5 Reasons You Need A Digitalisation Strategy for 2019
As we get closer to 2020, a digitalisation strategy seems more important than ever. What exactly is a digitalisation strategy? Put simply digitalisation is the application of technologies to aid in new, and existing, processes. A strategy to do so, would include an understanding of what can be improved, how to improve it, what…
What’s More Important: Automation or Jobs?
I’ve written about this before, and had many a discussion at work, in length about how far automation has come and where it’s going. These conversations regularly lead to the question of what’s more important: Automation or jobs? In the last 5 years Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computing has advanced faster than in the…
Dubai’s on its way to becoming paperless, is this the change we’ve been waiting for?
It’s well known that Dubai is a smart city. They have always been ahead of the game when it comes to becoming paperless, but they’ve now announced they’re back on track for a paperless government in 2021. What are they changing? In a simple sentence, Dubai are changing their entire government process into a…
Is Making Tax Digital for VAT an Accounts Payable Issue?
On the 20th November at 11.00 ITESOFT will be hosting a webinar focused on the latest legislative change to impact on Accounts Payable, Making Tax Digital for VAT and asking whether this is an Accounts Payable Issue. “Making Tax Digital for VAT requires VAT registered businesses with taxable turnover above the VAT registration threshold to keep…
Aragon Research positions ITESOFT in the “Innovator” section of the Globe for Digital Business Platforms
Evaluation Based on Completeness of Strategy and Performance ITESOFT has been positioned by Aragon Research, Inc. in the “Innovator” section of the Research GlobeTM for Digital Business Platforms, 2018, by Jim Sinur. This research note evaluates 27 key providers that are leading the charge in the DBP market. “We believe our positioning in the…
Electronic Visa Granted to Robot ‘Sophia’
In just two minutes an electronic visa was granted to humanoid robot ‘Sophia’ from Hanson Robotics to supplement her visit to Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani government agency ASAN (Azerbaijan Service and Assessment Network) saw the visit as an opportunity to publicise its digitalised processes. ASAN has managed to digitalise government processes such as registering births, deaths,…
HADO – The First International AR Competitions Announced
For anyone who watched the original TRON as a youth and wished growing up that they could be inside a video game racing, running, and dodging… Now 30 years on us dreamers can finally have their chance and get involved in the first international AR competitions of HADO. A Tokyo based company HADO are…
New Technology: What’s Changed?
It feels like years ago that much of the new technology we take for granted today were just up and coming trends, when now, it’s the truth. Whenever I walk down the streets, I will undoubtedly see people talking, scrolling through or paying with their smartphones. The reality now is that technology is in…
What is the Role of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Accounts Payable?
The role of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Accounts Payable is, fundamentally, to remove time consuming, repetitive, low-value tasks such as data entry from employees. Freeing accounting clerks time to focus on higher-value tasks. Simply put, if your team are typing data from a document, into any system, this is the task that RPA…
Digitalisation of invoices: Socometra Engie chooses ITESOFT’s next-generation solution
Socometra Engie, a maintenance and engineering company, has selected Streamline for Invoices from ITESOFT, a global leader in digitalisation and process automation solutions, to transform its supplier invoice process. Digitalise 12,000 supplier invoices per year To support its strategy of digital transformation of accounting processes, Socometra, a subsidiary of Engie Group based in New…
DM Awards 2018 : ITESOFT UK proud to announce that Streamline for Invoices is named Accounts Payable/Invoicing Product of the Year
23rd November 2018 – Woking, Surrey ITESOFT UK, a leading provider of solutions for Finance Process Automation, are proud to announce, today, another award winning year at the annual Document Manager Awards 2018. Following on from many years of success, 2018 delivered an award for ITESOFT in the following category: Accounts Payable/Invoicing Product of…
Aragon Research positions ITESOFT in the “Innovator” section of the Globe for Digital Business Platforms
Evaluation Based on Completeness of Strategy and Performance ITESOFT has been positioned by Aragon Research, Inc. in the “Innovator” section of the Research GlobeTM for Digital Business Platforms, 2018, by Jim Sinur. This research note evaluates 27 key providers that are leading the charge in the DBP market. “We believe our positioning in the…
FISCAL Announces Partnership Extension with ITESOFT
Agreement optimises risk mitigation, protects working capital and drives financial process efficiencies 27 September 2018, Woking, UK. ITESOFT UK, a market leading provider of financial process automation solutions, today announced it has extended its commercial partnership with forensic financial solutions provider FISCAL Technologies, to transform risk management and process efficiencies in the finance…
Time Management; Time Robbers, Saying No, and Delegation
Managing a project can be a nightmare, but first taking a step back and looking at how you manage your own time can be a breakthrough. This week ITESOFT sat down with Anthony Maddalena from PowerCall Global Training to discuss effective time management strategies. I took a few key points away from the session, including…
ITESOFT’s Summer Fest; A Celebration of Automation Success
From the 5th of July 2018 through to the 6th, two thirds of ITESOFT travelled to meet with the other third in Paris, France. This meeting gave the opportunity for a company wide briefing by ITESOFT’s CEO Christophe Lacaze, as well as an evening’s celebrations in Paris bar Favela Chic. Before the meeting of…
