New Version of Esker on Demand Adds Features for Automating International Vendor Invoices

Esker, the leader in document process automation solutions, announced today at Financials 2011 the release of a new version of Esker on Demand. Featuring additional functionalities for the automation of vendor invoices, this new version is differentiated by its unique international scope and by its capacity to process vendor invoices according to formats and specifics in over 20 countries: invoice layout, paper size, currencies, date formats, tax codes, accounting charts, etc.

Developed as a global document automation solution for all business processes (vendor invoices, sales orders, customer invoices and document delivery), the new version of Esker on Demand also includes new features for vendor invoice automation.

Optimized productivity

• Five-language support and specificity handling for over 20 countries: Esker on Demand is capable of recognizing and automating vendor invoice content in five languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish) as well formats and specificities in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and more than eight other countries.
• Vendor invoices are automatically matched with corresponding purchase and delivery orders, regardless of the customer’s ERP system.
• Touchless mode enables completely automated processing of invoices, void of any manual intervention — from data extraction (vendor name, invoice number, date and amount) to automatic verification and integration into an ERP system.
• A new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine delivers improved recognition: The new version of Nuance Capture SDK 16.4 is integrated, guaranteeing improved recognition quality for line items in particular and enabling even more invoices to be processed in touchless mode.

Validation workflow management

• An enhanced flexible and powerful workflow engine allows more complex workflow design, including the ability to add approvers during the approval process, to send invoices back to the previous step, to reset workflows, etc.
• Improved default verification and validation workflow includes the ability to return an invoice to the vendor’s accounting department, to block payment, to put an invoice on hold or to request additional information.

Value-added tools for AP departments

• Automatic duplicate invoice check: During the invoice validation stage, AP is alerted to any invoice that resembles one that has already been processed. The system compares values in different fields — vendor name, part number, date and total amount — to prevent double invoice entry and subsequent double payment.
• Vendor portal: Enables vendors to access their invoice status 24/7, seven days a week, thereby decreasing the number of inquiries and requests for invoice status from AP departments.

“This new version of Esker on Demand is the result of 24 months of user feedback about our on-demand vendor invoice automation solution, as well as significant R&D investment to evolve our solution and enable us to offer new functionalities to our customers,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO and President of the Board of Directors, Esker. “With this new version we are able to respond to companies’ needs by offering the only document process automation solution on the market with international and multi-process capabilities including vendor invoices, purchase orders, customer invoices and document delivery.”

This new version of Esker on Demand features SAP standard interface integration and a multi-platform connector enabling implementation with any ERP system.

Price: starting at $0.86 per document (digressive pricing depending on volume).

About Esker

Esker is a recognized leader in helping organizations reduce the use of paper, eliminate manual processes and simplify IT landscapes. With its comprehensive platform, Esker delivers the benefits of automated document processing as on-demand services (SaaS) and on-premise solutions. Customers achieve significant operational efficiencies, cost savings and ROI in as little as three to six months while gaining visibility and control within order-to-cash and procure-to-pay business processes ranging from sales order management and accounts receivable to purchasing and accounts payable. Founded in 1985, Esker operates globally with more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker has global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter and join the conversation at twitter.com/eskerinc.

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