Monthly Archives: February 2013

Bottomline Technologies Announces New Releases of Logical Ink® and MedEx®

Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY), a leading provider of cloud-based payment, invoice and banking solutions, recently announced general availability of Logical Ink 4.6 and MedEx 4.0, the newest releases of the company’s flagship mobile and on-demand document automation solutions for healthcare organizations. Bottomline’s solutions are helping more than 1,500 healthcare organizations improve business efficiencies, reduce costs and improve care quality.

With Logical Ink, the experience of capturing discrete patient data and the electronic signatures required for documentation can be mobile-enabled for patients, staff and caregivers. Windows®-based tablets, digital ink, and a pen-based interface deliver a simple, intuitive user experience that’s as natural and unrestrictive as paper, with all the benefits of mobility, including immediate data validation at the point of care.

With MedEx, clinical staff can easily access and output standardized documents, barcoded patient wristbands, and labels that include up-to-date information. Documents that reflect the most current data ensure positive patient identification and allow hospitals to optimize the efficiency of document-driven processes across the continuum of care. MedEx’s automatic indexing capabilities also enable healthcare facilities to eliminate the expense and management hassles of pre-printed forms and significantly reduce time-consuming document preparation, scanning and filing tasks.

Highlights of the Logical Ink 4.6 release include new functionality for Microsoft Word import, support for Topaz® signature pads, advanced synchronization for off-line use, and enhanced patient data models to support multi-facility and enterprise deployments. Highlights of the MedEx 4 release include an updated user interface to improve usability, improved HL7 processing performance and scalability, and enhanced ability to manage patient data entry and updates in the downtime registration function.

Click here to view the entire Bottomline Technologies press release.

Mobile functionality around financial automation solutions is becoming increasingly more popular. Organizations operate at the speed of light and mobile functionality keeps things moving when users are on the go.

 

Anersum Selects Perceptive Intelligent Capture for Processing of International Trade Documents, Invoices

Perceptive Software recently announced that Anersum (Grupo ECCE), a Mexico-based provider of innovative solutions, including international trade and compliance services, has selected Perceptive Intelligent Capture, powered by Brainware, to enable efficient and accurate processing of international trade documents.

In addition to offering customers a scalable, reliable platform for handling these vital documents, Anersum believes that by introducing intelligent data capture (IDC) technology they will enable productivity enhancements that do not currently exist in the market.

By fortifying their Quantum Virtual Compliance Office solution for international trade with IDC capabilities, Anersum will be empowered to offer customers a streamlined, reliable and low-cost platform for import and export processes and operations. Anersum will also incorporate IDC as a component of their accounts payable offering. This offering will accept not only paper invoices, but also electronic invoices, in keeping with the Mexican government’s mandate to use electronic invoices. The designed platform will integrate with SAP and Oracle enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, as well as QAD Manufacturing Pro material requirements planning (MRP) systems.

Click here to view the entire Perceptive Software press release.

To learn more about Perceptive Software (Brainware) download a complimentary copy of PayStream’s report titled Receivables Document Management: Moving Toward a Paperless AR Organization. The report features a detailed Perceptive Software profile and case study.
 

Accounts Receivable Professionals in Houston Oil and Gas Industry Form New Group for SAP

The Oil & Gas A/R Roundtable, sponsored by the National Association of Credit Management (NACM) and HighRadius provides a forum to discuss best practices for SAP Receivables Management Modules. A meeting of the Oil & Gas A/R Roundtable took place on January 24, 2013 and was attended by over 30 credit & accounts receivable professionals with an interest in the SAP Receivables Management (formerly FSCM) modules. The forum is designed to give participants the opportunity to identify common issues and share ideas and best practices about how to optimize the use of SAP for credit and A/R functions in the oil & gas industry. The Roundtable will continue to meet on a quarterly basis.

