Almet Italia Gains Increased Accounts Receivable Efficiency Thanks to Esker

Esker, the leader in document process automation solutions, announced today that it has been selected by Almet Italia, a leading Italian distributor of aluminum and stainless steel components and semi-finished goods, for its accounts receivable automation solution. Integrated with Almet Italia’s ERP system, the Esker Accounts Receivable solution not only enabled the company to achieve significant savings in customer invoicing, but it also dramatically reduced invoice sending and cash collection times.

"Almet Italia issues close to 20,000 yearly invoices to over 3,000 customers. Prior to automation, invoices were processed in a traditional manner – they were sent by standard postal mail or, for customers who requested, a copy of the invoice was sent electronically,” said Cristiano Dondi, IS Manager, Almet Italia. "Invoices were printed in-house and then handed off to the post office where they were folded and mailed. This process was very expensive, considering one person was solely responsible for managing invoice processing several hours each month. Additionally, customers complained that invoices were arriving late – sometimes up to two weeks after they were issued by our accounting department. Faced with this situation, we decided it was time we equipped ourselves with an accounts receivable solution capable of externalizing the mailing of paper invoices and the sending of electronic invoices, all with the end goal of achieving time, staff and cost savings.”

The value of SaaS

As Almet Italia already owned a processing system capable of generating accounting documents in PDF, the required solution had to automate the sending of customer invoices without impacting Almet Italia’s existing processing and IT systems. The Esker Accounts Receivable Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, offering 100 percent automation, was the right choice.

"From the start, SaaS was the most interesting solution as it did not require us to add any software to our IT system, particularly software unrelated to our core business,” explained Dondi. "The Esker solution was by far the most complete. Personally, I appreciate being able to offer our customers a personalized web portal where, at any time and with complete autonomy, they can view, track and download invoices as well as modify their sending preferences.”

Seamless integration

Without disrupting Almet Italia’s day-to-day administrative work, the Esker solution was quickly and easily integrated into Almet Italia’s ERP system. Invoices were generated in PDF (as was already the case) and a simple interface was created to transfer essential data to Esker (addresses, fax numbers, email addresses) to ensure the correct sending of invoices to customers. The Esker solution automated the delivery of both paper and electronic invoices based on user preferences and from the onset, a majority of Almet Italia’s customers preferred to receive electronic invoices.

Electronic invoice acceptance

"We feared initial resistance to electronic invoicing; however, the acceptance rate has been very high. This is good news for us as this is precisely where we are able to achieve significant cost savings. Customers particularly appreciate the speed of email delivery and the personalized web portal and invoice traceability capabilities. We have even received compliments, which in my experience, is very rare for an invoicing service,” added Dondi.

Thanks to the Esker Accounts Receivable solution, Almet Italia today:

• Automates invoice sending, and in doing so no longer requires an employee to manage the process
• Sends the majority of its invoices in electronic format, thereby reducing the processing of paper documents as well as the associated postal costs
• Provides its customers with an efficient and fast service: 75 percent of customers have already opted for electronic invoicing, and those that maintain their paper invoices receive them quicker than before

The integration of the Esker Accounts Receivable solution constitutes a first step in the document process automation strategy that Almet Italia intends to continue with Esker. "We are already thinking about automating sales order confirmations, a solution which will require the principal use of fax. In the meantime, we are very pleased with the excellent results achieved thus far,” concluded Dondi.

About Almet Italia

www.alcandistribuzione.it

Almet Italia is a leading Italian distributor of aluminum and stainless steel components and semi-finished goods. Affiliated with several important metal production groups, Almet Italia is a member of one of the leading metal distribution networks in Europe. The company combines technical competence with logistical supply capabilities.

Almet Italia’s target market is comprised of final users and third party suppliers in the industrial sector (automatic machines, molds for plastic materials, metal frames, industrial body shops, precision workshops, etc.) to whom Almet Italia sells metal (aluminum, stainless steel, and other metal) semi-finished goods, logistics services (built to deliver, transportation, just-in-time delivery), mechanical work (size cutting, water jet cutting, CNC Lathe Technic) and technical assistance before and after purchase.

In 2009, Almet Italia bought Metalli Marchelli, a company with over 150 years of experience in the distribution of metallurgy with a particular focus on products made from the following materials: brass, bronze, aluminum, carbon steel or stainless steel and cast iron. Almet Italia is ISO 9001 certified and, as part of its continuous effort to achieve high environmental, health and safety standards, has obtained the ISO 14001 environmental management standard and the OHSAS 18001 certification for health and safety.

Almet Italia headquarters are located in Bologna, Italy, where the company was founded in 1935. With over 85 employees, the company regroups four service and sales centers located in Bologna (for the Emilia-Romagna and Adriatico regions), in Treviglio (for the Piemont and Lombardy regions), in Padua (for the Triveneto region) and in Florence (for the Tuscany and Tyrrhenian regions), as well as a Metalli Marchelli sales office in Parma.

About Esker

Esker is a recognized leader in helping organizations reduce the use of paper, eliminate manual processes and simplify IT landscapes. With its comprehensive platform, Esker delivers the benefits of automated document processing as on-demand services (SaaS) and on-premise solutions. Customers achieve significant operational efficiencies, cost savings and ROI in as little as three to six months while gaining visibility and control within order-to-cash and procure-to-pay business processes ranging from sales order management and accounts receivable to purchasing and accounts payable. Founded in 1985, Esker operates globally with more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker has global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter and join the conversation at twitter.com/eskerinc.

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