Optimizing the invoice processing workflow is currently one of the challenges that businesses are struggling to solve. Automation solutions have emerged as a lifeline, not only reducing errors but also enhancing work efficiency. Discover how automation has helped many companies save costs and optimize operations through the stories of PJICO and Central Retail Vietnam.
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The Finance and Accounting Department in companies is troubled by the challenge of invoice processing
In large enterprises, the Finance and Accounting Department often faces a massive workload related to processing invoices, documents, and many other paper-related tasks. This process requires numerous manual verification and storage steps, consuming time and resources.
Staff members in the Finance and Accounting Department have to spend a significant amount of time checking and storing incoming invoices. Studies have shown that an average accountant can manually process only 5 invoices per hour, with costs ranging from $2.07 to $10 per invoice. Additionally, cases of invalid invoices such as counterfeit, expired, or incorrect information also create difficulties and prolong processing times. Manual verification can still lead to risks of invoice information discrepancies with the potential for data errors in spreadsheets.
Automation applications: An efficient operational solution for businesses
With this challenge, automating the invoice processing workflow not only saves costs and time but also improves accuracy, helping to minimize risks related to data errors. Automation solutions that utilize technologies such as RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) efficiently collect, verify, and store invoices, thereby providing significant operational benefits to businesses.
PJICO saves 6,000 labor hours per month by automating invoice processing
With over 30 years of development as one of the leading reputable insurance companies in Vietnam, Petrolimex Insurance Corporation (PJICO) has been a leader with outstanding growth. PJICO is accelerating the implementation of its digital transformation roadmap for the 2023-2028 period, aiming for sustainable, safe, and efficient operations on a digital platform; thereby enhancing customer experience and increasing business opportunities.
In terms of operations, particularly invoice management, PJICO currently processes thousands of incoming invoices daily. A traditional invoice processing workflow at PJICO can involve up to 7 steps, including receiving electronic invoices from suppliers, checking their status, uploading invoices to the system, and creating payment requests or payment slips by both operational and accounting staff.
Recognizing that automating the process is a potential solution for handling repetitive manual invoice matching tasks, PJICO has partnered with the akaBot team to improve the workflow. akaBot’s virtual assistants can use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to automatically extract content, verify the legality of invoices, detect duplicates, review payment methods, update invoice status, and store documents according to standards.
As a result, the time taken to process each invoice has been reduced from an average of 15 minutes to just 3 minutes – equivalent to an 80% reduction in processing time. This helps PJICO save 6,000 labor hours per month for the finance and accounting department while minimizing error rates by up to 99.9%.
Central Retail in Vietnam saves 500,000 USD over 5 years thanks to the application of automation
Having entered the Vietnamese market since 2012, Central Retail has continuously expanded and developed, now owning 38 shopping centers and 260 stores nationwide. The vision and mission of Central Retail Vietnam (CRV) is to become a customer-centric omnichannel retailer, always leading and developing sustainably.
With a large number of customers and suppliers, CRV faces the pressure of processing and matching 1.8 million invoices per year. This process requires 75 full-time employees, consuming 180,000 working hours annually. In the long term, the repetitive and tedious nature of the work can increase employee turnover rates, especially during high-pressure peak periods.
Facing the challenge of improving operations, CRV has applied automation technology developed by akaBot in its invoice processing workflow. The akaBot application easily integrates with CRV’s existing accounting system, allowing for quick operations. Repetitive tasks are handled by automated bots, reducing error rates. The application of akaBot automation has helped CRV save up to 500,000 USD in invoice processing costs over 5 years, reducing up to 90,000 working hours annually.
(Source: lifeinsuranceinternational.com)
Accelerating the digital transformation journey with automation applications
The success stories of PJICO and Central Retail in Vietnam are testament to how businesses can optimize their invoice processing operations; thereby optimizing costs and enhancing business efficiency through the application of automation. Additionally, businesses can expand the application of automation to other processes such as supply chain management, human resource management, customer service, automating ordering processes, inventory checks, shipment tracking, payroll processing, timesheet management, and recruitment….
According to the akaBot implementation team, with the support of advanced automation solutions, businesses can increase efficiency by up to 80%, save up to 60% in costs, reduce time spent by up to 90%, build a more flexible and adaptive enterprise, and optimize revenue…. This helps businesses overcome current economic challenges and increase their competitive advantage in the market.
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References:
4 Challenges of Traditional Invoice Management
It’s costing how much? The truth about manual invoice processing
akaBot (FPT) is the operation optimization solution for enterprises based on the RPA (Robotic Process Automation) platform combined with Artificial Intelligence, Process Mining, OCR, Intelligent Document Processing, Machine Learning, Conversational AI, etc. Serving clients in 21+ countries, across 08 domains such as Banking & Finances, Retail, IT Services, Manufacturing, and Logistics…, akaBot is featured in “Voice of the Customer” for Robotics Process Automation” by Gartner Peer Insights, G2, and ranked as Top 6 Global RPA Platform by Software Reviews. akaBot also won the prestigious Stevie Award, The Asian Banker Award 2021, Everest Group’s RPA Products PEAK Matrix® 2023, etc.
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