Independent Cement lays solid foundations for better AP processes

The decision to move to the latest Xi version of their Pronto ERP presented Independent Cement with an opportunity to review their accounts payable (AP) automation solution.

“Over time we needed to explore options that manage our automation needs as well as the user experience and our archiving requirements. We also wanted to ensure that the system security and flow of documents was reliable and supported the expectations of ICL, Redmap’s solution met all these needs,” says Vik Reddy, ICL Shared Services Manager.

"We wanted a system that we could integrate easily with our Pronto ERP, as well as provide us with a more solid and stable archiving system."

Following best practice, ICL identified several likely systems, and took on board a recommendation from Pronto Software to consider Redmap's AP Automation solution. After a thorough assessment, ICL decided to move ahead with the one they felt was the right fit for them: the Redmap AP Automation solution. As Redmap comes with a ready-built Pronto API, it ticked the box for ICL's goal of easy, seamless integration.

"We took a quite logical approach in deciding what was important to us," says Vik. "We didn't want anything over-complicated or more advanced than we needed. But it had to cater for our business needs and, most importantly, be something that our approvers and invoice coders were comfortable with. And great support was essential."

Now, ICL supplier invoices are sent to an email address provided by Redmap for hands-free data extraction. This data is used to determine if the invoice matches a purchase order, and can be automatically posted directly to Pronto Xi, or if it needs to go to someone in the business for their approval. Once posted, the system automatically creates a link to the source document so that it can be easily downloaded in the future.

Vik says Redmap has some clear differentiators from the other solutions they looked at, making it more straightforward and user-friendly for their Shared Services, AP team, and invoice approvers. As ICL manages a significant operation within their industry and processes approximately 3000 invoices a month, those points of difference most definitely impact their day-to-day efficiency.

"For example," says Vik, "when you're doing a high volume of searches daily, you can't afford to be slowed down. With the old solution, tracking down an old invoice required us to provide precise search terms, like a vendor name or an exact invoice number. By comparison, Redmap has different layers of information that you can peel away. If you need to find, investigate, or reconcile a payment, we can work with several references when using the search function. The Redmap system is smart enough to identify and present anything containing all or some reference terms.

"Redmap automatically reminds approvers that invoices are waiting for them, and we can see exactly where any hold-ups are using the dashboards. Redmap has helped ICL reduce invoices pending approval at month end to approximately 20 invoices a month – an 80% reduction - which is great."

"Over the last three years, we've been focussing on business improvement and driving operational efficiency through the use of smart technology," says Vik.

"We've made a real effort to bring our systems up to scratch, and it's paid off. For example, our investment in Redmap means we can provide our stakeholders with a better experience. They can ask us how much they've spent with a certain supplier over the past six months, and it's fast and easy for us to extract that information from Redmap for them."

Has the support been great? Yes, says Vik.

"Redmap's support team are fantastic. For any business that's just implemented a new system, having fast access to help after go-live is critical. And their team is very accessible, knowledgeable, and responsive.

"We've made a lot of time savings in our AP process since implementing Redmap. And the time we've saved by accelerating the approval process, we've reinvested in delivering even better service to our customers, suppliers and internal stakeholders.

“Our AP Team and Redmap users at ICL, in general, have done a great job in successfully transitioning to Redmap with minimal disruptions to our business and our valued suppliers.”