Esker has launched a new on-demand E-Purchasing solution to automate the entire purchase-to-pay cycle — from purchase requisition to vendor invoice payment authorisation.

Automating accounts payable is a key focus for many of today’s businesses to improve vendor invoice processing, but very few have addressed the early stages of the buying process. At the crossroads of operational, administrative and accounting functions, purchasing is strategic for companies in terms of cash management and internal performance. 

The purchasing department can generate added value and profitability for the entire organisation; however, the value is often restricted by outdated and inefficient processes involving paper documents and time-consuming manual tasks. E-purchasing allows companies to streamline spend management, reduce carrying costs and increase profit.

“With this new cloud e-purchasing solution, Esker offers a procurement solution to any company – especially in the mid-market space – which has not standardised or digitalised its procurement processes so far. This is great news for Australian and New Zealand mid-size companies which will soon be able to derive the same business benefits as larger companies running SAP or Oracle,” Said Christophe DuMonet, Managing Director Esker ANZ.

With Esker’s E-Purchasing solution, companies can automate all stages of the buying process:

Purchasing automation: 

Purchase requisition is created in electronic format 

Purchase requisition is automatically entered in an approval workflow 

Once purchase requisition is approved, the order is placed 

Product reception is entered into the application 

Vendor invoice automation: 

Vendor invoice is received 

Invoice data is verified 

Three-way matching (invoice and corresponding purchase order) takes place 

Discrepancies are managed 

Invoice data is integrated into ERP system 

Vendor invoice payment is authorised 

Esker allows different departments and users within a company (e.g., purchasing, accounting, marketing, etc.) to manage indirect purchasing that generally takes place outside of the ERP system. Any business, regardless of order volume or number of employees, is able to automate its entire purchasing cycle in a relatively short period of time.

“This new solution is a result of our ongoing commitment to bring value to companies through document process automation,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. “By interconnecting all processes in one shared platform, Esker provides companies with visibility, efficiency and compliancy for both the purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles. Now, with end-to-end automation of the purchasing cycle, we have created a strong link between purchase requisitions, purchase orders and vendor invoices.”

Pricing for the E-Purchasing solution is subscription and transaction-based for an unlimited number of users. The solution will be offered worldwide in April 2014, and will be made available at a later date for use on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, to meet the needs of employees who are off-site or on the go. 

For more information, visit www.esker.com.au, follow twitter.com/eskerinc and read the company blog on www.quitpaper.com