Continuing with the rapid development of our bespoke in-house IT system Leonardo, we have now launched super fast finance software, an additional function which speeds up the electronic processing of supplier invoices – saving the business money and time.
LeoFinance is one of the latest phases of our unique IT suite, which extends our Leonardo offering ever further.
The next add-on to this function is LeoScanning, designed to streamline the electronic processing and handling of incoming supplier invoices. Previously, invoices were received on paper, distributed accordingly and then were physically approved. LeoScanning is now live across our European road freight operations with all of our European partners transferred to the system. 40% of our total invoices received were posted into the system in the first month alone.
Europa IT Director, Richard Litchfield said LeoScanning had revolutionised the way the business processed financial documents, creating another advancement towards a paper free environment for the accounts department.
He said: “Prior to introducing this function, our business like many others was paper-reliant. LeoScanning removes the physicality of processing invoices and replaces it with a slick and efficient system which saves us both time and money. On average we process around 10,000 invoices a month – and by switching to LeoScanning we are saving more than 500-man hours per month.
“LeoScanning analyses each invoice, recognising key information in order to direct it to the right person within the business for sign off, with improved visibility throughout the whole process. Our finance team can now locate an invoice at the click of a button – there is no searching through stacks of paper. Furthermore, if we are expecting a regular and agreed cost from a supplier, the system will process the invoice without any human interaction, which again saves us valuable time.
“The plan is to continue to embed LeoScanning across the entire organisation and all of our suppliers.”
Europa Finance Director, Rob Ross added: “For the finance team, Leo scanning is a great addition to the new LeoFinance system. It allows the purchase ledger team to process supplier invoices much more quickly and has meant we have not had to add additional clerks to the team.”
Europa unleashed Leonardo in July 2016, a revolutionary decision to give us ultimate control over our own IT systems in a drive to improve responsiveness, efficiency, productivity and scalability across our 11 UK sites. Two years later and the streamlined benefits of Leonardo are now apparent across all arms of the business, from the finance team to inside the Europa cab.