"The investment pays for itself within 8 months"
HEMIMEX, a specialist in bronze, non-ferrous metals, and engineering plastics, processes an average of 40 invoices per day, each containing a large number of order lines. It was taking the finance department—consisting of two employees—increasingly more time to process these manually. By automating this process and integrating the invoice processing software with the M-Soft ERP system, HEMIMEX saved 12 hours per week.
HEMIMEX was founded in 1982 and delivers its products worldwide. One of HEMIMEX’s strengths lies in the extremely diverse product range it keeps in stock. This allows the company to deliver directly to its customers—something that can be very important in this industry. In addition to optimizing its production process, HEMIMEX also wanted to optimize other processes, including its financial processes.
The challenge
Nick van Rossum, interim management and consulting consultant: “When I started at HEMIMEX, I quickly became familiar with the M-Soft ERP system. At that time, all invoice processing was still done manually and outside of M-Soft. HEMIMEX had grown significantly, which had also increased the workload in the finance department. As a result, processing purchase invoices not only took a lot of time, but it also prevented the finance department staff from attending to other, more important matters.”
Manually comparing purchase order lines
During a conversation with another M-Soft user, Nick heard about 4CEE. “They used both M-Soft and the invoice processing software Easy Invoice, but they worked in a different way than we had envisioned. They use the software solely for processing purchase invoices. I also wanted to use it to match the invoices with the purchase orders in M-Soft. This was really important to us, since we have invoices with a huge number of line items. You can imagine how time-consuming it is to manually look up and compare the corresponding order in M-Soft for every line item on an invoice.”
The integration with M-Soft
So even though there was already an organization working with both systems, there was no existing integration between M-Soft and Easy Invoice. “4CEE is an ERP-independent provider, so I scheduled a software demo together with the heads of Finance and IT. We also began discussions with M-Soft to establish an integration with 4CEE. We found both the demo and our introduction to 4CEE to be very positive and professional. Fortunately, an integration between the two systems proved possible, and we launched the project.”
The solution
“From day one, I was struck by how incredibly professional 4CEE’s approach was. There was direct contact between the consultant and a member of our finance department. Various documents, including questionnaires, were used to precisely map out what the process looked like and what it needed to look like in the future. This was very enlightening—something I’ve certainly seen done differently, especially in the IT world.”
"The way you approach a process like this is truly key to success. There’s always a lot of talk in the IT world, but in practice, things often fall short of expectations. However, that wasn’t the case with 4CEE."
Nick van Rossum, Interim Management and Consulting Consultant
The supplier’s approach is key to success
Nick has a background in IT and ERP. At first, the process of automating invoice processing seemed fairly straightforward to him. “Initially, I thought it didn’t matter much which solution you chose—they all do more or less the same thing anyway. However, I’ve come to realize more and more that it’s more complicated than it seems at first glance. On top of that, I’ve seen that the way you approach such a process really determines its success. There’s always a lot of hype in the IT world, but in practice, things often fall short of expectations. That wasn’t the case with 4CEE, though. I also didn’t have to provide much guidance. The three parties—4CEE, Hemimex’s finance staff, and M-Soft—worked together very well.
Quality of the people
When asked if he looks back on the collaboration with satisfaction, Nick says: “Absolutely. I would recommend 4CEE without hesitation to any other organization. Why? It comes down to the product, which is much more comprehensive than I initially thought, and to the quality of the people at 4CEE. Both the sales staff and consultants can engage with the client on their level and are able to resolve issues quickly. In addition, thanks to their professional approach and high-quality supporting documentation, it’s easy to involve other parties—such as the ERP vendor—and there’s very little miscommunication.”
Staying involved even after implementation
“What also struck me is that 4CEE continued to work with us even after implementation. It’s common for a supplier to go silent once the software has been delivered. People often don’t dare to ask, ‘How are things really going?’ But 4CEE does.
For example, someone recently stopped by to see how we’re using the system and if there are any issues we’re running into. This brought up a few more points for further optimization. Think, for example, of small details that still need to be adjusted in the software, but also the fact that it often just takes a little time to get to know all the features. The most important and most frequently used features stick with you right away, but you gradually forget the rest. At a later stage, you’ll have more time and space to start using the software even more effectively and take full advantage of all its capabilities.”
Easy Invoice has saved HEMIMEX 12 hours per week. “This means the investment will pay for itself within 8 months.”
The results
The initial estimate was that automating invoice processing would save HEMIMEX one day of work. After working with Easy Invoice for half a year, the actual time savings turned out to be 50% higher.
Before HEMIMEX began automating the invoice processing, the company naturally had certain expectations about the benefits this would bring. Nick explains: “HEMIMEX has two full-time equivalents (FTEs) working in the finance department. I had calculated that we could save a total of one day (8 hours) per week by automating invoice processing. In hindsight, this turned out to be 12 hours, so we were able to save 50% more than expected. This is, of course, a fantastic result, and it means the investment will pay for itself within 8 months.”
In addition to the hours now saved on invoice processing, benefits have also been realized in other areas. “It sounds like a cliché, but the reduction in paper use has also pleasantly surprised me. The entire process is now essentially paperless, but there’s also much less printing, for example. Everything is stored digitally and is therefore easily accessible. This is also convenient for people who are indirectly involved in this process. No one has to flip through physical folders anymore looking for a specific invoice.”
Tips
When asked if Nick has any tips for us on how to do even better next time, he has to think for a moment. “That’s a tough one. If I had to name one thing, it would be ‘shadow testing.’ There were some situations we weren’t able to test during the trial period, so they only came to light during production. Partly because the finance department was already overloaded, this sometimes led to some frustration, and the system really had to prove itself. However, once we got through that initial period, everyone was very enthusiastic. And as I said, the financial administration staff can now focus much more on other, more enjoyable tasks than manually entering and comparing invoice lines.”