Carambar & Co chooses ITESOFT Streamline for Invoices to digitalise its supplier invoice processing in SAP®
To handle the increasing number of invoices received from its various suppliers around the world, Carambar & Co has chosen to implement ITESOFT Streamline for Invoices, a cutting-edge automation solution for processing supplier invoices. 23 May 2018 – Until now, the Carambar & Co Group has handled its supplier invoices using manual processing methods,…
ITESOFT and Contextor Announce a Partnership Agreement
ITESOFT, a leading provider of process and document digitalisation solutions, and Contextor, a specialist in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), announce a cross-partnership agreement. The two software vendors will benefit from the complementary of their respective offerings, enabling customer organisations to digitalise all their business processes and speed up their digital transformation. Orsay and Rueil Malmaison,…
2017 and Beyond: Building on Success at ITESOFT
As 2017 draws to a close, many of us will be looking back on the year’s trends – and its achievements – to help us plan for our goals in 2018. Here at ITESOFT we’re no exception. We’re looking back over an award-winning year that saw us placed in the Gartner Magic Quadrant iBPMS 2017…
ITESOFT Wins AP/Invoicing Product of the Year
ITESOFT, the leading developer of automated digital process solutions, has won an award for its software at the prestigious 2017 Document Manager Awards, held on the 23rd November at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Bloomsbury Street in London. Document Manager have been running the awards event for 11 years, and this is the 13th Document Manager…
ITESOFT joins Gartner’s Magic Quadrant iBPMS 2017
We are pleased to announce that Gartner, the world’s largest IT analyst firm, has recently integrated ITESOFT into its Magic Quadrant iBPMS* 2017. This reinforces the strategic vision initiated by the company over the last few years around its SCPA platform. This recognition is in addition to those received in the recent months by Forrester,…
Are You Ready For the New ‘Duty to Report Payment Practices’ Legislation?
Deadlines have a habit of sneaking up on us, and this autumn UK companies have a new one to contend with: in November 2017, they will need to submit reports on their payment practices due to the new UK legislation. The legislation is part of the UK’s government’s effort to protect small businesses from the…
ITESOFT and FISCAL Technologies Extend Commercial Partnership
Agreement ensures risk and fraud reduction across document capture and payment processing. ITESOFT, European leader in digital transformation and business process automation software, has extended its commercial partnership with world-leading provider of accounts payable forensic software FISCAL Technologies to protect customers throughout the capture and payment process. FISCAL’s AP Forensics suite will complement ITESOFT by providing…
Recognised as an innovative digital technology leader again!
ITESOFT, the leading developer of automated digital process solutions, has won an award for its software at the prestigious 2016 Document Manager Awards, held on the 24th November at The Grand Connaught Rooms, London. Document Manager celebrated their 10th year of running the awards event, and this is the 12th Document Manager Award that ITESOFT…
The P2P Business Case – Successful Implementation
Everywhere you look in today’s business environment you will find two words ‘Digital Transformation’. Going digital is the primary route to keeping pace with demands on all aspects of individuals and organisations. These two words which can, do, and in some instances have placed a measure of fear in many of us, will continue…
Seven Predictions for Finance and Procurement in 2019
In a challenging geopolitical landscape, where long held assumptions around the fundamental principles of world economics are being questioned, many organisations are looking to new ways of thinking and technology to protect them against risks and take advantage of any opportunities. This year will see ongoing changes in several different areas: Let’s Get Connected It…
The Digitalisation of the Procure-to-Pay Process: More Than a Financial ROI
According to the Institute of Finance & Management (IOFM), 53% of accounts payable managers believe that a Procure-to-Pay process improvement initiative should be initiated by their financial departments. Faced with an increasingly competitive market, this investment addresses productivity challenges and operational performance, the importance of which continues to grow each year. The digitalisation of processes, in…
Understanding the True Cost of Your AP Process (Infographic)
Understanding the true cost of your AP process is an important step towards gaining any benefit from your department. How can you submit a business plan for your process improvement project before understanding the true cost of your AP process? It is also important to understand how other companies are performing so you can…
All I Want for Christmas is My Invoices Automated
As we creep through December and Christmas is sneaking up on us, one thing is becoming apparent: people need time off work. Whether your team have unspent holiday to use before they lose it in 2019, or they have become so busy with seasonal plans that they are suddenly in a rush to take…
Streamline for Invoices Now Available Through the Microsoft Store
30 years of innovation in the business process automation space have culminated in ITESOFT’s latest accounts payable suite, Streamline for Invoices (SLFI). Now available through AppSource, the Microsoft Store, SLFI represents a new generation of solutions that not only leverage the intrinsic benefits of the Cloud, but also take advantage of using innovative services deployed…
What is the Role of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Accounts Payable?
