The Client
Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, and reliability for more than 165 years.
The Challenge
Siemens Shared Services LLC (Siemens) provides centralized accounts payable processing for more than 26 distinct operating companies that service over 90,000 suppliers and process over 2.4 million invoices per year. With this many suppliers and invoices, Siemens was dealing with 20,000 supplier inquiries per month. A sizeable call center was staffed to service the inquiry phone calls. Siemens’ challenge was to find an innovative web-based self-service solution to significantly reduce supplier inquiries and related call center costs.
The Solution
Siemens conducted an extensive vendor analysis and selected EverView’s Accounts Payable Supplier Self-Service and e-invoice Automation Portal. EverView provides a globally hosted suite of web-based accounts payable automation and procure-to-pay service modules, which are incrementally deployed in a phased strategy. A significant plus was that EverView’s Supplier Self-Service Portal was already integrated with common ERP platforms such as Oracle and SAP. SAP is the Accounts Payable ERP environment of Siemens.
The Results
Siemens and EverView implemented a multi-pronged best practice supplier e-invoice adoption strategy which included:
- Multiple webinar training sessions to suppliers as well as Siemens procurement and accounts payable staff
- Training and awareness sessions to accounts payable call center resources
- Targeted e-invoice submission messaging within purchase orders
- Electronic invoice submission within procurement contracts
- Phone and email-based awareness campaigns to targeted suppliers
PHASE 1: First Six Months
EverView implemented best practice adoption techniques and Siemens aggressively onboarded suppliers into the supplier portal. Siemens achieved 40 percent supplier adoption within six months, resulting in improved supplier relationships. Suppliers gained self-service visibility into their invoice and payment remittance information 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Suppliers are also able to download their invoice/payment data and submit electronic inquiries online. EverView automatically transmits and updates Siemens’ centralized CRM, Remedy™.
PHASE 2: Successful Adoption
Siemens’ next goal was to achieve 90 percent supplier electronic invoice submission through EverView’s electronic invoicing service. EverView’s supplier onboarding and enablement services promoted awareness and training to Siemens’ 90,000 suppliers, with the goal of converting all manual paper invoices to a form of electronic invoice submission. Suppliers invoicing Siemens’ many operating companies can submit electronic invoices through web form entry, copying a purchase order into an electronic invoice or uploading invoice data from within a spreadsheet. Suppliers can also submit electronic invoices directly from their billing system through EDI and XML industry standard formats. EverView further provides ‘rules-driven’ invoice validation ensuring invoices are 100 percent compliant with purchase orders prior to posting to the ERP. Siemens has now reached and exceeded the 90 percent supplier electronic submission goal.
PHASE 3: Operational and Security Enhancements
Siemens added two-factor authentication to enhance external access to the portal. This process involves text messaging and email authentication codes for access. Single sign-on has been implemented to allow for additional security and ease of access for internal Siemens employees. This technology allows users to utilize their current Siemens network login.