HighRadius partnered with the National Association of Credit Management (NACM) to put on the event that featured an expert session and roundtable discussion. Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to learn from one another. As Rick Carroll, Supervisor of Credit & Collections from Anadarko Petroleum Corporation stated, “Gathering with other A/R professionals from the Houston Oil & Gas community with a common interest in SAP is important, and we’re glad to be a part of this group. The networking and opportunity to hear the challenges others have experienced and solutions we could potentially leverage was very valuable”.

The event is unique in the Houston Oil & Gas community in that it is exclusively for the credit and A/R professionals who work in SAP to manage their organization’s credit and collections functions. Future events will offer continuing education credits, and the sponsoring organizations expect attendance to grow over time.

Those with an interest in future events may visit here to learn more and register for updates.

Click here to view the entire HighRadius press release.

To learn more about HighRadius, download a complimentary copy of PayStream’s report titled Revenue Cycle Management: Increasing Control Over the Order-to-Cash Process. The report features a detailed HighRadius profile and case study.

 

Chrome River EXPENSE Helps Consulting Firms Find Hidden Profits

Chrome River Technologies, a leading provider of expense management and automated invoice processing software, recently held an online Expense Management webinar for consulting firms. The purpose of the webinar was to educate attending firms on how to best automate expense report processing to lower costs, improve operational efficiency, increase client billable expense recovery and enhance employee satisfaction.

Many organizations today are still using manual methods for expense reporting, such as entering expenses into a spread sheet with corresponding receipts taped to a sheet of paper and attached to the spread sheet. This paper-based process is then routed through interoffice mail for approval. If one item on the expense report is rejected or questioned, the entire expense report is held up. This manual method creates a long process that is time-consuming, inefficient, error-prone and inaccurate.

The Expense Management webinar highlighted Chrome River EXPENSE, which can be used by consulting firms to find hidden profits by dramatically improving the cost, accuracy and productivity that are a result of automating the expense reporting workflow process.

To learn more about how consultants can address their unique travel and expense needs, download a complimentary copy of PayStream’s white paper titled Unique Travel and Expense Needs for Consulting Firms.

Download PayStream’s 2012 Travel and Expense Management report to learn more about ChromeRiver. The report features a detailed ChromeRiver profile and case study. Stay tuned for the upcoming 2013 Travel and Expense Management report that is due out in March.

Dean Crowder Construction Stays Lean and Profitable with Sage 300

Sage North America, a leading global supplier of business management software and services for small and midsized businesses recently announced that Dean Crowder Construction, Inc., a paving contractor in Northwestern Arkansas, has grown more profitable by using Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (formerly Sage Timberline Office) with cloud-based Sage Construction Anywhere to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

The company began using Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate several years ago. The solution, which includes everything from construction job costing to payroll to estimating to project management and more, helped the staff increase productivity when it had to downsize during the recent economic downturn and was integral to its ability to survive the recession in good financial health.

“Thanks to the checks, balances, and alerts within the software, we were able to discover where a vendor had overcharged us,” said Maeva Mayes, office manager at Dean Crowder. “Using the documentation the system provided, we were able to go back and collect more than $20,000.”

Dean Crowder recently added Sage Construction Anywhere, a cloud-based collaborative solution that works with Sage 300 and arms field personnel with the real-time job information that they need to keep their projects moving. Billy Tate, one of the foremen at Dean Crowder said: “Sage Construction Anywhere has made my job tremendously easier. When I’m on a piece of equipment, I can look down at my iPad and see every aspect of the job in my hand without having to go to the office and dig through stacks of prints. That’s invaluable.” The field staff can now use their iPads to access all project reports and documents, including site drawings and photos, while on the jobsite.

“With tools like Sage Construction Anywhere, our project managers easily can do what their assistants used to have to do,” said Mayes. “We can get more work done with fewer staff members while keeping our teams in the field where they are most productive. In this way we can grow revenues without growing our payroll.”

Dean Crowder Construction continues to find new ways to optimize its use of Sage 300 and Sage Construction Anywhere. The company recently began tracking all of its subcontracts with Sage 300 and soon plans to have employees enter timecard data using mobile devices through Sage Construction Anywhere.

