Groupe CHÂTEL Creates an Efficient, Reliable Invoicing Environment with Esker’s Accounts Payable Solution

Middleton, WI — September 5, 2017 — Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and pioneer in cloud computing, today announced it is working with Groupe CHÂTEL, a French transportation and logistics company, to automate an annual volume of 20,000 supplier invoices. Esker’s cloud-based Accounts Payable solution has enabled Groupe CHÂTEL to process invoices faster and more efficiently.

Prior to Esker, Groupe CHÂTEL was manually processing supplier invoices from its 10 businesses across seven locations. This proved to be a difficult and often error-prone job for the company’s six-person accounting team, which was based at company headquarters in Vire. The AP staff faced multiple challenges, including:

• Lack of control and security over invoice registration, including risk of duplicate payment
• Lengthy invoice processing time due to the distance between sites and often laborious routing process, resulting in invoice registration delays of up to 15 days
• Lack of internal invoice traceability and visibility in the approval process
• Poor workload distribution

“Our objective was to optimize our AP process, increase efficiency, and improve process visibility and invoice traceability,” said Mickaël Asseline, CFO at Groupe CHÂTEL. “Thanks to Esker, we have moved from a basic in-house invoicing tool to a reliable invoice automation solution. What’s more, Esker’s solution integrates perfectly with Cegid, our ERP system.”

Since implementing Esker in 2014, Groupe CHÂTEL now receives all paper invoices at their headquarters. Accountants then scan the invoices, which are then processed within 24 hours. Today, 10 percent of invoices arrive via email, which has helped the company process invoices more quickly, as the scanning step is eliminated. To increase electronic invoice rates, the company actively encourages its customers to send their invoices electronically via email.

Benefits of AP automation

Thanks to Esker, Groupe CHÂTEL has achieved numerous benefits, including:

• Faster invoice processing
• Faster approval cycles, which includes close to 50 validators and up to six approval levels
• Accounting and settlement letters done on a weekly basis rather than daily
• Simplified year-end balance sheet process, no need to look in paper files
• Improved invoice traceability, with the ability to retrieve invoice history at any time
• Improved cash management thanks to visibility into payments
• Ability to create consulting profiles, particularly for auditors
• On-the-go invoice review and approval capabilities, thanks to the mobile application Esker Anywhere™

“Implemented in just one month, Esker’s solution was quickly adopted by our users and approvers who
had been trained internally prior to solution implementation,” said Asseline. “Esker has become essential
to our company and we cannot go back to how it used to be!”

About Groupe CHÂTEL

Groupe CHÂTEL is a family owned transportation and logistics company created in 1922. Present in four French cities (Vire, Caen, Nantes and Le Havre) Groupe CHÂTEL has 600 employees and achieved 67 million euros in sales revenue in 2016.

About Esker

Esker is a worldwide leader in cloud-based document process automation software. Esker solutions, including the acquisition of the TermSync accounts receivable solution in 2015, help organizations of all sizes to improve efficiencies, accuracy, visibility and costs associated with business processes. Esker provides on-demand and on-premises software to automate accounts payable, order processing, accounts receivable, purchasing and more.

Founded in 1985, Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2016, Esker generated 66 million euros in total sales revenue. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter @EskerInc and join the conversation on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com.