This case study highlights the successful implementation of e-invoicing solutions by ABB in partnership with Unifiedpost. By moving from paper-based processes to electronic invoicing, ABB significantly improved efficiency, reduced costs and increased data quality. The collaboration began in 2013 and continues to drive progress in ABB's financial operations in Germany.
Customer information
Company: ABB Group
Division: Energy and automation technology
Location: Worldwide
The globally active ABB Group is a leader in power and automation technology. At ABB Germany, all accounting-related services are provided by ABB Business Services GmbH (BIS). In order to continuously increase efficiency, performance and quality, the accounting center relies on the cooperation with Unifiedpost (formerly "crossinx") for the expansion of electronic invoice exchange.
In Germany, the company and its five business divisions receive over 600,000 invoices a year. Their processing is in the hands of BIS. The technical go-live of the solution from e-invoicing provider Unifiedpost, which supports the significant expansion of ABB's e-invoicing activities, took place in September 2013. The new process has been operational since October 2013, when the first invoice was received via Unifiedpost.
Review: ABB's previous billing process
Until the introduction of the new solution, suppliers sent paper invoices to ABB as standard. These were scanned and transferred to the ERP system via text recognition systems for further processing by Accounts Payable. Until then, only six percent of invoices were sent digitally.
.png)
A value that should be significantly expanded. The standard procedure used to date did not seem suitable for this. Among other things, it was characterized by a high level of manual effort, involved time delays and offered only limited scope for optimization overall. The management of BIS therefore decided to push ahead with electronic invoice exchange (e-invoicing).
Goal: Increase automation and efficiency
"Our aim was to increase the level of automation of the process in order to reduce costs and make processes more efficient," says Franka Strache, Project Manager e-Invoicing ABB Germany. "We also wanted to increase the data quality of the existing e-invoicing system and improve throughput times, for example to increase the discount utilization rate."
Support through Unifiedpost
External support was needed to ensure that the objectives were achieved smoothly. To this end, the company obtained offers from several e-invoicing providers and carried out a supplier comparison with existing Unifiedpost customers. "The fact that a number of ABB suppliers were already cooperating with the Frankfurt-based company spoke in favor of Unifiedpost," says Strache. "In addition, Unifiedpost has a broad network of international partners, so that we can benefit from existing roaming agreements in the future internationalization of electronic invoice receipt."
After the contract was signed in July 2013, implementation followed by October 2013. "The suppliers were initially approached via the respective ABB Purchasing contacts. We then took over the technical consulting of the individual suppliers. The existing Unifiedpost customers were already on board anyway. After an ABC analysis based on the document volume, the first step was to connect the A suppliers and those who were already working with us," recalls Marcus Laube, founder and managing director of Unifiedpost.
High data and invoice quality
Because the Unifiedpost solution can be customized to meet specific customer requirements, a high level of data and invoice quality can be achieved. This is a crucial prerequisite for a high automatic throughput rate and therefore short processing times. It also minimizes the amount of manual checking required in-house.
.png)
For example, mandatory field definitions and number ranges for order numbers can be checked. An initial validation of the invoices according to paragraph §14 UStG is carried out by Unifiedpost. If the result of this validation is positive, the structured data record and the invoice image are transferred to ABB. If it fails (validation rules, mandatory fields), the invoice is sent back to the supplier with the corresponding error code. Further validations via mapping tables, for example the reading of keywords, supplement the electronic invoice receipt process and contribute to its efficiency.
Automated processes secure savings potential
"The expansion of e-invoicing will increase the entire invoice receipt process and the automation rate of postings. This saves ABB valuable time and therefore costs," emphasizes Jacqueline Sikora, Head of Accounts Payable.
Consequently, the use of Unifiedpost and the partnership with ABB paid off after a short time: the percentage of invoices received digitally has doubled compared to the previous year.
Based on the positive experiences, ABB is continuing to drive forward the changeover to e-invoicing. New business partners are continuously being connected - and the first suppliers from other European countries have also been convinced by e-invoicing with ABB and Unifiedpost.
The successful partnership between ABB and Unifiedpost demonstrates how the implementation of e-invoicing can lead to significant improvements in efficiency and cost savings. ABB is continuing its efforts to further digitize its financial processes in order to benefit from the advantages of electronic invoicing in the future.
.jpg)