“We’ve had people knocking on our door and wanting to show us new software, but there isn’t software out there that meets our needs like Sage 300,” said Lisa Crowder, president of Dean Crowder Construction. “It’s been amazing. It’s like having an extra person in your office to help you manage the things that you need to manage.”

The rest of the Dean Crowder staff agrees. “It’s the solution to all of a contractor’s problems,” concludes Mayes. “We are a smaller, leaner organization than we were a few years ago, yet we are more profitable. We attribute much of our success to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate and Sage Construction Anywhere.”

Click here to view the entire Sage press release.

Stay tuned for PayStream’s Q2 2013 small to medium sized enterprises (SME) report titled Automating Payables for the SME Market. The report will focus on SME solution providers who have strong capabilities and product strategies to meet the needs of Accounts Payable departments.
 

 

Automated Dispute Resolution Workflow: Part IV

In Part I of my Automated Dispute Resolution Workflow blog series, I discussed why dispute management still remains a challenge for many credit and collections departments. In Part II, I explored the benefits of automating dispute resolution workflow. In Part III, I described the eight critical components of rule-based dispute resolution workflow. In the final part, I will discuss how you can gain control over your dispute environment.
 
Like any other tool, automation software can only fulfill its potential with skillful use. While properly designed automated workflows deliver productivity benefits out of the box, it is the data they generate that ultimately generates the most value. In the case of dispute resolution automation, root cause analysis provides the intelligence that will enable you to gain control over your environment. Because many disputes represent recurring issues, the most important thing you can do is to identify the root cause of each dispute type. That done, in most cases you will be able to implement improvements to your order-to-cash systems or work out solutions with your customers to prevent their reoccurrence. By eliminating disputes at their source, you reduce your back-end processing burden.
 
A key measure in this regard is invoice accuracy. By increasing invoice accuracy (the percentage of invoices that are paid without a deduction) you not only reduce deductions, but also improve cash flow. On average, clean invoices are typically paid within a week of stated terms while invoices containing discrepancies are paid 30 to 60 days late. In addition to root cause analysis, front end transaction reconciliation, which matches customer expectations, as evidenced by their PO, other order details, and/ or their vendor compliance agreement with your order processing data and sales agreement, to identify discrepancies before the order is shipped and billed, can positively impact invoice accuracy.
 
Even so, there will always be disputes and other payment exceptions, especially with firms that create deductions scenarios through their sales promotion planning process. So while front end prevention of unnecessary disputes is a major part of the solution, so is efficient back-end resolution processing. Automated dispute resolution workflows, especially in a sales promotion planning environment, delivers a compelling return on investment because of their overhead savings and cash flow enhancements. Furthermore, the data they generate is a catalyst for reductions in profit dilution when it is used to both reduce the volume of recurring disputes and to make iterative improvements in the resolution process.
 
By using automated dispute resolution workflows that leverage advanced BPM (Business Process Management) technology companies can transform themselves. Instead of dispute handling controlling you, you can cross over the line that puts you in control of your environment.
 
Are you finding that dispute management remains a challenge for your organization? I’d like to hear from you.
 

Global e-Commerce on the Rise

This year, we expect several trends to drive the growth of global e-commerce. As companies continue to focus on managing spend and increasing profitability, they will look for ways to increase real-time visibility and control over their finances.

Financial collaboration between trading partners through e-invoicing and transactions over interoperable business commerce networks will continue to increase as companies realize the value that they deliver in visibility, cost savings and improved buyer/supplier relationships. A recent study from Billentis reported that the potential cost savings of e-invoicing is estimated to be as much as 60-80% compared to traditional paper-based processing. We saw growth in this area last year and expect it to continue. In the 2012 e-invoicing study commissioned by Basware, 73% of respondents globally used electronic invoicing to some degree compared to 59% in 2011. Legislative requirements, improvements in connectivity solutions and market awareness will further support this growth.

