Slow processes in the Finance department aren't great for business.
The good news is it's easy to make fast improvements and it's great for the bottom line as well.
Are you happy with the business processes handling the flow of financial transactions across your departments, and through external contractors - if not then read on. This article will take just a couple of minutes of your time but could make a huge difference to your bottom line.
Business processes are designed to save time and maintain a high level of quality control – that’s great. But what if those processes are clunky, time consuming and inefficient? You solve one problem by creating another. Financial transaction processes are notorious for being inefficient, and prone to loopholes that impact a company’s bottom line.
Ask Yourself
- How much time does it take for the purchase process to happen in your organisation – from procurement to delivery, and onto invoice processing and payments?
- How many people are involved in that process?
- Are you still passing paper invoices between your people, and losing time and information along the way?
- What checks are in place to ensure accuracy of invoicing?
- How do you safeguard against overstocking and duplicate orders?
- Would you know if fraudulent orders were taking place?
The opportunities for waste within any business process are many and varied, which is why software like Zahara exists – to provide a slick and easy to use platform, for safe, accurate and timely purchase management - approvals made easy.
Zahara is designed to streamline purchase requisition, purchase order and invoice approval processes, via automated workflows that make bottlenecks a thing of the past. And with integration into your account’s software, it adds that extra layer of rigour that controls costs and expenditure and helps you run a lean, efficient business.
Tenfold ROI
You may be wondering how we can substantiate our headline claim of a tenfold ROI in a matter of months. Here’s how…
Take a look at the table below, where we demonstrate using typical figures based on our customer data, showing the potential savings you could make if you integrate Zahara into your invoicing process. .
Based on the average expenditure a company processes through its Accounts Payable system as a proportion of its turnover. The achievable savings as a result of deploying Zahara to automate these AP processes - as well as reducing ‘wastage’, etc, - could deliver a cost saving in excess of 10% from a company’s bottom line.
| Organisation Size | Company Turnover | Average % savings | Minimum savings p/y | Annual cost | ROI |
| Small | 5m | 1% | 50K | 1.5K | 2 weeks |
| Medium | 20m | 1% | 200K | 2.5k | 1 week |
| Large | 50m | 1% | 500K | 5K | <1 week |
| Enterprise | 200m | 1% | 1m | 10K | <1 week |
Published industry figures suggest the typical loss/cost of invoice duplication/wastage/fraud etc. is generally between 1.0-1.5% of a company’s turnover. Through deploying AP Automation with Zahara we can easily reduce this by 75%, to give a saving of approx. 1% of turnover.
In monetary terms, a business with a turnover of around £5million could expect to save at least £50,000, per year. The net profit of a business this size would be in the region of £500k, thus benefiting from a 10% net saving off its bottom line.
Compare this figure with the cost of Zahara, particularly with its low entry-level cost via monthly subscription, and you’ll see how easy and feasible it is to achieve that tenfold ROI in just a matter of months. With the additional benefit of tighter controls across all your operational expenditure.
So, now we know that it makes perfect financial sense, how easy would it be to integrate Zahara into your business?
Getting started is easier than you might think. You can even start with a free trial so you can put it to the test. It’s easy to put into place, intuitive to use, and users are generally up and running after initial training in a matter of hours.
If your organisation has multiple sites or locations, Zahara is the perfect choice for knitting your company’s financial transactions together. It’s the streamlining software of choice for many organisations in the retail, healthcare, construction, arts, hotel and leisure sectors to name just a few.
For a no obligation trial, or to request a demo, please email John Witty
Feel free to ask John about the figures in the table above too – he’ll explain the reality of the savings he’s witnessed and the financial impact you might expect if you choose Zahara.
