Advanced technology platform delivering superior performance
Advanced technology platform delivering superior performance
SoftCo’s ecosystem of Smart Automation solutions, including Vendor Management, Procurement, AP Automation, Payments, Contract Compliance, and Compliant Archive, are built on SoftCo10, a single, fully-configurable and secure platform that is deployed either on-premise or on the cloud. The single platform ensures that specifications are quickly configured across all solutions. SoftCo10 delivers a simplified, Amazon-like user experience across all devices, requiring minimal on-boarding and training, leading to increased user adoption. It also integrates with existing ERP and finance systems at a single point, enabling real-time analytics and accurate reporting for better decision-making.
The SoftCo10 platform incorporates a core set of modules – Capture, Workflow, AI Matching, Robotics Automation, Adaptive Learning, Lifecycle Management, Reporting and Analytics, Anti-Fraud, and ERP Integration. These modules and technologies offer a proven solid foundation to meet the specific needs for every type of organization. Uniquely the Smart Configurator intelligently collates the functionality of each module so different SoftCo solutions can be deployed rapidly without the need for custom development. The result is an accelerated implementation timetable for an Enterprise solution that is superior in the marketplace.
“We are now automatically matching 80% of all of our supplier invoices.
This means they go straight through the process, touchless
without any manual intervention.“
Information is captured in various formats including paper, email, PDF, XML and EDI and from mobile or desktop platforms. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) electronically reads data from scanned documents to reduce or eliminate manual key entry. Machine Learning technology works in tandem with OCR to extract the required data for matching. The invoices are dynamically matched to ensure that invoices are accurate. The AP solution automatically matches all invoices to contract POs and routes them for approvals, reducing repetitive tasks and significantly reducing the invoice lifecycle process.
The Workflow Engine automates a sequence of pre-defined steps, with relevant stakeholders assigned to each step of the workflow where manual intervention is required. The Engine operates off a set of conditions that determine the flow of the sequence, from one step to another. The Engine is a core component in the automated approval and exception handling processes. The SoftCo Workflow Engine is pre-configured to provide best practice workflows for Procure-to-Pay and Accounts Payable automation, depending on business needs.
A key challenge of invoice processing is matching invoices to purchase orders (PO) and goods receipt notes (GRN). If a unique identifier does not exist, the system performs a 2-way match between the invoice and PO, based on the total amount, and send it for approval. Where there is no unique identifier, Confidence Matching intelligently searches for cases where the line-item amount is the same across both POs and invoices, before presenting relevant and appropriate matches. The AI Matching Engine is configurable to determine the confidence level above which straight through processing is accepted. Where an invoice and purchase order have discrepancies in terms of the specific goods or services listed on both, Aggregate Matching is applied to automate the process.
SoftCo Robotics Automation works by learning and mirroring the keystrokes of regular processes to grab data within fields on documents and assign them to other required fields, thus removing the manual elements of coding and approval routing. For invoices that need to be coded and assigned to a general ledger/cost centre, Robotics Automation handles this process automatically based on the vendor number associated with the invoice. This removes the need to manually route invoices to approvers and cost centers. Smart Routing technology utilizing the latest in Adaptive Learning techniques to determine the correct routing of invoices for approval, reducing the time taken to correctly route invoices by 90%. Smart Coding also harnesses Machine Learning to analyse previously coded invoices and automatically apply the correct coding for new invoices. This new feature significantly reduces the reliance on the AP team’s knowledge and enables coding in seconds rather than minutes.
“80% of our invoices already are achieving a 100% confidence level in the auto-match. This is really, really a big deal from an AP perspective.“
The document Lifecycle Management Technology provides a full audit trail for any changes made to documents during their lifecycle. For any documents that have defined lifecycles, the SoftCo platform provides ‘digital shredding’, rendering files unreadable by overwriting them several times with other data. This ensures compliance with all jurisdiction document retention policies.
By applying AI, abnormal behaviours are identified and managed in real-time to ensure the necessary actions are taken to protect against fraud at all stages of the AP process. SoftCo Anti-fraud is tailored to deliver the optimal fraud protection aligned with your specific needs, regulations and compliance requirements. Other security features include Two-factor authentication (2FA) and single-sign-on, allowing users to securely authenticate their account with multiple devices upon first login. This enables fast and secure login to the SoftCo system across multiple devices. Unique Digital Fingerprint technology ensures retrieved documents from the SoftCo system are the original, unaltered document and also provides a full audit trail, vital for regulatory and audit compliance. All data is encrypted when stored at rest and while in transmission, ensuring that data is always safely and securely managed.
The seamless process, from receipt of invoice to vendor payment, delivers control and transparency with straightforward reconciliation through the ERP and a fully auditable payment process. SoftCoPay is part of the SoftCo10 ecosystem and includes dashboards that provide comprehensive reporting to simplify administration for both vendors and the AP team. SoftCoPay integrates seamlessly with the ERP and is bank agnostic.
To date, SoftCo has integrated with over 200 different systems, using a variety of different methods including RESTful API, sFTP and SQL. SoftCo SmartConnect supports secure dataexchange with the ERP or Finance system via its JSON RESTful web service or via data file in any standard format, for example, XML, Text, JSON exchange over sFTP or VPN connection. File exchange via sFTP enables data files to be securely transferred between SoftCo and the ERP system. Additionally, SQL direct integration allows SoftCo to access ERP data via a standard SQL view/stored procedure against the underlying ERP database. The ERP system remains the master record for key financial information such as GL codes, cost centers, and product IDs while SoftCo financial solutions extracts and posts data back to the ERP system in real-time.
Amazon QuickSight is a scalable, serverless, embeddable, machine learning-powered business intelligence (BI) service built for the cloud. Pre-configured reports are accessed quickly and easily, without the need to build dashboards from scratch. The platform provides accurate, real-time information over AP productivity, invoice processing rates and payments performance. Compliance is also ensured through Prompt Payment reporting and Payment Practice & Performance reporting which provides the statistics required to seamlessly compile and submit BEIS reporting requirements.
SoftCo is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner and provides all cloud-based customers with their own dedicated, single tenant instance of SoftCo’s software in the Amazon cloud. With Dedicated Instances, computing instances are physically isolated from other customers to guarantee that all data stored in the VPC belongs to one customer. By default, AWS creates and saves automated backups of databases and transaction logs. AWS protects against anti-virus attacks and provides a Distributed Denial of Service protection service to all customers. AWS are also committed to a 99.9% monthly uptime SLA.
SoftCo’s compliance capabilities are certified by a number of internationally recognized accreditations – SÄHKE2, SOC-1 and SOC-2, ISO27001 and Riskrecon Mastercard.
