Background

The Covid-19 pandemic has put an immense pressure on the healthcare industry globally. Healthcare services have been working round-the-clock and leveraging every possible resource to respond to these emergency times. With the all-time high demand for patient care products and services, healthcare facilities have been dealing with repeated backlogs in data management, invoice handling, and other such time & labor intensive processes. Business Process Outsourcing companies like ARDEM have stepped in to ensure smooth running of healthcare facilities in these difficult times. 

Challenges Faced by the client

The large-scale healthcare firm was facing a challenge in processing 1000+ invoices a week. The huge number of invoices was creating a backlog for the firm and leading to delays in payment. Handling such a huge number of invoices needed unnecessary engagement of human resources for long hours, which was adding to the staffing costs of the company. There were also multiple human errors since the invoices involved detailed paperwork. There were repeated cases of hard copies of invoices getting lost, leading to confusion, delays, and financial disruptions. 

To overcome these invoice-handling challenges, the company required a cost-effective and highly efficient invoice management service that could eliminate the concerned issues it was facing including delays and high costs. As a result, the healthcare firm approached ARDEM

Solutions offered by ARDEM

ARDEM solved the issue with the help of its customised app, ARDEM Invoice Manager(AIM). ARDEM Invoice Manager is a cloud-based manager that allows clients to gain better visibility of invoices. It offers a simple dashboard that gives an overall view of all invoices of a particular client.

Sorting and categorizing Invoices 

The vendors send the invoices in different formats like docs, pdf, XML, jpg, etc., through email and fax. It is a monotonous task to sort the invoices and classify them into different categories. ARDEM Invoice Manager sorted the invoices, scanned them, and uploaded the image to the cloud network. This sorting and categorising process helped a lot to the client and acutely reduced the number of paper invoices. An electronic form of invoices helped automate the account payable workflow for the company right from an early stage. 

Eliminating delays due to multi-level manual approvals 

In the organisation, the invoices were sent to various desks for approval. Placing invoices on an approver’s desk may easily lead to them getting lost or going unnoticed. ARDEM identified this problem. AIM matches the invoices in 3 to 4 ways, reviews after uploading invoices, and sends a notification for multi-level approval. This process reduces the unnecessary delay in approval and eliminates the risk of losing invoices.

Reducing human intervention from client 

The client had been facing the challenge of unnecessary engagement of human resources in handling multiple invoices. It is a monotonous job to enter a huge amount of data, and also recognise different handwritings and characters mentioned on the invoices. It was consuming long hours at the customer’s end. With the help of AIM’s automatic data entry and validation feature, ARDEM improved the cycle time and increased the work speed. Since all data entry tasks were automated, it reduced the human involvement in the data entry task. In addition, the automated data entry process reduced the chances of human error while doing data entry.

Replacing manual invoice matching 

Before paying against goods and services purchased, the client used to match the invoice with other relevant documents, including purchase orders and receiving reports. It was necessary to ensure that only correct invoices were processed and paid. This invoice matching was again a time-consuming process and sought human involvement. The invoice matching process was either two-way, three-way, or four-way. Even after spending long hours and matching the invoices so many times, the client used to get errors in this process. ARDEM identified the problem and eliminated the inefficiencies associated with manual invoice matching. 

In the ARDEM automated invoice matching process, the software’s document management stored all necessary documents, plus purchase orders, receiving reports, acceptance notes, and other supporting documents. When the invoice arrives for processing, the OCR tool captures and digitizes the invoice’s data. After placing both documents at the right place, the account payable workflow automation tool extracts all requisite information from each document and verifies it from pre-defined rules. The process matches numbers, GL codes, terms, line item information, and amounts. This complete matching process speeded the workflow efficiently and curbed human errors that were earlier rampant at the client’s end. 

Replacing manual coding with auto code invoices 

ardem invoice manager for Accounts Payable Solutions

In the process of classifying the payables before posting, there is the requirement of a GL code based on different criteria such as vendor, amount, invoice category, or other such classifications. The client was facing a challenge in the GL coding process. The client had been using different numbers for pointing to the product line, a country code, a freight direction, a business unit, a warehouse, and so on. It was hard to maintain thousands of numbers to code.

Manual GL coding required a lot of time and proper attention, especially during ERP entry, so that mistakes could be avoided. ARDEM offered the best solution for handling this challenge. It provided a fully implemented accounts payable workflow automation process to auto code invoices to the proper account. ARDEM software covers every processing step, from arrival to the final payment, including supplier invoicing, capture, line item information extraction, price checking, validation, verification, routing, approval, posting, payment, and archiving. 

How ARDEM helped the client overcome the invoice handling challenges

  • A fully automated system not only solved the client’s problem but also offered an efficient application that reduced the overall costing of the process.  
  • The process was easy to use and available for different platforms including mobile. 
  • Human involvement in the AP process increased the risk of getting lost of invoices, clerical errors, and considerable fraud cases. The client got relief from these with the automated AP solution that decreased the use of hard copy and increased the invoices visibility for all professionals and departments that needed access to AP data.  
  • The Automated AP processes reduced the time lag & boosted the speed and process efficiency. 
  • Automation does not eliminate human involvement in the process, it integrates the human workforce. 
  • ARDEM’s customized app AIM added additional flexibility and measurability to ensure invoices were processed accurately, efficiently, and on time for the client. 

The specific features of the AIM ensure the collection of valid invoice data, three-way validation, and an efficient approval process. 

  • Invoices are stored on one portal to let electronically review and approve them.  
  • The data capturing feature reduces time by extracting the relevant data at a fraction of the time.  
  • Using the combination of programmed validations and effort-based extraction methods ensures accuracy.  
  • A customized dashboard enables the client to have an overall view of all invoices.  

ARDEM’s automated invoice management demonstrated how in the future, its clients can avail of the benefits in sophisticated processes like AP that require the harmonious integration of human employees with automated processes.

ARDEM is pioneering among the automated AP process service providers by offering these specific features to its clients.

ARDEM provides Business Process Outsourcing and Business Process Automation Services to help them improve Operational Efficiency and Reduce Costs.  For more information please reach out to us  at pricing@ardem.com or call us at 908-359-2600. 

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