Communications and Technology Industry Research

Esker, a provider of document process automation solutions, announced the availability of a white paper titled “Automating vendor invoices in Europe: market overview and Software as a Service or “SaaS (News - Alert)” solutions.”

The white paper is based on a study of over 100 European companies’ perceptions of the inhibitors and benefits of vendor invoice automation solutions, specifically SaaS. The white paper is developed by IDC (News - Alert), a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for telecommunications and technology markets.

According to the study conducted by IDC, fifty-eight percent of vendor invoices are still received in paper format. It also states that over half of the companies manually enter them into their accounting systems.

Most of the companies undervalue the time spent at the account department on manual data entry, which accounts for near about 30 percent of their time, says the report. This method of processing leads to many errors and negative consequences like litigation and unpaid bills.

Companies are now realizing the need of implementing a vendor invoice automation solution. The automation solution will save the time, increase productivity and improve their competitiveness, according to IDC.

According to the survey 62 percent of the companies now plans to put into place a new vendor invoice automation solution within the next two years.

84 percent of companies said that they were ready to go with a SaaS solution to minimize costs associated with implementing a vendor invoice automation solution.

Franck Nassah, managing consultant, IDC France, said, “This European study, conducted in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, shows us that European companies are not necessarily aware of all the productivity losses due to manual vendor invoice processing.”

“However, these companies start to identify most of the benefits vendor invoice automation can bring to them. They are ready to invest in a SaaS solution which will enable them to keep implementation costs down and manage their investment,” concluded Nassah.

Esker (News - Alert) helps organizations in reducing the use of paper, eliminating manual processes and simplifying IT landscapes. With its comprehensive platform, Esker delivers the benefits of automated document processing as on-demand services or “SaaS” and on-premise solutions.

Most recently Entremont, a French cheese manufacturer, has chosen a cloud service from Esker to automate and fax its SAP (News - Alert)-generated transport requests and purchase orders, according to an announcement from the company.