Analytics will continue to be critical in helping companies uncover financial bottlenecks and opportunities for costs savings. By gathering information across a business commerce network of trading partners, companies will gain greater insights beyond their internal organization. For example, they can uncover procurement and payment trends, optimize performance of the transactional network, and identify opportunities across the financial supply chain for accelerated payments, factoring or other strategies. With this insight across the entire P2P extended network, companies can improve their cash-to-cash conversion cycles and critical performance indicators such as DSOs (days sales outstanding) and DPOs (days payment outstanding).

Cloud-based solutions for finance will increase in popularity since it enables companies of all sizes –SMBs as well as enterprises –to benefit from efficiencies and cost savings. With cloud-based solutions, Accounts Payable and Finance departments can be agile and easily respond to changes in economic conditions, regulations or company developments without involving IT resources. Security will continue to be at the heart of cloud offerings, with providers maintaining the highest levels of security across all financial transactions and business interactions.

Mobile apps will continue to grow, as workers become increasingly accustomed to using the same devices (i.e., smart phones and tablets) at work, as they do at home. Finance departments will continue to see the value of mobile apps for approving invoices and purchase requisitions. By enabling real-time anywhere, anytime access, businesses can speed up the review and approval cycles of invoice and requisition processing, providing data visibility and actionable performance insight on the move.

These trends will enable companies to gain greater visibility and control over their finances as well as conduct effective P2P transactions, identify savings opportunities, and better manage cash flow and spend. All in all, it sounds like it will be a good year for finance.

Global eInvoicing Report Webinar

Please join Pete Loughlin, Purchasing Insight’s Managing Editor, and Markus Ament, Taulia’s Chief Product Officer, for a unique webinar. They will discuss the findings from the recently released Purchasing Insight and PayStream Advisors Global eInvoicing Report:

  • 60% of respondents report that over 90% of invoices received are paper.
  • 36% of respondents report that offering supplier easy to use tools is an eInvoicing challenge.
  • 44% of respondents report that internal organization barriers is an eInvoicing challenge.
  • 56% of respondents report that integration with suppliers is the top eInvoicing challenge.

They will also show you how some of the most innovate organizations are ahead of the invoicing curve:

  • PG&E is receiving over 90% of their invoices electronically.
  • Dominion’s suppliers are taking full advantage of eInvoicing.
  • Coca-Cola Bottling got IT onboard.
  • Fortune 500 companies are using Taulia to optimize their Financial Supply Chain
  • Fortune 500 companies are using Taulia to optimize their Financial Supply Chain

Hyland Software Announces its 5,000 Financial Services Customer

Enterprise content management (ECM), often referred to as document management, has proven its capabilities to help financial institutions, including banks, credit unions and lending organizations, better manage documents, eliminate risk and most importantly provide better service to customers and members. Hyland Software recently announces its success in delivering software that increases speed, accuracy and efficiency with its 5,000th financial services customer, 3Rivers Federal Credit Union (FCU). 
 
3Rivers FCU, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, already knew the significance an ECM solution could deliver to its business processes, having previously used an ECM solution that fit its former document management needs. As those needs changed, the solution couldn’t evolve to provide new functionality and meet new requirements. Because the stagnant solution didn’t bring the innovation the credit union needed, 3Rivers FCU decided to look for a vendor that continuously upgrades and evolves its software offering. 
 
After attending Hyland Software’s annual user conference, the OnBase Training and Technology Conference (OTTC), 3Rivers knew Hyland could deliver on its promise to become a partner in helping the credit union leverage ECM to increase efficiency, the speed of operations, and achieve its goal of providing outstanding member service. 
 
“Attending OTTC was very beneficial for us. While there, we attended classes that reviewed the software’s functionality and spoke with current credit union customers,” said Victoria Morris, 3River FCU’s records program manager. “We chose OnBase because it has the capabilities we need for records retention, esignatures and workflow, and an innovative roadmap that will continue to add capabilities.”
 
