and for work. The more successful enterprises grasped the advantages of digitisation very quickly. They cut the umbilical cord and compulsion of being office-bound and stole a march on the competition. Such acts were transformative in their own right. Now add the benefits of 24/7 control, visibility, remove the manual tasks, the human errors, with intelligent machine learning and factor in speed of processing, so the same staff produce more, and the costs tumble. For example, in customer service, digitised order management becomes smoother and faster. CSRs are freed up to give customers the extra time, attention and service they deserve and nurture their loyalty.

Let’s take an example from June 2020:
“Before we had Esker, a standard order took about nine minutes to process,” said Jesse Sandoval, CSR, Order Management at Lam Research. “But once we had Esker, the process was down to 1-2 minutes. Because Esker can handle PDFs, it was able to fill a gap we had in our process. The beauty of Esker’s solution is its ability to ‘learn’ as we use it. The teaching and auto-learn functionalities were big factors in our ability to reduce overall touches and speed up process time.”

Lam Research reduced manual data entry, cut order processing time by 88 per cent, reduced manual changes per order from 3.7 to 2.8, lowered the possibility for errors and streamlined the workflow to realise greater customer service and see unprecedented order processing efficiencies.

Further, “Innovation is essential in driving the supply chain industry forward, and thanks to these valuable partnerships, companies of all sizes are able to achieve success in projects that matter,” says Marina Mayer, Editor for Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “From business intelligence systems and supply and demand planning, to inventory reduction and procurement solutions, the SDCE 100 offers proof-of-concept that with the right planning and execution, anything is possible.”

“We are honoured to be included in the SDCE 100 Top Supply Chain Projects list,” said Steve Smith, COO at Esker. “Esker is proud to support Lam Research in scaling globally to deliver a refined customer service and order processing experience.”

Today, as the world battles for control over this pandemic, digitisation has emerged king and a kingmaker. We have been challenged, changed and given new, better, cleaner choices about how we work. Hopefully our choices will be smart enough to assure that bright future we really do need.

Raj Sahota

As Internal Sales Manager at Esker, Raj looks after customers and prospective customers. She has been part of the Esker family since 2011.

Read more insights from Raj Sahota

1) Even if you’re not changing, your competition is
2) You could be saving large amounts of time and money
3) Your customers and suppliers are demanding it
4) Your employees are demanding change too
5) Your business’s future depends on it

This is where automation comes in. It’s one of those great buzzwords but what does it actually mean?
Process automation is the reduction or elimination of time-consuming, manual activities, which gives back valuable time for staff to work on more strategic tasks.

These manual processes occur throughout the P2P and O2C cycles – e.g. PO creation and tracking, invoice approvals, order processing, remittance, cash collection… the list goes on. And what’s more, the processes within these cycles are inextricably intertwined — a problem in one area creates a chain reaction that ultimately affects other core processes leading to high costs, long processing times, and a lack of efficiency across the business.

Automation put simply: that paperwork pile on your desk? Gone. Disjointed systems with no visibility? Not any more. Bottlenecks and delays? A thing of the past.

So your business is ready to start digital transformation, but where do you begin?
What should you look for in a process automation system?

Flexible, cloud-based automation solutions are proving to be the most effective way to achieve P2P and O2C efficiency, saving organisations significant time, money and resources, and setting them up for success should disruptions in business occur.

And here’s where Esker comes in. But don’t just take our word for it. Take a look at our customer success stories for automation examples from across the O2C and P2P cycles.

Esker’s single digital platform allows you to transform your entire enterprise from end to end, working alongside and integrating with your existing systems and ERPs, and uniting your business with customers and suppliers like never before.

Ready to take your business’s digital transformation into 2021?
Contact us for a free demo of our cloud-based automation solutions, or download our latest white paper for further reading: Digital Transformation of Core Business Cycles: How to create a highly efficient enterprise with AI-driven automation.

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.

