As a leader in the grocery sector, Longo’s reputation has helped drive considerable growth. a family business that was launched by three brothers in the mid-50s, Longo’s has grown from one 1,500 square foot store in Toronto to a total of 36 locations.
The Challenge
However, like many other grocery organizations, Longo’s historically had to process invoices from suppliers by manually entering them into an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This included the invoice itself, as well as their receiving document.
The company had been fielding an average of 12,000 invoices per month or 700 in a single day, with only a team of six, and hiring extra bodies would have added operational expense without necessarily addressing the volume of work in the best possible way.
Early on, Longo’s tried to address the issue with a mixture of technologies that included enterprise content management, collaboration and workflow applications, but this introduced additional problems. The systems were error prone and complicated and lead to slower than expected processing and user acceptance.
The Solution
Longo’s deployed PF 360 Capture, an AP automation solution that was used as a digital on-ramp to Longo’s ERP, Symphony GOLD. Invoices are scanned, verified and released to GOLD for payment processing.
The advantages of using PF 360 Capture over Longo’s previous mix of products include having a single system that runs in the cloud without IT infrastructure being required. Expensive licenses for enterprise content management software and server licenses were no longer required.
Finally, compared with the 10-year-old code running its previous invoicing solution, PF 360 Capture allowed Longo’s to handle newer, problematic invoices that the old OCC technology could not handle without a lot of program template work.
The Results
Since deploying PF 360 Capture, Longo’s has seen some of the following benefits:
Time Savings & Increased Productivity Without Extra Human Resources:
Longo’s estimates that using the AP automation has allowed Longo’s to save the cost of hiring extra people on her team, where salaries could start at $35,000 and more.
Adding Value Amid A Major Upgrade:
Longo’s was deploying PF 360 at a time when the organization was also moving to a new ERP system, which meant the opportunity for additional complexity and challenges were everywhere. The data Longo’s ERP system receives today is now 100% accurate and verified through their “received goods” and purchase order information.
Boosting ROI Of Previous IT Investments:
Scanners had been in operation for years at Longo’s, but they were not necessarily working at full capacity. There were these old test scripts where staff had to go back through the system to make sure everything was working. Using PF 360 Capture, saved companies like Longo’s $3,000.00 a month in technology costs alone, and approximately $6,000 per month in non-hired staff costs.
A Proactive Approach To Customer Success:
“Process Fusion is a good partner to work with. They followed up with us in every step of the implementation.” Alicia Samuel, VP of IT says. “They know the RPA business really well. Having them come in and advising us meant we could get through this project in a timely fashion. They’re very organized.”
Ending The Challenge Of Point Solutions:
“It’s a real benefit in having one platform with one major integration, versus having multiple pieces of a platform put together in multiple ways, where errors could happen,” Samuel said. “This is a great example of how technology can be an enabler of the business.”
