The ReadSoft effect on: SAS
Process: Accounts payable automation
Segment: Airline
Country: Sweden
The airplanes of Scandinavian Airlines System fly all around the world—safely, reliably, and on time. Their supplier invoices, on the other hand, have stopped flying around, thanks to a new invoice processing system from ReadSoft, Component Software and Oracle. The invoices are now processed with the same accuracy, reliability and speed as any aircraft. “We’ve gained better control of our invoice flow,” says Ulla Edlund, Vice President at SAS Corporate Accounting.
Processing 350,000 invoices per year
At the end of the 1990’s, SAS started looking for a new business system to help increase the efficiency in their financial department. After a thorough study of the potential suppliers, they decided to implement a system from Oracle called Oracle Financials.
Efficient as the new business system was, SAS still faced one major bottleneck: getting the information from their incoming invoices into the system. Since SAS receives some 350,000 invoices every year, there was a great potential to save time and money if the information could be entered into the system automatically instead of manually keying in each invoice. Fortunately, this is exactly what ReadSoft’s software does.
SAS had previous contact with ReadSoft and had been very interested in the benefits of automatic document capture. When ReadSoft’s partner, Component Software, was able to offer a highly automated workflow system that included the ReadSoft software, SAS decided to proceed.
Now the SAS staff just puts their supplier invoices into a scanner and lets the computers take over.
How it works
The software automatically finds and extracts information from the invoices. After the information has been interpreted and verified, it is sent to the workflow system from Component Software and thereafter integrated with the business system, Oracle Financials.
The whole process is highly automated and has increased efficiency substantially at SAS. “When the system is running at full speed, we expect to lower our invoice processing costs by 50%,” says Ulla Edlund, Vice President at SAS Corporate Accounting.
Implementing the system
Connecting the three systems has not been big a concern at SAS. Indeed, one of the key benefits of ReadSoft’s software is that it is easy to integrate with other systems. Niclas Tojén at ReadSoft’s Professional Services worked on the SAS project. He explains: “For us this was a very easy project, since Component Software has a very smooth, pre-packaged solution. We’ve mainly been offering support on a few technical issues and some on-site training. Connecting the three systems has not been an issue at all.”
“The installation really was as easy as ReadSoft explained that it would be,” says Ulla Edlund. “We appreciated that they did not make promises they couldn’t keep, which is often the case with these kinds of projects. Overall, we’ve had a good dialogue with ReadSoft. They quickly grasped our needs and listened carefully to our questions and considerations.”
The bottom line
The most important benefit of the whole system is that SAS always knows exactly where each invoice is in the process now. When they were handled manually, that was not always the case. “We’ve gained better control of our invoice flow, and we have a more efficient process now,” concludes Ulla Edlund.