Customer Story

Transforming The Way Finance Teams Work

By implementing a digital invoice management solution

Industry
Food & Beverage
Company Size
600
Sales Revenue
Over €180m
Solution
Accounts Payable
  • Faster
    approvals, controls & accounting
  • Remote
    work facilitated due to easy access to digital files
  • Budgetary
    control, plus quick & easy approvals

Founded over 100 years ago in Valladolid, Spain, Helios Group is specialised in the manufacturing of jam, tomato-based condiments and preserved fruit. Today, Helios Group comprises multiple companies with eight production centres and sales offices in Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, as it continues to expand into new markets. In 2018, Helios Group’s financial department wanted to improve the visibility of certain financial processes in order to streamline accounting, shorten invoice processing times and speed up searches for digital files. 

STARTING REQUIREMENTS: HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY

When selecting an accounts payable (AP) automation solution, Helios identified key criteria such as:

  • - the ability to function independently of its SAP ERP, cloud-based operation to support remote access
  • - an approval workflow specially tailored to the company's activities and a mobile application enabling invoice approvals from anywhere.
  • - Process visibility through customisable dashboards with real-time indicators was also extremely important to enable fast and accurate accounting.

 

Esker's Accounts Payable solution met all their conditions and was implemented quickly. Thanks to the solution's user friendly interface and ease of use, user adoption was immediate and the learning curve extremely short. "Esker gets high marks for its project implementation and launch," said Mercedes Soto, CFO at Helios Group. "Their CX team was extremly useful and provided a lot of functional support."  

Improving the efficiency of invoice processing

Digitising invoices was easy, however creating a process for managing the workflow through integration into their SAP system required more time and effort. The primary objective was to reduce process complexity by analysing the documents to be processed. Several workflows were identified: 15,000 invoices from Helios suppliers and another 22,000 from its production subsidiary Iberfruta. The promotional retail invoice workflow was automated as well, comprising 9,000 promotional invoices for Helios and 250 for Iberfruta. 

THE VALIDATION PROCESS IS KEY IN EVERY FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT

Helios has about 30 reviewers on one floor. Iberfruta, about 10 reviewers spread over 4 floors, in different locations throughout the Spanish geography. Performing this process electronically greatly shortens your financial document management time. The reduction is estimated at 20% at the moment, until some of the validation processes have finished being optimized.

ESKER GIVES US VISIBILITY, KNOWING EVERY DAY THE INVOICES AND CHARGES THAT WE HAVE TO RECORD, THIS MAKES IT EASIER FOR US TO MAKE THE ACCOUNTING CLOSINGS AND TO BE ABLE TO PROVISION IN A TIMELY MANNER.
MERCEDES SOTO | FINANCIAL DIRECTOR OF HELIOS

BETTER CUSTOMER AND TEAM SATISFACTION

Since implementing Esker's supplier invoice digitization solution, the Helios team has been happier with their day-to-day work. Saving time is important and everyone can dedicate themselves to more interesting tasks for the company. In addition, the impact on the morale of the financial administrative staff is positive, because the accounting is more agile, the control is greater and the transparency in the process is total.

ESKER'S SOLUTION FOR CAPTURING AND MANAGING SUPPLIER INVOICES AND CHARGES ALLOWS US TO OPTIMIZE TIME, HAVE BETTER BUDGET CONTROL, AND QUICK AND EASY VALIDATIONS.
MERCEDES SOTO | FINANCIAL DIRECTOR OF HELIOS

REMOTE WORK FACILITATED DUE TO EASY ACCESS TO DIGITAL FILES

Financial management operations are governed by strict payment and reporting deadlines and by mandatory settlement and audit processes, the pandemic could have easily created havoc at Helios. However, Esker’s solution allowed those that were not able to come to the office to easily connect to the AP solution remotely and approve invoices anytime, anywhere!

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