The role of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Accounts Payable is, fundamentally, to remove time consuming, repetitive, low-value tasks such as data entry from employees. Freeing accounting clerks time to focus on higher-value tasks. Simply put, if your team are typing data from a document, into any system, this is the task that RPA…
Want your Invoices Paid within 30 days? Try 1.2
Out of 6,376 reports of UK companies’ payment practices, 3,913 companies reported taking over 30 days to get invoices paid. That’s 61% of companies. Why is this? It could be due to a number of factors, I would place a large wager on the biggest factor being the lack of automation and the use of…
The Accounts Payable Clerk has a New Role
It’s nearly 2019. Our home lives have changed so significantly and so have a lot of our work lives. If you work for a worldwide conglomerate, chances are your budget has allowed you to make these changes over the past 10 years. Smaller companies are only now seeing the move into digitalisation as a realistic…
Robotics, Brexit and eInvoicing – Latest P2P Survey Results
Business confidence has dipped this year in response to a flat economy and continued uncertainty around Brexit. It seems that few organisations have strong contingency plans in place in case of a hard Brexit and some are concerned about the implications for their supply chain. And while access to cash remains difficult, with some…
Why You Should Be Looking to Automate Accounts Payable Now
Have you always thought about automating your Accounts Payable process, but keep pushing it further and further down your list of priorities? Let’s talk about why you should be looking to automate your AP now, before 2019 rears its ugly head. Q4, or H2, is the best time to be looking to automate. Whether your…
How Can AP Automation Save a Finance Team Time?
AP Automation is not a new thing, organisations have been investing in this for many, many years. Following the market trends and accessing new technologies and solutions. However, for organisations that have not invested, or have not revisited the market for more than a couple of years, one important question is at the forefront of…
Making the Most of Your Existing Invoice Automation Solution
So, you’ve finished your long-awaited accounts payable automation project. Now it’s time to leverage your department’s expertise to make the most of your invoice automation solution. Of course, you want to make sure your investment is working as hard as you have been to get it up and running. The following steps will set you…
5 Biggest Mistakes in Accounts Payable and How to Fix Them
I have spoken to countless Accounts Payable and Finance professionals in my time, hearing horror stories about how they process invoices and make payments. In this article I have picked my top 5 favourite answers to the question “So how do you currently process your supplier invoices?” and what my response would be. 1. …
Limitations Within Existing Accounts Payable Automation Platforms
As with all technology, there are limitations within existing Accounts Payable Automation Platforms. With the advent of cloud solutions, more and more organisations are able to consider investing in disruptive solutions within the back office. Cloud technology is now well and truly embedded in our corporate consciousness, for a lot of very good reasons. Its…
What is the Most Important Piece of Data for an AP Specialist?
The role of AP Specialist is not new to business. The role of an AP Specialist is not new, organisations understand the need to have departmental specialists. Often the role of a departmental specialist is internally filled, leveraging the knowledge of the department and organisation to deliver real benefit. More recent is the growing…
Environmental Cost of Paper Based Invoice Processing
We live in a world that is changing. The global focus on reducing our environmental impact is growing. The key question in this blog though is, what is the environmental cost of paper based invoice processing? Most organisations will have an understanding of the cost of processing an invoice once they have received it. Some…
What is the Cost of Paper Processes to the Care Industry?
The NHS has been targeted to go completely paperless by 2020, highlighting the cost of paper processes. For many years the use of paper in data intensive industries, has and continues to compromise productivity, hampering progress. We could say that this alone is the cost of paper processes. This is no more apparent than…
Lean in 15 – The Fastest Way to Streamline your Accounts Payable Processes
Much like Joe Wicks’ Lean in 15 recipes and work outs are dedicated to being short and sweet, Cloud technology and Software as a Service (SaaS) allows a quick implementation with immense benefits when used for accounts payable automation. If you’re trying to make your Accounts Payable department “Lean in 15” by procuring…
How Do You Define Invoice Automation Success?
As with any project there are any number of ways with which to define invoice automation success. Remember, it is these definitions by which the project will be judged at the end. It may come as no surprise that, in order to define what a successful project is, you need to start understanding the…
A lot of people are confused about what Invoice Automation REALLY is
I have spoken with a hundreds, if not thousands, of people who work in Accounts Payable departments and every single one of them has a different understanding of invoice automation. Invoice Automation Beliefs Some people believe that a having a supplier portal counts as invoice automation (this one I can understand!), others tell me that…
Duty To Report Payment Practices – 1 Year On
ITESOFT Recently Ran a Webinar looking at Duty to Report Payment Practices 1 Year On… During ITESOFT’s recent webinar (Duty To Report Payment Practices 1 Year On) a number of trends would appear to be coming to light… The first, most striking element of the reports submitted, is how few there have been, and how…
The Truth about E-invoicing
These days, in the financial process automation space, the term “E-invoicing” is thrown around with little attention to detail. Much like the buzzword of the last year, “Blockchain”, a lot of people have jumped on the hype without fully understanding the meaning of the word. Defining E-invoicing If you’ve been boasting and bragging to your…
Is Your AP Department Overlooked?
Two Thirds of Executives use innovative Technologies to Drive Profit, Benefit the Environment A recent survey from the USA issued by the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), listed the seven emerging technologies that senior executives view and use to drive profitability and environmental performance The technologies listed are; blockchain, sensors, data analytics, mobile ubiquity, dematerialisation, automation…
Robots in Finance Departments
Robots both fascinate and worry at the same time. Who didn’t look with admiration at the last Boston Dynamics robots to perform a back flip, (I always dreamed of getting there) or felt uncomfortable seeing them co-operate to open a door like Raptors in JURASSIC PARK? Get ready, because we are now seeing Robots in Finance…
Accounts Payable Automation FAQs
ITESOFT webinars offer you the chance to ask us anything about Automation, the following are a few of the most Frequently Asked Questions from our attendees. With the digital age, more and more companies are hosting events online that used to be held in hotels and conference suites around the country. Automation, digitalisation etc. are…
What to Look for in an Automated Solution for Business Applications?
