Member Article

Fashion company automates global invoice processing with Palette

Filippa K, a leading Scandinavian fashion company with a presence in 20 countries, has selected an advanced cloud-based invoice management solution from purchase-to-pay specialist, Palette, to create a streamlined and efficient invoicing process across its international business.

Filippa K, which has seven offices including its Stockholm headquarters and over 200 employees, will deploy PaletteOnline to automate checking, authorisation and processing of the approximate 10,000 annual invoices received across its retail and wholesale businesses to create a secure, paperless process and archiving system that is consistent across its organisation.

Filippa K evaluated several solutions, and selected PaletteOnline because of its user-friendly interface and its rich functionality, allowing electronic archiving and simplifying workload for employees.

Susanna Liljeqvist, IT manager, Filippa K, commented: “With the company’s growth and geographical spread, we needed to gain better control and establish a more effective way of handling our invoice processing. If we were going to make the transition from manually processed to automated invoicing, we wanted to eliminate any paper and have the system hosted for us. PaletteOnline provides this service as well as being a flexible yet functional solution that supports our many requirements.”

The fashion company has offices and stores in several countries, meaning those authorised to administrate and approve invoices are regularly travelling. PaletteOnline, hosted on the internet, enables 24-hour access to invoices on smartphones or any platform with internet connection, which means the whole purchase-to-pay process saves time and is simpler for employees to manage.

Susanna Liljeqvist continued: “Our invoicing can sometimes be a long and complex process, requiring several approvers for a payment. The functionality of our automated system will be the key to streamlining the process, with the ability to tailor individual invoices and add deadline and reminders at every stage, to ensure our payment terms are consistent for our suppliers.”

Approximately 50 people across all centralised departments (finance, order and purchasing, logistics) will use PaletteOnline. All supplier invoices will be requested electronically and scanned using Readsoft. Once interpreted, the invoices will automatically be distributed to the correct person(s) for approval, with any additional tailored criteria inputted. Once approved, the finance department receives the invoice for a final check and it is integrated into the ERP system overnight and electronically recorded and scheduled for payment.

Implementation of PaletteOnline will begin this month (February 2013). It is expected to be fully integrated with Filippa K’s ERP system and up and running effectively later this spring, with anticipated real time and cost savings for the firm.

PaletteOnline gives companies of any size the fastest possible route to easier, more flexible invoice processing: users get secure access in the cloud to their supplier invoices for checking, authorisation and detailed reporting, from any location with a Web connection. PaletteOnline needs virtually no set-up time, unlike traditional invoice processing systems, enabling companies to quickly make the transition to automated invoice handling and to benefit from real, ongoing cost and time savings. PaletteOnline links to customers’ ERP and business systems through a secure web service, giving seamless, safe communication between the two. Once approved, all incoming invoices are securely stored with the corresponding postal information. Finance departments experience a wide range of instant benefits, such as reduced workload, better control, and reduced costs.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucy Beck .