An efficient accounts payable function. It's something that all companies want, but few have been able to achieve. Clariant, a global leader in the field of specialty chemicals, is out to change this.
Since 2009, the company has been leveraging technology from Ariba, Inc., the leading provider of collaborative business commerce solutions, to enhance its procurement process.
Now, the company has its sights set on transforming its end-to-end purchase order and invoice management process into an automated, efficient and smart one through which it can reduce errors, speed approvals and drive compliance.
"Purchase order (PO) and invoice management is a highly paper-intensive and error-prone function," said Peter Beyeler, global eProcurement and automation manager, Clariant.
"As a company committed to operating at the highest levels of efficiencies, Clariant is taking action to fuel an automated process through which we can improve our cost structure and performance."
And it is relying on Ariba® Invoice Management™ and PO Automation™ to do it. Delivered on-demand via the Ariba Network, the solutions provide Clariant with market-leading technology that it can use to:
- Move to a completely paperless PO and invoice management process in 100 days
- Reduce operating costs by 70% or more
- Eliminate exceptions and simplify and accelerate dispute resolution
- Minimize risk of overpayments, duplicate payments and fraudulent payments
- Comply with corporate and regulatory requirements
- Effectively benchmark and measure performance
"Accounts Payable teams spend inordinate amounts of time and effort processing paper invoices - from matching them with contracts and tracking POs and goods receipt to correcting errors and fielding supplier inquiries. Yet most companies still have limited visibility into the process, leaving them exposed to risks like overlooked billing discrepancies, missed discounts, and overpayments," said James Tucker, director of marketing, invoice and payment solutions, Ariba.
"With Ariba Invoice Management and PO Automation, Clariant can execute a smart invoicing process that delivers greater visibility and control, improved contract compliance, and stronger supplier relationships."
Clariant will use the Ariba Invoice Management and PO Automation in conjunction with Ariba® Procurement Content™, which it implemented two years ago to drive a more efficient procurement process from order to receipt.
A cloud-based solution delivered via the Ariba Network™, Ariba Procurement Content integrates with Clariant's SAP® system and provides the company with a complete content source of approved goods and services through a single user interface. Using the solution, Clariant is able to:
- Requisition any type of good or service
- Create a consumer-like shopping cart to simplify search, comparison, and buying
- Rapidly enable supplier catalogs to maximize spend coverage and term compliance
- Consolidate management of goods and services and optimize spend control
- Automate catalog verification to speed catalog updates, reduce workload, and improve catalog accuracy
- Identify and more efficiently collaborate with suppliers
- Drive greater usability and increase adoption
"We recognized early on that the key to user adoption of any procurement system is providing an easy-to-use tool with current content," Mr. Beyeler said.
"Ariba Procurement Content lets us deliver a simple and intuitive shopping experience so that we can drive more spend through our system, ensure compliance with our contracts and realize greater savings."
Clariant joins a growing number of ERP users who are leveraging Ariba's solutions to extend the value of their systems by driving process efficiencies, transparency and better collaboration with the systems of their external trading partners.
