SPI, the African distributor for utility software products and services to the Open Systems segment of the IT industry and the southern African reseller for Esker, a leader in document process automation solutions, today announced that the latter has been selected by Network Services Company, an international, member-owned distribution network, to automate outbound mailing and faxing of purchase orders, invoices and accounts receivable statements. Integrated with Network Services' newly adopted SAP system, the Esker solution has streamlined processing of its 3 000+ documents per month to more than 100 suppliers, customers and member-distributors.
Prior to integrating with SAP and utilising the Esker solution, Network Services relied on a variety of legacy systems to manage its fax and mail volume. In total, three different fax systems and a mail house were in place across three ERP systems, each with their own unique set of burdensome characteristics.
“Each of our operating companies had its own faxing system that went with its ERP system, and when we acquired a new company in 2009, we inherited another ERP system, along with all the quirks that came with it,” commented Paul Roche, CIO of Network Services.
“It made for a terribly inefficient process; for instance, month-end mailing processes typically took seven to 10 days to reach the end customer, and the processes placed strain on our IT personnel to check and manage multiple servers each day. Plus, we were supporting large hardware, software and maintenance costs for faxing.”
The decision was made to consolidate everything into one ERP system through implementation of SAP. Subsequently, Roche and others at Network Services sought a certified SAP partner to maximise the efficiency of an on-demand solution.
“We went to numerous conferences to discover who the leaders were in hosted solutions and SAP partnership and Esker quickly catapulted to the top of the list,” continued Roche. “Not only did Esker allow us to avoid installing and managing new software, we could do fax and mail all from the same cloud-based platform. It was a no-brainer.”
With the Esker solution, Network Services was able to eliminate its old fax systems and fully integrate outbound faxing and mailing of purchase orders, invoices and AR statements from SAP. Now, incoming copies of all documents automatically go back from Esker into the SAP system, making images immediately available from the interface, visible from within SAP to all appropriate parties.
Roche has already seen the significant benefits of supporting one platform. “From an IT standpoint, and even company-wide, we've made major strides in simplification, visibility and efficiency,” added Roche. “It's quite remarkable; where several IT people used to have to manage and monitor multiple systems, now everything is in one place, managed by a single person. The mailing process used to take one week or more, and now files sent to Esker to be mailed go out the next day.
“On reducing errors and increasing visibility, if a supplier has a question about a purchase order, with single click accessibility, our users can open the PDF directly from within the transaction in SAP. We're guaranteed to be looking at the same image, so there's no need for us to search the fax system and do a reprint. It's incredibly easy to set up new users and delegate additional users to gain access. Based on our success with POs and AR documents outbound, we're definitely looking to do inbound accounts payable in the future,” concluded Roche.
Network Services Company
With revenue strength exceeding $12 billion and more than 40 years' of excellence, Network Services Company is an international, member-owned organisation that provides distribution services to more than 75 best-in-class member distributors and global accounts in the healthcare, commercial real estate and industrial markets.
The Network solution includes janitorial, food service and industrial packaging products and services that contribute to increased wellness and productivity, while reducing costs and improving service. Network customised services provide centralised spend management control, while meeting unique local market needs for companies with multiple locations throughout North America and Europe.
For further information, please contact Chris Anderson at tel. (+27) 11 234 1560; fax (+27) 11 234 1387; e-mail chris@spi.co.za.
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