Coty

CHALLENGES: Moving on from paper

While moving in such a wide range of markets and products created a successful company, the sheer vastness of Coty’s portfolio also resulted in a considerable complexity when it came to processing orders and promotional debit notes. The +12,000 annual documents were processed through an internally developed 100% paper-based solution. Even emails and EDI messages were printed out and then manually entered into SAP.

This led to a lack of process visibility, delays and errors, inefficient allocation of advertising charges across product lines as well as an inability to assess time spent on individual tasks. As a result, the company was looking for a solution to reduce the complexity of these processes, with a particular focus on handling customer deductions.

OBJECTIVES
- Reduce the complexity of deductions processing
- Establish validation flows based on amount and type
- Increase process visibility
- Implement workflows that fit the company’s organisational structure

RESULTS: The scent of success & efficiency

Esker Claims & Deductions provides each Sales Manager with personalised dashboards, enabling them to conduct their own analysis and make relevant acceptance or contest decisions. These dashboards are also visible to the Finance and CS departments, significantly streamlining the process and reducing Coty’s Consumer Beauty division’s collections period from 59.7 to 26.5 days.

The automation of advertising deductions has allowed the company to allocate costs across product lines according to established percentages, leading to a notable decrease in processing time and errors. Real-time statistics, metrics and reports provide visibility into pending deductions by quantity and value, ensuring accurate allocation and improved accounting efficiency.

Real-time statistics and reports at every process stage have enabled Coty to identify bottlenecks and launch corrective actions, achieving 100% visibility over the entire process. Automatic categorisation ensures that deductions are distributed to the appropriate AR, CS, or Sales team, thereby enhancing workflow efficiency.

With Esker’s machine-learning technology processing times from receipt to resolution have been drastically reduced, from 60 days to just 1 day. The solution’s ability to identify, categorise and allocate deductions has improved overall processing agility.

When you open the solution you can see how many deductions there are, what type they are and what their status is. This has helped us reduce debt, DSO and improve all of our main indicators.”
Irma Ruiz | Credit Control Manager, Coty

Improved deduction controls, dynamic graphs and real-time status updates have enhanced visibility into approval workflows and processing stages. This has led to positive financial impacts, including the ability to preview actual sales at any time and achieve improved margins by quickly contesting and reconciling erroneous deductions.

The success of the project has prompted Coty to extend the implementation of Esker to other Coty divisions. The company is also implementing the Esker Anywhere™ mobile application, which allows the Sales team to assist in validating pending deductions or disputing and reconciling unjustified ones while on the go. Additionally, the company is exploring the possibilities of automating deductions in other business units.

Overall, Esker’s solution has transformed Coty’s deductions management processes, delivering significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and financial performance.

The great advantage of Esker is that it gives us visibility into the highly complex process of managing deductions.”
Accounts Receivable Manager, Coty

HIGHLIGHTS

- Reduced collections period by 57%
- Enhanced visibility over deductions for Customer Service and Finance teams
- Identification of bottlenecks
- Greater capacity for decision-making