Invoice automation tool helps Tyco improve efficiency
Accounts payable operation also reduces costs
Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 11/30/2009 3:45:24 PM
The accounts payable (AP) operation at two Tyco International companies has implemented an invoice automation tool from provider Basware across locations in the United Kingdom that has helped streamline processes and improve efficiency. In the first year, use of the tool at Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions and ADT Fire and Security also helped reduce costs by $640,000.
Basware Invoice Automation automates the invoice-handling process: From the data capture of paper-based and electronic invoices through matching the invoices with purchase orders (PO) and contract information to review, approve and transfer to payment.
Implementing the tool enabled Tyco to centralize its AP system now hosted from a new shared services center in Manchester, England. Previously, the two Tyco companies which processes hundreds of thousands of invoices annually had been doing so through a decentralized system from local sites.
Managing the invoicing process is now much more efficient for the company's shared services AP team, which processes 70,000 invoices for each AP employee; before, the team had been processing about 10,000 invoices, says Steve Katona, UK accounts payable manager at ADT and Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions, who in his role works closely with the purchasing operation at Tyco International.
"Basware has helped us to achieve a 75% reduction in invoice cycle time, down from four weeks to five days, so we are processing the 420,000 invoices we handle each year much more efficiently," he says.
The Basware tool offers "the best fit" because of its ability to be customized according to existing processes and ERP systems in each of our UK locations, Katona adds. "Since we are part of a larger global organization we wanted to implement a solution that would be flexible enough to accommodate any future changes to the processes across international operations."
In September, Purchasing presented the magazine's Medal of Professional Excellence to the purchasing operation at Tyco International.
See also: Procure to pay helps buyers bank savings
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