Freeway Commerce helps Kallo Foods find the ingredients for EDI success |
24th May 2010 |
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Spectrum Enterprise Software Addresses Invoicing Complexity
Guildford, UK (18 May 2010) - Kallo Foods, a leading supplier of healthy foods, today announced the successful implementation of Spectrum Enterprise software from Freeway Commerce, an Inovis company. The solution is being used to automate the organisation's invoicing process, improving efficiency and transparency of invoice data whilst ensuring faster payments from retail partners.
A supplier to over 120 retailers including supermarket giants Sainsbury's and Tesco, Kallo also deals with a number of smaller independent retail outlets, and produces both chilled and ambient goods. Although Kallo processes all invoices internally from one account held under the customer's name, some major customers ask to receive chilled and ambient invoices separately to align with their own invoicing channels. This created the need for a tailored EDI invoicing solution. The rollout of Spectrum Enterprise by the team at Freeway Commerce automated this invoice separation process, which had previously involved many hours of manual data input. This frees up much needed IT resources at Kallo, and also ensures that retail customers receive invoice details in their preferred format every time.
Kallo Foods also required a more flexible EDI solution, as the previous system would delay processing batches of invoices if a fault on just one of those invoices existed, delaying payments from customers. Spectrum Enterprise resolves this issue by automatically identifying and isolating problem invoices, ensuring improved efficiency and a quicker order-to-payment process. In addition, as Spectrum Enterprise is accessible over the Internet, authorised personnel can now access the system from any location using a web browser. This has ensured that invoicing and other trading partner processes are more transparent, and can now be closely monitored by managers across the business at any time.
"As a relatively small supplier, we have a very large retailer portfolio. Dedicated support and skill from our EDI provider to help us address complex challenges such as dual-channel invoicing is therefore essential" said Jonathan Merchant, Systems and Quality manager, Kallo Foods.
"Spectrum Enterprise and the team at Freeway have allowed us to automate and overcome what had been a major time and efficiency issue by adapting the solution to address our business needs. This has improved the working practices of all staff involved in the invoice-to-payment process, at the same time as reducing costs and improving the overall efficiency of the trading platform."
Spectrum also provides Kallo Foods with the ability to exchange data with its customers on multiple platforms, using different data format options and transport protocols such as FTP, AS2 or Value Added Network (VAN). Through Spectrum, Kallo can trade with organisations of all sizes, regardless of their technical capabilities, and are able to add new trading partners onto their EDI system without complexity.
"Suppliers today have their work cut out in meeting the requirements of retailers. Exchanging data such as invoices and purchase orders in the right format can be a major headache, especially for smaller suppliers," said John Redfern, Managing Director, EMEA, Inovis. "Fortunately, EDI solutions such as Spectrum Enterprise which can be tailored to address specific complexities are now providing a cost-effective answer to these challenges, allowing organisations to focus on growing their business and driving sales rather than dealing with technical issues."
For learn more about EDI and its potential benefits, please visit:
/benefits_of_edi.html
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