Making the Switch to Modern AP Automation with Esker

Find out why current Esker customers switched from their old automation solutions to Esker Accounts Payable.

Automation solutions come in all shapes and sizes, with most offering an array of features that promise to help your business operate more efficiently and reduce the manual workload for your staff. But what happens when those solutions can’t keep up with the demand of your business? Here are two stories from current Esker customers that made the switch to Esker Accounts Payable (AP) from their previous automation solutions and the ways they are taking control of their businesses now.

The Boston Red Sox: Outgrowing a Homegrown Automation Tool

Before implementing Esker Accounts Payable, the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club used a homegrown AP tool to manage invoices. The system provided the foundation for automation, most notably a workflow feature that allowed staff members to route invoices to specific people. While this system worked for a long time, the Red Sox knew this tool required a lot of maintenance from the IT team, especially when it came to adding new approvers to the system or changing spend thresholds. These realizations were amplified by the fact that they would begin taking on invoice processing for an additional 15-20 subsidiaries, meaning a lot more invoices would be coming through the system every month. After considering all the factors, the need to upgrade to a true automation solution became clear.

The Red Sox chose Esker Accounts Payable for many reasons, but one of the biggest factors was how easy the solution would be to maintain for IT staff. No longer would it be heavy lifting to add approvers or make adjustments in the solution — that means more valuable time for them to tackle other important tasks.

Outside of the ease of maintenance, Esker also provides a more robust suite of automation features, such as machine learning, predictive invoice coding and automated batch-splitting technology — all features that were not available before. These benefits have drastically improved the day-to-day for AP staff and allowed them to spend more time analyzing data rather than just manually entering it into the system. This new automated process has allowed the club to pay vendors faster and rake in significant savings from early payment discounts — not to mention the complete elimination of late fees. In fact, the AP department was even able to decrease DPO by 25%.

Hall’s Culligan Water: Enabling True AP Automation

Based out of Wichita, Kansas, Hall’s Culligan Water is a leader in the water treatment industry. Like the Red Sox, Hall’s Culligan’s team was also utilizing an automation solution prior to implementing Esker. The old solution was an early iteration of automation, equipped with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology and simple workflows, but the main issue was the multi-step process that it took to process an invoice. Additionally, the process required the use of three separate software solutions, further complicating workflows and wasting valuable time. The solution also required employees to be connected to the company network, and there was a limit on the number of concurrent users that could be in the solution at any given time. With the old solutions being sluggish and outdated, Hall’s Culligan knew it was time to find a more robust solution to streamline its AP process — and that’s exactly what they found in Esker Accounts Payable.

Since using Esker, there have been plenty of benefits for staff to reap, including noticeable improvements to day-to-day activities and workloads. With everything centralized in Esker, they no longer need multiple programs open to process an invoice. Now, everything is easily accessible in the one platform. Team efficiency has also seen change for the better, as Esker allows them to have as many users as they need — a stark difference from being limited to 20 users like the previous solution. OCR technology isn’t something new to the Hall’s Culligan team. However, with OCR powered by Esker AI Synergy, the team can take control of AP processes with full confidence. These efficiency-boosting features have helped minimize errors and expedite invoice processing, meaning team members have more time back in their day to focus on tasks that bring value back to the business. Thanks to automation, Hall’s Culligan has been able to bring a level of visibility into invoices, payments and GL reports that simply wasn’t possible before.

Conclusion

Implementing AP automation can make a big difference in any business, especially with a solution that offers an array of AI-driven solutions that help increase efficiency, provide department-wide visibility and improve overall employee morale. If you’re interested in automating your AP processes like the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club and Hall’s Culligan, check out Esker Accounts Payable and see what best-in-class automation can do for your organization.