Representing companies like Pepsi Cola and Everest Water, US food and beverage distributor Oneta Company needed to update its critical accounts receivable operations. This article was first published in Food & Drink Business March 2021.
With a 150-year history, Oneta Company now sells more than 2.5 million items a year, yet several of its accounts receivable processes were still being handled manually.
Invoice delivery involved employees going to the filing cabinet, finding the invoice, making a copy, fax or scan and then sending it to the customer.
One day a month, team members would spend four to five hours manually entering every customer’s credit card number and then emailing, faxing or posting back to thecustomer.
Every month there were more than 5000 past-due customer statements that had to be manually prepared for mailing.
It would take around three days and involve the company “borrowing” employees from other departments to help fold, stuff and stamp envelopes.
Oneta turned to Esker to helptransform its invoice delivery, payment and collections operation.
The biggest shift was moving the company to a completely cloud-based system.
By integrating with its ERP software, Esker enabled Oneta to move on from its manual ways.
Invoice delivery no longer has to be physically prepared, instead emailed directly with the click of a button.
Customers can now complete payments through a portal or sign-up for autopay, freeing up Oneta employees.
Esker’s collection management solution stores all notes and collections activities electronically, letting employees know invoices that are overdue or which customers need to be contacted.
Since implementing Esker, more than 80 per cent of Oneta’s customers have signed up for e-invoicing.
It was an undertaking, but the company says such a high uptake made it worthwhile.
Oneta office manager EdwardReyna says: “We sent out flyers promoting e-invoicing attached to statements for the first four months post-implementation and had drivers give flyers to customers when orders were delivered.
“Another dedicated staff member called customers for a week to collect email addresses.
“The whole process took about six months, but the results speak for themselves.”
The result is a team that is less stressed and overwhelmed, with more time to focus on larger scale projects that impact the company.