Read more insights from Jennifer Ball

• Eliminating manual tasks such as invoice handling, PO matching, order consolidation
• Enhancing visibility and analytics with real-time, customisable dashboards to monitor KPIs such as order processing time, DSO, early payment discounts
• Improving the experience for customers and supplies with accelerated cycle times
• Boosting staff productivity by freeing up resource to focus on tasks that can really contribute to the bottom line

Alongside RPA, Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions observe inputs and learn what works and what doesn’t, to mimic human intelligence in repeated tasks so that the desired outcome is always achieved. Sounds complicated, but the end result is pretty simple: AI makes your job easier and your company easier to do business with.

Complex IT Landscapes

Construction companies often run on disparate, legacy systems that have been accumulated over time and through mergers and acquisitions. These come with added costs and complexities, and can be a spanner in the works when it comes to collaboration across departments, business agility, and ultimately, profits.
The thought of adding another technology to an already complicated infrastructure may seem counter-intuitive. However, automation via a Software as a Service (SaaS) model allows workflow outside ERP systems with no additional software, hardware or maintenance associated with the implementation. A great solution complements whatever infrastructure is currently in place — minus upfront costs, downtime and interference with existing systems.

How Automation Works

Procure-to-Pay

• Purchase orders created in a few clicks and verified against invoices with 3-way matching
• AP invoice data automatically extracted and, if necessary, routed for approval
• On-the-go approval with Esker Anywhere, reducing delays and bottlenecks
• Improved collaboration and shortened payment cycles with key suppliers
• Greater visibility over indirect and indirect spend

Order-to-Cash

• Automatic extraction of incoming order data with machine learning
• Orders logged in the ERP system with a copy archived for full audit trail
• Custom dashboards to monitor metrics, and customer portals to track order status
• Automatic extraction of invoice data and delivery to the customer based on their preferences
• Cash allocation matches incoming payments to outstanding invoices
• Collections management go beyond DSO to optimise and accelerate your cash collection process

Ready to go digital?

Designed to help business leaders and their teams achieve their goals, process automation makes your job easier. Work smarter, not harder.
Esker’s solutions can help across P2P and O2C cycles in the construction industry. Or – take one step at a time.
Take a look at our latest resources to find out more:-

• How the Construction Industry can Digitally Transform its Business Operations
• People, Process & Technology – Customer Service Excellence in the Construction Industry
• How The Construction Industry Can Harness Accounts Payable Automation

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.

Read more insights from Jennifer Ball

• Retrieving invoices or documents from customer or supplier portals
• Processing transactions
• Passing documents to other systems, e.g. sending invoices for approval or logging them in an ERP system

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is the theory and development of computer systems to perform or enhance tasks normally requiring human intelligence. AI improves speed and accuracy within document processing by completing tasks such as:

• Perceiving and interpreting documents
• Matching PO invoices with corresponding PO lines and goods receipts
• Identifying anomalies and predicting outcomes

Machine Learning
Based on input from users, a solution such as Esker’s learns how to process new document formats and expand its knowledge base. The more it learns, the more the recognition rate increases and the system can process documents of the same format without any input from users (touchless processing).

Deep Learning
Taking machine learning one step further, deep learning is a neural network using algorithmic software to train itself to perform tasks based on a large set of data. Put simply, the software analyses data to find patterns in the data so it knows what to expect and what to do with a new document when it comes in. Esker’s own deep learning technology, Synergy, has been trained by the millions of documents processed by its solutions over more than a decade, allowing businesses to benefit from high recognition rates from day one.

The Benefits
A digital solution such as Esker uses a combination of these technologies to automate manual inefficiencies and low-value tasks in the P2P and O2C cycles. This frees up teams to focus on more value-adding tasks, increases efficiency and reduces cycle times, benefiting not only your business, but your customer and suppliers too. Businesses set their own pace, choosing to automate one process at a time (Procurement, Accounts Payable, Order Management or Accounts Receivable), or automating entire cycles to unite their operations across a single, integrated platform.

Find out more
If all this technology talk has you buzzing to update your systems, take a look at the following resources for a more in-depth look into the benefits of process automation for the procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles:

AI & RPA: The Technology Powering P2P Digital Transformation

New Technologies for Order Management – Increase Your Competitiveness

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.

Read more insights from Jennifer Ball