Friday 5th June, 2015

Esker has launched a new supplier self-portal, improving the way organisations interact and collaborate with their suppliers.

Esker’s portal provides suppliers with real-time status information on their invoices, strengthens supplier relations and increases the buyer’s productivity. Both suppliers and buyers are provided with a single view of data, enabling the two parties to improve their ability to share information, enhance supply chain performance and facilitate dispute resolution. The use of electronic exchanges also leads to lower transaction costs.

The portal reduces supplier inquiries by providing them with the status information on all their invoices, (eg. received, approved, paid, etc), without ever having to pick up the phone. Suppliers have visibility into when they will be paid and can therefore better manage their working capital treasury.

Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker, says, “Our goal is to connect companies with each other so they can do business more efficiently. Our new portal, combined with our solution dashboards, delivers the perfect platform to enable effective and intelligent interactions.”

In addition to looking up the status of any of their invoices, suppliers can also submit invoices directly and electronically on the portal. This allows buyers to reduce unnecessary paper handling, improve the timeliness of payments and lower their Days Payable Outstanding. By accelerating the payment cycle, buyers can benefit from early payments discounts. Suppliers get paid faster and are able to reduce their Days Sales Outstanding.

Based on Esker research, AP staff performing their tasks using manual methods can spend as much as 30% of their time responding to supplier calls, impacting both costs and productivity. On average, it takes an AP clerk five minutes to manage one invoice status inquiry. This equals approximately $2.5 per call, which can add up quickly and cause unnecessary expenses that would otherwise be used more productively. With fewer supplier calls to manage, an AP department is able to focus on more value-added tasks, increase its efficiency and reduce costs.

Designed to optimize the buyer-supplier interaction, both parties can conveniently exchange information and chat directly via the portal, removing all possible communication barriers. All conversations are kept together and always available for reference when needed.