Tel: +353 (1) 294 2420

80%

auto-matching of
vendor invoices

100s

of hours of employees’
time saved

100k

invoices processed by 3 AP employees

“We chose SoftCo because of their expertise in the procure-to-pay areas and prior experience in working with large food service and retail organizations”

Mushtaque Ahmed, Chief Operating Officer, JJ Foodservice Limited

Challenge

JJ Foodservice, supply a range of products including frozen foods, meat and fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, packaging and cleaning products, to all food industry sectors. The growth of the organization was impacting their manual accounts payable process which was processing 100,000 invoices annually, from a variety of different vendors. As invoices arrived into the central office, AP staff manually routed invoices for approval to designated approvers across all 12 locations. The logistics of this process meant that approvals would often take several days, particularly if an invoice needed to be queried by a number of different people. The coding and matching of invoices with purchase orders and goods receipt notes was slow and susceptible to manual errors. Overall, staff had a lack of visibility and control over the AP process and JJ Foodservice’s vendors had a lack of knowledge over the status of their invoices, which was affecting vendor relations.

Solution

SoftCo Accounts Payable Automation processes all of JJ Foods’ supplier invoices electronically from capture and matching, to invoice approval. JJ Foodservice chose SoftCo Accounts Payable Automation to replace its manual AP process, manage their growing number of vendor invoices and to speed up approval times and payments to vendors. The solution processes all invoices electronically from capture and matching, to invoice approval and query management. All invoices are automatically captured, after which a 3-way match is performed with the invoice, purchase order, and the goods receipt note, ensuring supplier compliance and facilitating straight-through processing. Invoices are routed for approval and electronically signed off by relevant approvers in the remote locations. Rejected or queried invoices are rerouted via dedicated workflows for exception handling. The solution is fully integrated with the organization’s Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Results

The implementation of SoftCoAP led to several key benefits:

  • Reduced Staffing Costs: JJ Foods were able to scale their invoices from 60k invoices to 100k, while reducing their headcount.
  • Greater AP Team Satisfaction: The implementation of SoftCoAP removed manual, repetitive tasks, giving the AP team greater value in their work.
  • Improved Supplier Relationships: Faster invoice processing times mean JJ Foods pay suppliers on-time, improving their vendor relations.
  • Detailed Invoice Capture: Prior to SoftCoAP, JJ Foods only matched invoices at a header level. Post implementation, they are automatically matching line items, leading to greater visibility.
  • Greater Internal Controls: JJ Foods are able to monitor their invoice processing performance, remove bottlenecks and identify areas for improvement.

Information

Industry:Food & Beverages
Solution:Accounts Payable Automation
Region:United Kingdom
Employees800+
Invoices:100,000 per annum
ERP System:Microsoft Dynamics AX

JJ Foodservice is a food and drink wholesaler with an annual turnover of £270+ million and eleven branches across the UK, supplying all food industry sectors from restaurants, pubs and hotels to schools, universities and local authorities. JJ Foods work with some of the world’s biggest ‘Fast Moving Consumer Goods’ and foodservice brands, while their own label range now accounts for 35% of total sales.

“For a company who processes more than 50,000 invoices per year, a product like SoftCo is a must-have.”

Mushtaque Ahmed, Chief Operating Officer, JJ Foodservice Limited

Hear what our customers say

SoftCo has created a frictionless process, saving considerable time and effort.
Rather than just technically describe an issue, SoftCo knew the functional problems we had
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SoftCo has fulfilled everything that we were looking for, and more.
SoftCo allows us to bring a more compelling proposition to our clients.
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We have implemented a project that has progressed as planned and within the planned budget.
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SoftCo Procure-to-Pay has delivered a ROI within one year, helping in our global expansion.
With SoftCo, we’ve increased reimbursements and reduced costs. That’s good for our bottom line.
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SoftCoAP has delivered us direct savings, giving a lot more confidence in our year-end.
SoftCoP2P has allowed us to reduce invoice processing times by 70%, reducing costs and time.
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Our goal is to reach 90% automation with the procurement and invoice handling.
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Invoices are now going through at 80% touchless processing. Prior to SoftCo, it was between 5-10% maximum.
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The SoftCo AP system has been faultless, reducing our invoice query times by 75%.