Sydney, Australia — December 4, 2014 — Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and SAP® software solution and technology partner, announced today it has reached an agreement with Armtec, a leading Canadian infrastructure and construction company. Armtec has selected Esker’s on-demand Accounts Payable automation solution to integrate with its SAP application in order to create a more efficient, transparent and responsive vendor invoicing process.
Armtec receives between 110,000-120,000 vendor invoices annually, which are currently processed manually and cause a number of challenges for the business. Ultimately, Armtec performed a comprehensive “value stream mapping process” to identify its AP department’s biggest pain points and determine a course of action. The main challenges included:
- Hiring and training temps to accommodate seasonal invoice volume increases
- Issues with high costs, duplication and exception handling with large volumes of invoices
- Limited visibility and reporting into the process
- Too much time spent servicing internal/external customers with decentralised offices
In order to overcome these challenges, Armtec will be integrating Esker’s Accounts Payable automation solution with its SAP application. Scanned invoices will now automatically go through Esker, with data being intelligently extracted via OCR and a corresponding document entering into an electronic workflow in SAP for easy archival, tracking and reporting. By removing the manual steps of keying in, reviewing, coding and approving, Armtec will soon be able to manage the higher volumes of invoices more efficiently, allowing AP staff to focus on higher value tasks.
One of the primary reasons Armtec selected Esker was because of its cloud-based service option. Esker offers a true software as a service (SaaS) solution with lower upfront costs and total cost of ownership. Since operations are external and there is no software to maintain, much less strain is placed on IT resources.
“Our current process of scanning invoices directly into SAP is not optimal — it is very dependent on human intervention with no real workflow and limited ability to develop metrics,” said Joan Carter, Business Process Improvement Manager at Armtec. “With Esker, as soon as an invoice is scanned and received it’s on its way and fully reportable. The level of OCR, electronic workflow and SAP integration has us really excited about the level of efficiency and visibility we’re bringing to the process.”
About Armtec
Armtec is a manufacturer and marketer of a comprehensive range of infrastructure products and engineered construction solutions for customers in a diverse cross-section of industries that are located in every region of Canada, as well as in selected markets globally. These markets include Canada’s national and regional public infrastructure markets and private sector markets in agricultural drainage, commercial building, residential construction and natural resources. Armtec operates through a network of offices and production facilities across the country.
Armtec operates in two business units: Drainage Solutions and Precast Concrete Solutions. Drainage manufactures and markets corrugated high-density polyethylene pipe, corrugated steel pipe and other drainage related products including small bridge structures. Precast manufactures and markets highly engineered precast systems such as parking garages, bridges, sport venues and building envelopes as well as standard precast products such as steps, paving stones and utility vault.