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Quicker set-up for new data mappings and updates

With a growing number of suppliers moving to EDI, Esprinet found it was expending greater amounts of precious internal resource on establishing new connections. Each connection would have its own nuances, unique data points, and these all had to be taken into account. Added to this, many existing suppliers would periodically require changes to be implemented.

Massimo Patrussi, System Development Manager at Esprinet SpA explained, ¡°We turned once again to ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV to explore more efficient and effective ways of administering our trading partner data mappings. The answer was ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV B2B Managed Services. We now simply inform ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV of our requirements and they take care of setting up the necessary configurations, calling upon their extensive experience and knowledge of numerous data standards.¡±

Being able to release staff from the workload involved in establishing and maintaining these connections has meant that focus can be applied elsewhere.

Greater efficiency through automation

When a supplier submits an invoice to Esprinet, procedures are now in place to automatically check that the invoice is correct.

¡°With the data received via B2B Managed Services, the system now quickly and automatically checks the invoice against a PO, confirming goods have been received and match delivery notes. We¡¯re then able to automatically pass the data to our core financial systems. This all saves time, reduces the potential of human error during data entry, and provides us with a complete audit trail,¡± added Patrussi.

Not only does Esprinet receive documentation from trading partners via B2B Managed Services, but the company also sends documents too. Orders can be sent quickly and efficiently upon receipt from customers, speeding up delivery times in a time-sensitive market.

Using a single, Esprinet document format simplifies internal processes

With ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV taking care of document mappings on behalf of Esprinet, not only has this released valuable internal resource, it also means that they can work to a single, internal format.

¡°We used to have to manage multiple document/data mappings ourselves. Now we have our own standard and rely on ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV to map that to the standards used by external parties, saving time, avoiding errors and reducing the maintenance overhead too,¡± said Patrussi.

When a new supplier or customer comes on board, everyone at Esprinet knows they will quickly be up and running, thanks to the responsive service provided by ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV.

¡°Like others in the organization, our purchasing department is very happy with the service provided by the ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV solution. They no longer have to manually process purchase orders, perhaps placing them onto a supplier portal, producing PDF documents and sending emails. They simply select the order in their system, click to send and the order is transferred by B2B Managed Services to the supplier. Manual work is dramatically reduced, as are errors,¡± said Patrussi.

The purchasing department also benefit from an immediate response and acknowledgement of the order being accepted from the supplier. They can then easily track progress as updates from the supplier are automatically fed back into their purchasing system via ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV.

Esprinet customers benefit from improved stock information

Using B2B Managed Services, suppliers also provide regular stock and delivery information to Esprinet. This data is then automatically used to update inventory and to provide detail of expected deliveries to customers.

¡°Where a product is not in stock or is awaiting shipping, our customers are able to view expected delivery dates. This data is automatically and seamlessly received, processed and updated onto our website thanks to the data received with ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV,¡± said Patrussi.

The accounting department benefits too, with greatly reduced manual data entry, reporting is more up to date, there are fewer errors and automatic checks help highlight exceptions where manual intervention is required. The whole solution helps Esprinet meet Italian fiscal rules too, with full audit trails and reporting.

Esprinet sends and receives about half a million documents every year via B2B Managed Services using the ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV? Trading Grid? Messaging Service. Handling such volumes manually would be a monumental task, even if trading partners would allow it, which most would not.

¡°We¡¯re constantly looking at how we can further improve or automate our processes,¡± said Patrussi. ¡°Should that involve a change to our trading partner data mappings, or should a new partner come on board, we know that we can rely on ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV to take care of things for us quickly and efficiently.¡±