Using the records management functionality in OnBase, the credit union will store records within compliance timeframes, and then purge those records when they are no longer needed. The most valuable benefit, however, is in OnBase’s workflow functionality. Workflow will enable 3Rivers FCU to completely transform the mortgage lending processes by spending less time searching for missing or incomplete mortgage lending documents, and more time making decisions on those documents, enabling faster and better member service. 
 
Click here to view the entire Hyland Software press release.
 
Hyland Software was recently featured in PayStream’s Q4 2012 report titled Receivables Document Management: Moving Towards a Paperless AR Organization. Download a complimentary copy of the report today to learn about Hyland’s solution. The report includes a detailed profile and case study on Hyland Software.
 

Senior Managers of SMBs Unprepared for Fnancial Responsibility Expected of Them

Basware’s SMB Finance research reveals that 53 percent of small and 59 percent of medium sized business owners believe the responsibility for setting budgets, controlling payments and determining the company’s financial strategy lies with senior management, despite 1 in 3 senior managers admitting they are unprepared to take on the role.

The SMB Finance research surveyed 558 business owners and 1,368 employees with financial responsibility from small to medium enterprises to identify the financial processes and owners of responsibility within SMBs across the UK, US, Sweden, Germany and Belgium & Netherlands.
 
This research aims to inform SMBs of the challenges they face in growth, as well as educating business owners on the productivity levels of their employees as ‘small business processes’ reach breaking point. The findings also help businesses to understand the investment needed in people, processes and technologies as they move from ‘small’ to ‘medium’ and beyond.
 
The findings suggest that, with financial responsibility being handed down from owners to senior managers, a much greater understanding of the role is needed if they are to complete it successfully – 45 percent of senior managers have yet to receive formal financial training. Similarly, those higher up the organization ladder are unprepared to take on this responsibility – 57 percent of board members are untrained. The issue does not appear to be restricted to locality, with 28 percent in Europe and 33 percent in US wanting greater understanding of how to manage company money.
 
Conversely, with little structure in place within micro-businesses, business owners are much less likely to hold other members of their organization responsible for finances. Fifty-six percent of microbusiness owners state that nobody else within their company is expected to engage with financial processes, with board members (27%) and senior managers (17%) occasionally being trusted with finances.
 
Basware’s SMB Finance research indicates a greater need for simpler and more manageable processes that employees can engage with. In total, 34 percent of employees’ job descriptions in Europe and 31 percent in the US did not include reference to financial responsibility within the role. With an increasing diffusion of financial responsibility, a more holistic approach that allows all employees to engage with basic financial processes could prove beneficial for ensuring that financial activity is appropriately attended to.
Key findings from the SMB Finance research on controlling financial expenditure:
  • Company spend rules and regulations – 44% of organizations said that expenditure was controlled by departments and functions, compared to just 18% in the US
  • Strict rules on company spenders – 38% of employees say they are not allowed to spend company money, compared to just 3% of employees in the US
  • Desire for spend authority – 21% of employees in medium sized businesses say they would like authority to make purchases in their own field vs. 14% in small and 6% in micro
Basware’s SMB Finance research also gives an indication of SMB motivations in the current financial climate:
  • 61% of organizations in Europe are currently prioritizing finding new business customers to support their growth, compared to 51% of US organizations
  • This motivation is particularly prevalent among micro-businesses (62% vs. 53% amongst medium sized businesses)
  • However, medium businesses are more worried about controlling their financial infrastructure, with 49% stating cost control (32% among micro-business) and 42% managing cash flow (18% among micro organizations) as a key challenge for their company
Click here to view the entire Basware press release.
 
Thanks for this incredible research Basware. PayStream is currently gearing up for its Q2 small to medium enterprises (SME) report titled Automating Payables for the SME Market. This report will focus on SME solution providers who have strong capabilities and product strategies to meet the needs of Account Payable departments. Check back in Q2 for this report. PayStream’s 2012 SME report is available in our Research Library.