Fives Selects Esker’s Accounts Payable Solution for Efficient Invoice Management in an International Context
Derby, UK — 6th October 2017 — Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and pioneer in cloud computing, today announced it is working with Fives, a large industrial engineering group, to automate an annual volume of 55,000 supplier invoices from five of its companies. Esker’s cloud-based Accounts Payable solution has enabled Fives to optimise its supplier invoice process and improve the daily life of its accountants.
Prior to Esker, Fives’ accountants spent large amounts of time manually processing invoices and getting approvals from more than 300 approvers. Looking to speed-up the tedious and often error-prone job, Fives sought a solution that could meet the following objectives:
- Standardise processes across all companies and seamlessly integrate with Fives’ SAP® system
- Automate the group’s processes and improve performance
- Anticipate the evolution of the European regulatory framework on e-invoicing
- Offer a scalable solution to easily roll out to additional companies within the group
Fives has an extensive network of companies that spans more than 30 countries. Five companies within the group currently use Esker to process 55,000 yearly invoices from more than 2,500 suppliers, many of which include purchase orders.
An agile solution for an international reach
Esker’s solution was implemented in less than two months thanks to Fives’ advanced planning and Esker’s use of Agile methodology for solution implementation. With Esker’s multi-lingual capabilities and cross-border success, the AP solution can easily be scaled out and adapted to meet Fives’ international needs.
“Esker’s scalable solution will allow us to easily integrate new companies within our group in the future,” said Florent Prime, Project Manager at Fives. “Esker came highly recommended by other very satisfied companies, which, in the end, was the decisive factor.”
Benefits of AP automation
Thanks to Esker, Fives has achieved numerous benefits, including:
- Reduced invoice approval time with on-the-go review and approval capabilities, thanks to the mobile application Esker Anywhere™
- Increased visibility thanks to end-to-end AP automation
- Increased productivity within the AP team, allowing staff to spend more time on higher-value tasks
- Ability to monitor team performance thanks to dashboards and metrics
“We appreciate the fact that Esker’s solution seamlessly integrates with SAP, while remaining independent — which is not the case for all solutions on the market,” said Prime. “Thanks to Esker, our accountants now have more time to spend on higher-value tasks.”
About Fives
As an industrial engineering company with a heritage of over 200 years, Fives designs and supplies machines, process equipment and production lines for the world’s largest industrial players in various sectors such as steel, aerospace and special machining, aluminum, automotive and manufacturing industries, cement, energy, logistics and glass. The effectiveness of its R&D programs enables Fives to design forward-thinking solutions that anticipate industrials’ needs in terms of profitability, performance, quality, safety and respect for the environment. In 2016, Fives achieved a turnover of €1.8 billion and employed close to 8,400 people in about 30 countries.
About Esker
Esker is a worldwide leader in cloud-based document process automation software. Esker solutions, including the acquisition of the TermSync accounts receivable solution in 2015, help organisations of all sizes to improve efficiencies, accuracy, visibility and costs associated with business processes. Esker provides on-demand and on-premises software to automate accounts payable, order processing, accounts receivable, purchasing and more.
Founded in 1985, Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2016, Esker generated 66 million euros in total sales revenue. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.co.uk. Follow Esker on LinkedIn at Esker – Northern Europe, or on Twitter at @EskerNEurope and join the conversation on the Esker blog.