You’ve just begun your journey to automate a process within your business, there are so many applications to choose from, but how can you pick between so many seemingly similar solutions? Should you look at their current clients? This is useful to determine if the company have experience in your market segment and may give…
How Will You Ensure Invoice Automation Success?
Invoice automation is high on the agenda for UK businesses and their AP departments these days, yet most would agree it poses major challenges even before a project implementation begins. 77% of the technology, finance and business process managers in our recent survey said that Business Process Automation was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to their…
Make a Breakthrough with Accounts Payable Automation
Take a look at any accounts payable survey from the past few years and one thing will become instantly apparent: when it comes to the things keeping Accounts Payable (AP) departments awake at night, very little changes over time and it’s now an era to breakthrough. Year after year, the need to ‘improve processes’ tops…
5 Reasons You Should Automate for Digital Transformation
As digital transformation hits its stride, automation is becoming a priority agenda item for many senior management teams. For many, automation represents a significant shift in the way their business operates – and involves significant investment and wholesale structural change. So why should you be considering automation if you’re not already? The answer lies in…
2017 and Beyond: Building on Success at ITESOFT
As 2017 draws to a close, many of us will be looking back on the year’s trends – and its achievements – to help us plan for our goals in 2018. Here at ITESOFT we’re no exception. We’re looking back over an award-winning year that saw us placed in the Gartner Magic Quadrant iBPMS 2017…
ITESOFT joins Gartner’s Magic Quadrant iBPMS 2017
We are pleased to announce that Gartner, the world’s largest IT analyst firm, has recently integrated ITESOFT into its Magic Quadrant iBPMS* 2017. This reinforces the strategic vision initiated by the company over the last few years around its SCPA platform. This recognition is in addition to those received in the recent months by Forrester,…
Virtualisation: The major challenges every CFO faces
The importance of all things digital in everyday life means that ever-increasing volumes of information are being generated. The volume of data is exploding, and will continue to increase in years to come. While some companies sink under the deluge, others will seize the competitive advantage that comes with truly making the most of information.…
Are You Ready For the New ‘Duty to Report Payment Practices’ Legislation?
Deadlines have a habit of sneaking up on us, and this autumn UK companies have a new one to contend with: in November 2017, they will need to submit reports on their payment practices due to the new UK legislation. The legislation is part of the UK’s government’s effort to protect small businesses from the…
5 reasons to transform your AP function through automation
We now live in a world where a new class of digital tools are reshaping almost every aspect of business communication and interaction. You don’t have to look far to see the spectacular impact of cloud, robotics, analytics, artificial intelligence, automation, and more. These are some of the digital disruptors that are really changing how…
ITESOFT Makes The Future Real by Enhancing its Portfolio with “Streamline for Invoices”!
Digital transformation addresses primitive processing of document capture. Most companies still use fax and paper capture solutions but with digital transformation, companies will need to rethink their approach for collecting and digitalising their information from multiple sources in multiple formats (e-mail, PDF, web forms etc.). As in many other areas, the use of cloud services…
Is Making Tax Digital for VAT an Accounts Payable Issue?
On the 20th November at 11.00 ITESOFT will be hosting a webinar focused on the latest legislative change to impact on Accounts Payable, Making Tax Digital for VAT and asking whether this is an Accounts Payable Issue. “Making Tax Digital for VAT requires VAT registered businesses with taxable turnover above the VAT registration threshold to keep…
What Does RPA Mean for You?
What does RPA mean for you, for your organisation and even the wider business? During this blog post, I’ll be stripping RPA down to basics, looking at what the acronym means, defining RPA, and then how this could benefit not only you, but your organisation as well. So, what does RPA actually mean? “Robotic…
Accounts Payable Automation FAQs
ITESOFT webinars offer you the chance to ask us anything about Automation, the following are a few of the most Frequently Asked Questions from our attendees. With the digital age, more and more companies are hosting events online that used to be held in hotels and conference suites around the country. Automation, digitalisation etc. are…
Is Capture the Key to Automation?
Most of you will have heard the expression; “you only get out what you put in”. For most of us, this has been applied to our working lives, or perhaps our relationships, but the onus is always the same, if you do more, you get more. Most of you will have seen videos and…
Knowledge is Power for P2P
We all know that knowledge is power, what we don’t know is how to acquire said knowledge. It’s easy to implement an automated solution to complete a process, but how can you maximise the benefits from your solution if you don’t gain any knowledge or experience from it? In the days of cloud technology,…
How did we reach Capture-as-a-Service in Accounts Payable?
