Challenge

With a combined group turnover of over €400 million, Homevalue Hardware is a buying group for over 100 independent home, garden, DIY and builders merchants throughout Ireland. Homevalue Hardware needed to manage a complex, manual billing process with over 155,000 paper invoices issued every month. In addition, each independent member placed orders directly with a vendor, who sent the vendor invoice to Homevalue Hardware. Over 155,000 invoices were manually processed annually. Invoices were received in both paper and electronic formats, and for legal compliance required a company revenue stamp. Homevalue Hardware had to pay the vendor, generate an AR invoice manually, and invoice the member.

Solution

SoftCo Accounts Payable Automation provides Homevalue Hardware with full visibility over their entire AP Process, fully automating the capture, matching, and approval of 155,000 vendor invoices before payment posting to their Integrity ERP system. The solution captures all Homevalue Hardware invoices electronically and pre-populates fields using SoftCo’s outsource service.  Invoice approval and query management is streamlined through the automated routing of invoices to assigned business users. The solution integrates seamlessly with Homevalue Hardware’s internal ERP system, Integrity, ensuring that approved invoices are automatically posted to Integrity for payment. SoftCo eBilling fully automates the issuing of Homevalue Hardware’s 144,000 customer invoices each month. Homevalue Hardware configures billing frequencies and distribution methods for each of their customers, issuing invoices much faster than their previous manual billing process and accelerating payment cycles.

Results

By implementing SoftCo Accounts Payable Automation, Homevalue Hardware have reduced invoice-handling times by 50%. Auto-match has delivered straight-through processing of invoices. Fully automated and configurable workflows for invoice query resolution and approval have further reduced the manual touchpoints involved and accelerated the overall process. With SoftCo eBilling, Homevalue Hardware have achieved a 90% reduction in manual invoice generation, processing, distribution, and postage costs. The solution sends legally compliant, digitally signed invoices, and related data electronically to their member stores. The SoftCo eBilling portal addresses all payment queries and ensures the AR team and members have full visibility of all AR invoices and supporting information.