AP automation for New Zealand Winegrowers

"One of our goals as an organisation is to be sustainable. With Ocerra, we are no longer creating mountains of paper, so that is a big plus." – says Suzanne Hill, Financial Accountant.

 

Printed invoice copies would take us lots of time to process. The team had piles of paper to stamp, distribute, and wait for to be returned, rechecked, coded, and corrected every day.

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"There was much paper and lots of filing to be done."  – says Melissa Fourie, Accounts Assistant. 

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It became much easier and more convenient when Ocerra was implemented.

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"We were double handling invoices, and the entire process was time-consuming and inefficient. It is great that we no longer have to rely on hard copies anymore, especially when working remotely; it saves so much time". – adds Suzanne.

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"I save about 50% now with half of my routine work is now automated, and I would imagine it would save a lot more time on the approval side as well." – says Melissa.

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Centralising all the incoming invoices into one digital place makes it easier to manage for the company.

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"It is so much tidier with Ocerra now; all invoices are now coming into one central point. It's easy to distribute them with a few clicks, and we can see where they are in the workflow." – says Suzanne.

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Placing invoices in trays wasn't working smoothly; some people would check their entries, and some wouldn't. It hasn't been clear where the invoice was, and no one would keep them up to date.

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"We didn't know what we were waiting for, so we had to chase them up regularly asking where the invoice was and printing follow-up copies."

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Some invoices were sitting in a tray for weeks, and some were sitting in a pile on someone's desk.

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"It is great that you can go in and see auditing-wise if the invoice has been issued to someone or if they have seen it. We're aware of where there are hold-ups now and why. It is time efficiency and clarity, and clarity is a big thing regarding payables."

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AP automation helps empower the team to take in more responsibility to speed up the process.

"It helps to spread the responsibility evenly, so we don't have to do it all. It is a great relief for us in the finance team and less frustrating for everyone else." – says Suzanne.

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"It's just the convenience of it. Going online, coding it, sending it off, and it is done. It is so much easier for the entire team." – adds Melissa.

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It is easier to pick up something in Ocerra, find an invoice or check the approval audit trail. Because it is digitised, there is no need to go through paper files, double-handle, print, and physically distribute them.

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"I could spend up to 10 days in the month of doing this, and it is all gone for me. Ocerra creates more time for us to do other important work and better focus as you no longer feel rushed. There is time to think about what you're doing elsewhere, which is great." – says Suzanne.

 

Key outcomes

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• Achieving paperless invoice processing.

• Eliminating approval bottlenecks for the benefit of the entire team.

• Saving up to 10 days a month previously spent on payables operations.