From physical processing to Capture-as-a-Service in Accounts Payable. Humanity as a race has and still does (as a majority) underestimate the computing power of a device that can fit in the palms of our hands. An everyday example is a calculator. For many people, a calculator can be found on their smart phone, by…
Importance of Capture Rate & Process Management
Is a capture rate of 99.5% accurate? Before Capture Rate… Before we talk about capture rates we should first discuss how the information from an invoice is entered into a finance system. There are many options but the most common three being manual entry by an accounts payable clerk, outsourcing your invoices to be processed…
Fraud in Finance Isn’t New
Fraud through the ages Fraud in Finance is nothing new, it’s a serious crime that’s got severe punishments associated to it and it always has. Since the internet was created in the late 1980’s, and the news became readily available for everyone to see and now it seems that the fraud cases have become a…
The Next Generation of Invoice Capture
Digital transformation may be well under way – but most companies admit to still using paper-based document capture solutions, including fax. These processes not only waste time, but leave businesses open to manual error and loss, theft or damage of physical documents. Additionally, the vast array of digital communication channels is making it vital for…
AP Automation: How Much Could You Really Save?
Are you struggling to get your senior management on board with AP automation? Does your CFO start participating in the ‘Bird Box Challenge’ whenever you try to show him your chosen solution? Perhaps this is because you are focusing too much on what the AP automation solution will do, or alleviate, and not enough…
Fourth Industrial Revolution and Finance
What were the other Industrial Revolutions? The First Industrial revolution took place between the 18th and 19th century. The development of factory systems, machine tools, and steam power, really driving the textile Industry and with it creating Great Britain as the world’s leading commercial nation. The technological revolution or also known as Second Industrial…
Finance Automation: Beyond Technology
On February 26th ITESOFT will be hosting a 40 minute webinar. As usual automation will be the core focus for us, after all we aren’t here selling pens and paper… For our next webinar though things are a little different. This time we are going to be exploring finance automation beyond technology. It is…
Accounts Payable Automation – The First Step to Automating an Organisation
Digitalisation of a business; start simple, start with Accounts Payable automation. When companies decide to embark on projects designed to automate their processes, the advice is often to start with something simple. This has numerous benefits, from ensuring your project generates a return on investment, to establishing how your staff deal with major change. Accounts…
Top 3 Barriers to Automating AP and How to Overcome Them
Even after a few conversations with only a handful of accounts payable managers across the UK, it is clear that whilst most managers want to start automating AP, they have come up against many barriers in the past which have soured the dream. Due to new technology and modern processes, many barriers of the past…
What Are The Most Likely Industry 4.0 Trends of 2019?
During 2018 the news was awash with stories of Industry 4.0 trends. So what can we expect in 2019? Well, I imagine probably more of the same, if truth be told. IoT, 5G, Digitalisation, Smart & Wearable Tech, RPA and Robotics are all likely to claim vast amounts of column space throughout 2019. IoT The…
Automation in Finance: Preparing for the Future of Back Office Functions – Full Document Download
Throughout November and December, I published a series of 6 articles looking at preparing for the future of back office functions through automation in finance. Starting with 9 bullet points on how to best prepare for automation in finance, working through understanding your current processes, who to involve and how to involve them, and…
Automation in Finance – Preparing for the Future of Back Office Functions: Part 6
Read Part 5 Adhere to your project plans. When project start to drift there can be a tendency to adjust your plans accordingly, normally this is done in an effort to ensure that delivery of the project looks like it has been achieved. By reducing the overall size of a project, timescales should be less…
Automation in Finance – Preparing for the Future of Back Office Functions: Part 5
Read Part 4 Ensure communication to the wider business. So at this stage you will have your team of experts in place, IT will have been involved. You should have completed your research and have an idea of what you can and cannot achieve using technology. Supporting this you will likely have started building your…
Automation in Finance – Preparing for the Future of Back Office Functions: Part 4
Read Part 3 Involve your IT team. Yes, even if your corporate direction is to move to cloud based technologies, your internal IT team will still be vital in this project. It is almost certain that, during your research, you will come across technology that simply doesn’t make sense to you. Now, if you have…
2018 Wrapped Up (And Placed Under the Tree)
2018 has been an exciting year for ITESOFT UK, including the introduction of our cloud based “Capture as a Service”, winning the DM Award for Best AP/Invoicing Product of the year with Streamline for Invoices, and being featured on the Microsoft AppSource store. But now it is time for this year to come to…
Automation in Finance – Preparing for the Future of Back Office Functions: Part 3
Read Part 2 Research, research, research. Over the last 5 to 10 years, organisations have really started to understand that their own research can be vital to the long term success of am automation project. In fact, it is widely suggested that more than half of the information that is used during the decision making…
Automation in Finance – Preparing for the Future of Back Office Functions: Part 2
Read Part 1 Engage with colleagues outside of the finance team. This should, honestly, be a no-brainer. Yet we have often found that automation of finance or AP is explored and managed almost exclusively by the team in question, and their direct line management. However, how can you know what time and cost impacts moving…
Saudi Arabia Welcomes Sophia as Their First Robot Citizen
“This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship,” – Sophia According to an official Saudi press release, Sophia was confirmed as the first robot Saudi citizen during a business event in Riyadh. As I wrote in a previous article, Sophia was also the first robot…
Automation in Finance – Preparing for the Future of Back Office Functions: Part 1
What is the best way to prepare for automation in finance? Understand and carefully detail what your current AP processes look like. Be sure to include, and highlight, problem areas. Engage with colleagues and understand how your processes and pain points impact the wider business. Build a multi-disciplined team to head up your process review,…
Robots Will Take Our Jobs, But Will Robots Take Our Art?
