This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Greencore Group selects V1 software to automate the processing of 360,000 invoices per annum.
Greencore Group (Greencore), the international manufacturer of convenience foods, has selected V1's document management software. The solutions will automate the Group's paper-based accounts payable (AP) processes and manage more than 360,000 invoices a year. The software will be rolled out across the entire Group, including sites in the UK and USA from July 2015.
Greencore has a £1.3bn turnover and serves all of the major UK retailers and the convenience store, small store and grocery channel in the US. The first of the Group's three UK divisions, Prepared Meals, will go live with V1 Authorise, Capture, Archive and Form this summer. The Food to Go, Grocery and US divisions will follow suit as part of the phased roll-out.
V1 was selected by Greencore following a competitive tendering process, involving two other software providers, due to its specialism and reputation for delivering high quality automated AP systems.
The manufacturer's current AP processes are heavily paper-based, which is time-consuming and laborious. Invoices are scanned and saved in an electronic system or physically stored. Authorisation involves invoices being emailed or posted, with queries bouncing back to the AP team who then have to find the original paperwork.
With the V1 software, Greencore will be able to receive invoices in a variety of formats including paper, PDF via email and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). These will be automatically stored electronically and emailed to the relevant person for authorisation. V1 Capture will integrate with the accounts system, System21, to automatically match invoices and speed up the payment process.
Documents, such as purchase orders and delivery notes, which accompany an invoice will be accessible via the solutions, making it easier for managers to resolve queries in the first instance. If invoices are not dealt with within the set time, they will be automatically escalated to the relevant manager.
Costas Moraitis, Business Relationship Manager, Greencore, says, "We are a large company with 12,000 staff across 25 sites dealing with large volumes of paperwork and invoices. What we needed was a system that would allow us to take control of that paper and provide a visible, thorough audit trail.
"With an automated system there will be reduced data entry which will lead to less margin for human error and it will be much quicker and easier to retrieve information. It will also give us more flexibility with the types of invoices we can accept from suppliers and enable quicker payment."
The V1 software will support Greencore in delivering its company principles of business effectiveness, cost efficiency and putting people at the core by reducing administrative burden and enabling them to concentrate on value added tasks.
Moraitis adds, "We are confident that the combined efficiencies achieved from implementing V1's solutions will lead to return on investment within 18 months. The software will also have a huge impact on our AP processes, giving us competitive advantage.
"V1 will simplify and speed up the process of accessing and retrieving supplier information, providing a clear history of products which is fundamental to a food manufacturing company. This means we are in an even stronger position to pursue our growth strategy."
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