MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Esker, the leader in document process automation solutions, today announced that International Companies, the corporate umbrella for four leaders in the food ingredient industry, has successfully implemented an Esker on Demand solution to automate the processing and delivery of customer invoices. The Esker solution integrates with International Companies’ ERP system and leverages Esker production facilities to eliminate the need for manual mail processing while facilitating customer adoption of electronic invoicing.
Prior to the Esker solution, International Companies was looking to reduce the costs of printing, approving and delivering 30-40 invoices per day to a base of 800-1,000 customers. With each of its four operating companies creating their own sales orders and reporting to a single accounting department, invoices were printed in-house and sent back to the corresponding operating company for review before being prepared for postal delivery. Approved invoices were then stuffed into envelopes by an administrative staffer, which took approximately two hours per day. “If the admin person wasn’t available, we were using higher paid accounting staff to stuff envelopes,” said Dave Wymer, Director of Information Services at International Companies.
International Companies also recognized the risk of errors with this manual process, such as documents getting left out of the envelope or going into the wrong envelope. “You can’t underestimate the value of avoiding the potential for those kinds of errors,” said Wymer.
Wymer and his team first considered transferring the mail delivery of invoices to a commercial mail house. Then, they met Esker at a Microsoft Convergence conference. “We were really looking into solutions for general electronic faxing out of our ERP system,” said Wymer. “Then we saw that Esker had a total invoicing package as a service. They could do the mail, and we had the option of invoicing by email, fax or a web portal. We also liked the idea that customers could check their own invoices online instead of calling with questions and bouncing back and forth between the operating companies and accounting. Once we saw the Esker solution, it was much simpler for us.”
“Now we just run an invoicing report, look it over and send it off to Esker,” added Wymer. “We’ve cut those two hours of processing down to 30 minutes or less. Along with the time savings, we’ve eliminated the risk of errors with manual envelope stuffing. And we figure we’re saving at least 50 percent on the cost of processing an invoice now.”
Today, International Companies leverages Esker production facilities for all invoice mailing. To encourage customers to move to electronic invoicing via email or the web portal and go green by reducing mail, the company is promoting Esker on Demand to customers as a value-added service (at no cost) offering enhanced features to access invoices on demand. As a result, a significant number of customers have already moved to electronic invoicing via email or the web portal. The Esker solution also enables International Companies to run reports on invoice processing statistics.
“We’re thrilled that International Companies is taking full advantage of Esker on Demand for customer invoicing and seeing real results,” said Steve Smith, U.S. Chief Operating Officer at Esker. “International Companies is on their way toward 100% electronic delivery of accounts receivable invoices, and we look forward to helping them get there.”
About International Companies
International Companies is a privately held, family-owned business encompassing four operating companies. International Food Products is a strategic purchaser, processor, packager, and distributor of food ingredients. International Ingredient Corporation manufactures specialty ingredients for the animal feed, petfood, and industrial markets. Dairy House Company is a partner to the dairy, food, and beverage industries in the development, application, and creation of flavor and ingredient systems. CHP Blenders is a leading supplier of quality blends for top wholesale bakeries, national chains, commercial manufacturers and foodservice distributors. Headquartered in Fenton, Missouri, with 16 locations throughout the country, International Companies ranks among the top 100 privately held companies in the Saint Louis metro area, with revenue of $240 million in 2010.
About Esker
Esker is the worldwide leader in document process automation solutions. Addressing all types of business processes, from accounts payable and accounts receivable to sales order processing and procurement, Esker cloud computing solutions enable companies to automate the reception, processing and sending of any business document with one platform. Esker helps over 80,000 companies across the world to reduce the use of paper and eliminate manual processes while improving their productivity, efficiency and environmental impact.
With 36 million euros in sales revenue in 2011, Esker operates in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. Esker is listed on the NYSE Alternext in Paris (ISIN FR0000035818). For more information, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter at twitter.com/eskerinc and join the conversation on the Esker blog at www.quitpaper.com.
© 2012 Esker S.A. All rights reserved. Esker and the Esker logo are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of Esker S.A. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.