What Is Art? The oxford dictionary description of art is: “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”. From that description of what art is, it can be defined as a…
What is Metadata and Why Should You Care?
In the world of digitalisation, the term “Metadata” is used quite often. But what is Metadata? Descriptive strings of data that reference activity or other data Fields of information allowing accurate filtering of data Automated data which cannot be manipulated or changed after creation Why is it of benefit to your organisation? Allows an…
5 Reasons You Need A Digitalisation Strategy for 2019
As we get closer to 2020, a digitalisation strategy seems more important than ever. What exactly is a digitalisation strategy? Put simply digitalisation is the application of technologies to aid in new, and existing, processes. A strategy to do so, would include an understanding of what can be improved, how to improve it, what…
What’s More Important: Automation or Jobs?
I’ve written about this before, and had many a discussion at work, in length about how far automation has come and where it’s going. These conversations regularly lead to the question of what’s more important: Automation or jobs? In the last 5 years Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computing has advanced faster than in the…
Dubai’s on its way to becoming paperless, is this the change we’ve been waiting for?
It’s well known that Dubai is a smart city. They have always been ahead of the game when it comes to becoming paperless, but they’ve now announced they’re back on track for a paperless government in 2021. What are they changing? In a simple sentence, Dubai are changing their entire government process into a…
Electronic Visa Granted to Robot ‘Sophia’
In just two minutes an electronic visa was granted to humanoid robot ‘Sophia’ from Hanson Robotics to supplement her visit to Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani government agency ASAN (Azerbaijan Service and Assessment Network) saw the visit as an opportunity to publicise its digitalised processes. ASAN has managed to digitalise government processes such as registering births, deaths,…
HADO – The First International AR Competitions Announced
For anyone who watched the original TRON as a youth and wished growing up that they could be inside a video game racing, running, and dodging… Now 30 years on us dreamers can finally have their chance and get involved in the first international AR competitions of HADO. A Tokyo based company HADO are…
New Technology: What’s Changed?
It feels like years ago that much of the new technology we take for granted today were just up and coming trends, when now, it’s the truth. Whenever I walk down the streets, I will undoubtedly see people talking, scrolling through or paying with their smartphones. The reality now is that technology is in…
Autonomous Cars – Another Foray into an Automated Future
With the news of London Taxi firm Addison Lee announcing their plans to introduce autonomous cars on the road of Britain by 2021, I thought I would discuss some examples of automation being used in life today. Supermarket Checkouts Supermarket self-checkout systems have been around since the early 1990’s, but became more widespread in…
Today I Was Sick… But My Computer Wasn’t
Coming down with a cold. For the last 72 hours I have been ill, so has a colleague of mine, we have probably caught the same bug, let’s face it these things do go round and around an office space. Then, today I was sick, I messaged my boss and took a day off. My…
Be Like Banksy: Shred Your Documents…
Last week, Banksy triggered a shredder, built into the frame of his artwork, after the gavel went down on a sale of £860,000 at Sotheby’s. Want to feel the same rush Banksy felt as he plunged his once pristine, important, artwork into its bladed fate? Okay, it’s not going to be quite the same adrenaline…
Have You, or Are You Currently, Exploring Automation for AP or Finance?
A question that we often ask people and organisations. After all, if people are not interested in exploring automation for AP then the chances are we are not going to be speaking all that often… With this in mind, this question forms the backbone of a complimentary webinar that ITESOFT hosted in October. Webinar Replay:…
How Can AP Automation Save a Finance Team Time?
AP Automation is not a new thing, organisations have been investing in this for many, many years. Following the market trends and accessing new technologies and solutions. However, for organisations that have not invested, or have not revisited the market for more than a couple of years, one important question is at the forefront of…
Technology Lessons, Learnt by the Best
It’ll come as no surprise that technology has had its issues in the past, ranging from the Galaxy Note 7 through to Facebook Chatbots developing their own language, but there are ways to avoid these problems. In late 2016 and early 2017, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was released with an irregular battery size, which…
What to do Before The Robots Take Over
The robots are coming, the robots are coming. AI is changing the world, what should you do before the robots take over? There are two things you can do about it, you can reject this truth and try to fight against it. This mindset normally comes from the older generation who are often “stuck in…
Leveraging Big Data and IoT to Fight Cancer
I recently came across an article in the Metro talking about a new App being used to help fight cancer. Suffice it to say this piqued my interest. I mean, who isn’t interested in how we are able to apply technology to help with our quality of life. On reading, the principle was so simple…
AI & Robotics should not be about Displacing your Workforce but Enhancing it
We are working in an age where technology is pushing the very frontiers of business For too long back office functions have been considered as a cost to organisations, subsequently they have often been neglected, with issues such as, a lack of resources and cuts in funding. Advances in technology over the last few years…
Automation is Coming for My Job
Automation is coming for jobs. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life in the new age of technology. As I type this even my job comes under pressure. Just like emails made fax machines redundant, Netflix the video stores, texting and mail, automation is removing dull repetitive tasks and doing them faster and better. You…
What Does RPA Mean for You?
