Automation: Global presence seeks IT solution

From a boutique to one of Europe's largest fashion and lifestyle companies - s.Oliver, based in Rottendorf near Würzburg, is exemplary for the rise and success of a medium-sized company from Germany.

Today, around 7,500 employees work for the company worldwide and generated total sales of 1.62 billion euros in 2013, 27 percent of which were generated abroad. Since the turn of the millennium, the growth signs at s.Oliver have been pointing to international expansion.

In 2003, for example, the company took over the foreign markets in Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries as its own subsidiaries. In 2006, the company entered the markets in Southern and Eastern Europe.

In 2011 and 2013, the company succeeded in launching in East Asia and North America. Brands such as Sir Oliver or QS by s.Oliver are available in over 3,000 stores worldwide.

Increasing internationalization also influences the selection, planning and implementation of IT systems.

"Whereas local solutions were often sufficient in the past, today the internationality of the product and the manufacturer is an important decision criterion"

explains Filippos Siakavaras, Head of Administration at s.Oliver.

OpenText and its Vendor Invoice Management for SAP Solutions and Invoice Capture Center solutions were therefore chosen for the redesign of invoice receipt.

In addition, s.Oliver was convinced by the tight SAP integration of the OpenText solution. This is because the software from Walldorf is the leading system at the fashion company.

Scanning effort: minus 70 percent

60 to 80 multi-page invoices are entered and processed every day in s.Oliver's financial accounting headquarters alone. The number of suppliers is around 8,000 worldwide.

"Because of our growth, we were already experiencing capacity constraints in the accounting department, which we reduced with OpenText Invoice Capture Centre"

Siakavaras adds.

"Thanks to the good recognition rate of the OpenText solution, we have reduced the daily scanning effort from about two hours to about 35 minutes - a 70 percent reduction."

"Increasing internationalization requires lean, efficient processes. Automation is therefore one of the key objectives of our IT projects."

explains Filippos Siakavaras.

Since the go-live of OpenText Vendor Invoice Management at the end of November 2014, around 1,000 employees worldwide have automatically received vendor invoices captured and read with OpenText Invoice Capture Center for review and approval.

"The degree of automation in reading out and recording invoices was already very high just a few weeks after the live start. Now it's paying off that colleagues from central purchasing, financial accounting and the IT department were already involved in the project planning."

Siakavaras reports.

"In fact, the implementation went so smoothly that we completed it two months ahead of schedule. In addition, user acceptance of the new system is very high. We expect the investment to pay off in just the second year."

In the second quarter of 2015, the OpenText solution will also be rolled out in Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia and at the New York site of the Liebeskind subsidiary brand.

"We are currently implementing SAP's Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). In interaction with OpenText, we will then further optimize our procurement processes."

Siakavaras explains.

For example, the reconciliation between data from SAP SRM and OpenText Vendor Invoice Management is to be automated as far as possible, so that invoice verification is further accelerated and simplified.

In addition, s.Oliver plans to use OpenText as a central archiving platform for all information inside and outside SAP.

Challenges:

• Reduction of additional work for processing incoming invoices
• Multi-currency capability
• Tighter integration with SAP solution:
• OpenText Vendor Invoice Management for SAP Solutions
• OpenText Invoice Capture Center business benefits:
• The time required for invoice entry is reduced by 70 percent
• Initial investment pays off from the second year onwards
• Seamless integration of OpenText into the SAP system reduces effort for follow-up projects