Hotel chain cures invoice woes with new supply chain software

Guoman & Thistle minimises data errors with GXS's Freeway Spectrum Enterprise solution

Following the implementation of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) billing solution, hotel chain Guoman & Thistle has reduced the number of invoices that were subject to error from about 20 per cent a week to less than one per cent.

The automated solution, from GXS and called Freeway Spectrum Enterprise, replaces a system that was part manual and part automated by legacy software based on electronic data interchange (EDI) technology, which had been customised to work with the firm's in-house accounting system.

However, owing to the complex nature of the old software, only one employee was able to access supply chain data and deal with the operation and management of this function. This restricted supply-chain visibility for other departments across the business.

As a result, up to 20 per cent of all electronic invoices failed each week because of data inaccuracies that then required additional resources, including the recruitment of temporary staff to manually rectify the problems.

Inaccurate data also often led to delays, or incorrect payments being sent to suppliers.

The new solution is capable of handling all existing messaging formats, including EDIFACT, Tradacoms, X12 and XML.

It also supports multiple communications methods, including VAN, AS2 and FTP in a single solution.

Following implementation of the solution, seven additional suppliers have been added to the EDI platform, raising the total number to 20.

The on-boarding process has also been simplified, alleviating unnecessary pressure from internal IT resources.

"Retrospective invoicing was simply not possible with the legacy solution," said Alex Pearce, accounts payable manager, Guoman & Thistle.

"In the hotel business, suppliers can range from food and drinks manufacturers to laundry services, personnel suppliers, and building maintenance services – all with different needs. The system has simplified data exchange for these organisations and accommodated retrospective invoicing, meaning it has opened new doors for us," he added.

Regarding the reduction in inaccuracies, he said: "In one particular week, Guoman & Thistle transacted 1,154 invoices, and 68 failed due to various inaccuracies. These inaccuracies are now flagged to us early in the invoice cycle, meaning the problems are quickly addressed and resolved.

"Of 68, just five invoices could not be electronically processed and suppliers needed to be contacted manually for the invoice-to-payment process to be completed."