What does RPA mean for you, for your organisation and even the wider business? During this blog post, I’ll be stripping RPA down to basics, looking at what the acronym means, defining RPA, and then how this could benefit not only you, but your organisation as well. So, what does RPA actually mean? “Robotic…
100 Years Ago What Did Future Tech Look Like?
When considering our future relationships with technology it can be very interesting to start by looking at what people thought we would be doing today. So, 100 years ago, what did future tech look like? Looking back, before we look forward. We know that no one can truly predict how the world will look in…
The Ultimate Cheat Sheet on RPA – For Beginners
Always seeing the term RPA thrown about in conversation and constantly asking yourself “What does RPA stand for?” but too afraid to ask? Seek no further, by the end of this article, you will know enough about RPA to make your systems admin blush. And while it’s useful to know what RPA stands for,…
Daily Duties, Why Should They be Automated?
Automation in the workplace is a major focus for 2018… New and improving AI and RPA are removing organisations simple, repetitive tasks, so why should your daily duties at home be any different? Automation is quickly moving into our lives and households, just like 80’s movies predicted, from wearable technology in Back to the…
A Paperless Proposal for the Public Sector
I spent 12 months working for a local authority, the crimes against technology I witnessed still haunt me to this day, so I drafted a paperless proposal. It all started on my first day in the office, I was introduced to the filing cabinet. And by filing cabinet I mean a 5 meter squared area…
The Rise of the Robots May Not be so Bad After All
Will you be affected? Here, rise of the robots refers not to the malicious uprising of intelligently superior machines (Terminators) but instead to the automation of mundane and repetitive tasks. Previously, only manual labour was considered to be at risk of automation as more and more workers feared being replaced by mechanical robots (probably…
Remember the Good Old Accounts Payable Days?
Ahh the good old, golden, accounts payable days. They were amazing weren’t they? The summers were always brilliantly sunny, the winters had snow at the proper time and invoices were barely a concern back in the… good ol’ accounts payable days. Of course, this is not true, or fair. But the reality is that…
Companies are (Generally) Not Quick Enough to Keep Up With Upcoming Technology, or Customers
24 companies are failing to “keep up” in 2018, that’s 1,895 stores or 21,191 people worrying about job security, is this a failure to adapt to newer, upcoming technology, and digitalise, or is it not keeping up with their customers’ needs and relying heavily on brand worth. Customers these days would seem to…
Accounts Payable Automation Comes Down to One Thing
Every automation company worth its salt will have published a white paper giving numerous reasons why you should automate your back office. These white papers are great, they are designed to give you a better understanding of what to look for when you choose to automate. Often they are designed to guide you with…
Are Automation Solutions Driving Paperless Offices?
As more and more automation solutions are available, are these the “key” to delivering the holy grail of a paperless office? To start with, the answer to this question lies in truly understanding what an automation solution actually IS, before even considering what it can deliver. Automation itself is not new, mankind has set…
An Insiders Thoughts on Preparing for Future Automation in AP
If you’re like me, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, meaning if you want to be sure something is being done properly you need tangible, conclusive evidence, especially regarding your future automation needs. When it comes to automation, we imagine a completely dark process where nothing but what goes in and what…
How Do You Define Invoice Automation Success?
As with any project there are any number of ways with which to define invoice automation success. Remember, it is these definitions by which the project will be judged at the end. It may come as no surprise that, in order to define what a successful project is, you need to start understanding the…
Often Overlooked Benefits of Supplier Invoice Automation
More often than not, when an individual or organisation considers the benefits of supplier invoice automation, they will focus on a few key points, normally the easy to define and associate a cost to. However, as with all technology, solutions designed to automate this process advance in not only the solution capabilities but…
A lot of people are confused about what Invoice Automation REALLY is
I have spoken with a hundreds, if not thousands, of people who work in Accounts Payable departments and every single one of them has a different understanding of invoice automation. Invoice Automation Beliefs Some people believe that a having a supplier portal counts as invoice automation (this one I can understand!), others tell me that…
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”… or should we?
I have often heard the phrase “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” when discussing accounts payable automation with many different levels of finance professionals who can’t see the problems caused by manually processing invoices when compared to an automated process. Whilst leaving processes running the way they have been for the past 10…
Leading a Successful Finance Process Automation Journey
James Stackhouse and Paul Armstrong discussed the Finance Process Automation Journey that Autoglass undertook. During the webinar, hosted by ICAEW, James and Paul went into detail on the Autoglass Finance Process Automation journey, from the first thoughts of automation, all the way through the process to the selection of ITESOFT, and the planning of the…
The Truth about E-invoicing
These days, in the financial process automation space, the term “E-invoicing” is thrown around with little attention to detail. Much like the buzzword of the last year, “Blockchain”, a lot of people have jumped on the hype without fully understanding the meaning of the word. Defining E-invoicing If you’ve been boasting and bragging to your…
B2B Financial Processes Are Still Too Slow
Why, in an age where information, transactions, and engagement are almost instant, do so many organisations still lag behind when it comes to B2B financial processes? Can B2B Learn From B2C Practices? As we know, B2C engagement has long been the primary focus of business, and rightly so, this is what pays the bills. Offering…
Is Your AP Department Overlooked?
