Overview 

The customer, a leading company in digital imaging products, manages a diverse range of products and works with multiple suppliers for essential items. Their procurement and supply chain operations are conducted using Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), with daily invoice processing volumes and vendor numbers reaching significant levels. The manual handling of these supplier invoices had become increasingly challenging, making it difficult to maintain efficiency and accuracy without automation. 

Challenges 

The customer’s accounts payable process was heavily dependent on manual procedures and managing and processing hardcopy invoices. This reliance led to significant delays, errors, and increased operational costs. A major pain point was the limited visibility into invoice due dates and payment schedules, resulting in missed deadlines and strained vendor relationships. Vendors were often left in the dark about the status of their invoices, leading to frequent follow-ups and frustration. 

With a finance team handling 50-60 invoices daily, processing times averaged 15-20 days—far too slow for a growing business. The mounting workload, combined with the complexity of multi-level approval workflows, created bottlenecks that the organization could no longer afford. 

Recognizing the need for greater efficiency, the organization sought an automated solution to improve visibility, streamline processes, and reduce manual workloads, enabling the finance team to focus on more strategic initiatives. 

Our Approach 

The Customer and Path have shared a mutually rewarding relationship for many years now with Path providing services and solutions since 2003. Over the years we have successfully delivered several projects for them. Path implemented SupplierEW Portal to automate their invoice-to-payment process. This solution was specifically designed to enable the organization to: 

  • Improve invoice processing time 
  • Reduce the cost per invoice processed 
  • Enhance the percentage of invoices paid on time 

The SupplierEWPortal addressed these challenges with a comprehensive and streamlined approach to invoice process automation. It optimized business operations by enhancing cost efficiency, streamlining payment approvals, and improving vendor management.  

Results 

With the implementation of SupplierEW, the organization strengthened supplier relationships and achieved key performance indicators, notably improving invoice processing times and ensuring a higher percentage of on-time payments. 

Benefits 

Through the implementation of the SupplierEW solution, the customer achieved significant improvements in their operations: 

Effortless Invoice Processing: 

  • Reduced manual data entry errors by 90%. 
  • Cut invoice processing time from 15-20 days to 3-5 days. 
  • Boosted finance team productivity by 40%, freeing up 30% of their time for strategic tasks. 

Real-time Visibility: 

  • Eliminated 95% of vendor follow-up inquiries with real-time tracking. 
  • Improved cash flow projections by 20% and reduced decision-making time by 25%. 

Seamless ERP Integration: 

  • Achieved integration with less than 2% downtime, maintaining 99.8% data consistency. 

Vendor Management: 

  • Reduced payment delays by 85%, improving vendor satisfaction and securing 15% better payment terms. 

Risk Mitigation and Compliance: 

  • Cut audit preparation time by 50% and reduced errors and fraud risks by 70%. 

 With the successful implementation of the SupplierEWPlatform, the customer is now well-positioned to build on these improvements. The focus moving forward will be on further optimizing the accounts payable process by exploring additional automation opportunities and expanding the platform’s capabilities. This will include integrating advanced analytics to enhance financial forecasting and decision-making. 

The customer also plans to leverage the platform’s capabilities to improve vendor collaboration, aiming to reduce payment cycles even further and strengthen supplier relationships. As the business continues to grow, the customer is committed to maintaining agility and efficiency in their financial operations, ensuring they can scale seamlessly while minimizing risks and maximizing value.