Two Thirds of Executives use innovative Technologies to Drive Profit, Benefit the Environment A recent survey from the USA issued by the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), listed the seven emerging technologies that senior executives view and use to drive profitability and environmental performance The technologies listed are; blockchain, sensors, data analytics, mobile ubiquity, dematerialisation, automation…
Robots in Finance Departments
Robots both fascinate and worry at the same time. Who didn’t look with admiration at the last Boston Dynamics robots to perform a back flip, (I always dreamed of getting there) or felt uncomfortable seeing them co-operate to open a door like Raptors in JURASSIC PARK? Get ready, because we are now seeing Robots in Finance…
Digital Transformation Failure – Serious Hit to TSB Reputation
The separation of TSB and Lloyds bank back in 2013, and the acquisition by Sabadell in 2015 meant that TSB had to find their own systems for their customers. Choosing Proteo4UK as their supplier and a planned go-live date of 20th April 2018, they were ready to go. TSB warned their customers far in advance…
What to Look for in an Automated Solution for Business Applications?
You’ve just begun your journey to automate a process within your business, there are so many applications to choose from, but how can you pick between so many seemingly similar solutions? Should you look at their current clients? This is useful to determine if the company have experience in your market segment and may give…
How Will You Ensure Invoice Automation Success?
Invoice automation is high on the agenda for UK businesses and their AP departments these days, yet most would agree it poses major challenges even before a project implementation begins. 77% of the technology, finance and business process managers in our recent survey said that Business Process Automation was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to their…
How can Robotics Transform your Accounts Payable Function?
AI, machine learning and digital transformation are all concepts poised to transform the future of business – but can they really have a direct and meaningful effect on the day to day experience of Accounts Payable (AP) and Finance professionals? Here are just a couple of ways that they can make a huge difference. Error-free…
Make a Breakthrough with Accounts Payable Automation
Take a look at any accounts payable survey from the past few years and one thing will become instantly apparent: when it comes to the things keeping Accounts Payable (AP) departments awake at night, very little changes over time and it’s now an era to breakthrough. Year after year, the need to ‘improve processes’ tops…
5 Reasons You Should Automate for Digital Transformation
As digital transformation hits its stride, automation is becoming a priority agenda item for many senior management teams. For many, automation represents a significant shift in the way their business operates – and involves significant investment and wholesale structural change. So why should you be considering automation if you’re not already? The answer lies in…
2017 and Beyond: Building on Success at ITESOFT
As 2017 draws to a close, many of us will be looking back on the year’s trends – and its achievements – to help us plan for our goals in 2018. Here at ITESOFT we’re no exception. We’re looking back over an award-winning year that saw us placed in the Gartner Magic Quadrant iBPMS 2017…
ITESOFT joins Gartner’s Magic Quadrant iBPMS 2017
We are pleased to announce that Gartner, the world’s largest IT analyst firm, has recently integrated ITESOFT into its Magic Quadrant iBPMS* 2017. This reinforces the strategic vision initiated by the company over the last few years around its SCPA platform. This recognition is in addition to those received in the recent months by Forrester,…
Virtualisation: The major challenges every CFO faces
The importance of all things digital in everyday life means that ever-increasing volumes of information are being generated. The volume of data is exploding, and will continue to increase in years to come. While some companies sink under the deluge, others will seize the competitive advantage that comes with truly making the most of information.…
Business Process Automation: What Will be Left for People to do?
Digital transformation is revolutionising the way business processes are managed. Rather than merely evolving over time, processes are undergoing wholesale change in order to adapt the challenges faced by digital businesses, and yet while advances such as digitalisation, BPM and the introduction of AI have obvious benefits, many workers regard them with fear. How can…
BPM: What Role will Humans Play in the Digital Transformation of Business?
François Bonnet, Marketing Product Manager ITESOFT, stepped into the limelight during the 5th edition of the famous bpmNEXT event in Santa Barbara (United States). As well as addressing the tech sector’s hottest topic – the emerging role of AI in our organisations – François touched on the role humans will play in the forthcoming digital…
5 reasons to transform your AP function through automation
We now live in a world where a new class of digital tools are reshaping almost every aspect of business communication and interaction. You don’t have to look far to see the spectacular impact of cloud, robotics, analytics, artificial intelligence, automation, and more. These are some of the digital disruptors that are really changing how…
Customer Behaviour and Consumer Modes Have Strongly Developed with Digital Transformation
The behaviour of customers have evolved in 3 particular areas due to digital transformation. The relationships between a customer and a bank/insurance company have been getting better as digitalisation has been gradually increasing the relationship between the two. This has been reflected by a steady decline in customers leaving the bank/insurance companies and the…
Artificial Intelligence a Modern Approach to the Old Fraud Problem
Preventing fraud has never been an easy task…is artificial intelligence a modern approach to overcoming this? We’ve all heard about artificial intelligence (AI) and the wonders that the likes of Google and Tesla are creating with it. Until just a few years ago self-driving cars were something learner drivers and science fiction fans could…
Fraud in Finance Isn’t New
Fraud through the ages Fraud in Finance is nothing new, it’s a serious crime that’s got severe punishments associated to it and it always has. Since the internet was created in the late 1980’s, and the news became readily available for everyone to see and now it seems that the fraud cases have become a…
Combating Document Fraud with Digital Technology
Document fraud is the third largest criminal industry in the world – but are we doing enough about it? In 2016, only one in three decision makers had solutions in place to detect document fraud concerning incoming documents. And yet, 64% of decision makers admitted that the need to manage the risk of document fraud…