Order%to%Cash Automation1 with1Esker1in1OracleToday’s1Discussion …! Sonoco$—...
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OrdertoCash Automation with Esker in Oracle Tom Gerth │ Oracle Senior Systems Manager September 14, 2016 1
Transcript of Order%to%Cash Automation1 with1Esker1in1OracleToday’s1Discussion …! Sonoco$—...
Order-‐to-‐Cash Automation with Esker in Oracle
Tom Gerth │ Oracle Senior Systems ManagerSeptember 14, 2016
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Today’s Discussion …§ Sonoco — Who We Are and What We Do§ Tom Gerth — My Background and Involvement with the Process§ Sonoco’s Current and Evolving IT Environment§ Process Obstacles Pre-‐Esker§ Esker’s Solution(s)§ Implementing Esker — Project Planning, Deployment§ Resulting Process Improvements§ Future Plans§ Overall Assessment
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Sonoco —Who Are We?
• Founded in 1899 — headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina• Packaging Solutions Company — $5B in sales• Manufacturing, fulfillment/distribution• Global footprint — 331 plants in 35 countries• Multiple divisions, multiple order management models• Acquisition mode — more operations, systems and models coming!
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Mission Become the acknowledged leader in high-‐quality, innovative, value-‐creating packaging solutions that “Satisfy the Customer.”
Guiding Principle Be a great company for our stakeholders through an unwavering belief that “People Build Businesses” by doing the right thing.
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Business Priorities § Maximize sustainable cash flow from operations § Grow our Consumer Packaging and Protective Solutions segments and our industrial businesses in emerging markets
§ Optimize our portfolio
Differentiating Capabilities § Ideation and innovation § Insights and market alignment § Quality and service excellence § Manufacturing excellence § Supply chain excellence
My Role and Background§ Career Sonoco§ 20 years Sales and Customer Service§ Customer Service Center Process Improvement§ 5 years Divisional Data Management and Reporting§ 6 years Business Technology, leading Order-‐to-‐Cash thread for Sonoco’s Global Oracle implementation
§ Passion for taking non-‐value added work out of business process!
Sonoco’s IT Environment§ 2009 Snapshot
§ 90 instances of 24 different ERP systems§ Baan, MS Navision, Solomon, Optivision, MFG PRO, M2K, Visual, others!
§ 2010 decision to implement Oracle as global ERP§ 2011 begin implementation§ 2011 acquisition of Tegrant Group/Protective Solutions — more ERPs§ 2014 acquisition of Weidenhammer Packaging Group — more ERPs§ 2016 Oracle Status — 120 plants — U.S., Canada, Malaysia, Germany, U.K.
Oracle Benefits§ Structured, rigid system§Has allowed standard global processes — support Sonoco’s growth and optimization goals.
§ Improve integration across business processes, emphasizing information critical to improving operations, customer service, and management decision-‐making.
§Utilize the inherent functionality of the Oracle system, without modification, to deliver business benefits.
Oracle Project — Next Steps at Sonoco
§ Continue implementation — get those next 200 operations!§ Continued global learnings§ Fine tuning/reverse implementing new BDPs§ Be prepared for new acquisitions so Sonoco can grow§ Find ways to optimize — taking work out of the interaction with Oracle à this is where Esker comes in
Process Obstacles — Pre-‐Esker
Order Entry Challenges§ Even with Defaulting Rules, Oracle required a lot of manual keying with standard forms
§ Need for order preparation/validating — Oracle forms and reports§ Orders coming into Sonoco Customer Service in a variety of manners — heavy email load
§ No real “process” — each CSR managed email inbox§ No good way for CSR to understand/manage “to be entered” queue§ No good oversight by managers or manufacturing plants
§ Because of above§ Lost orders§ Orders not entered timely — right orders not going in at the right time
Order Entry Challenges — cont’d§ Storage and handling of closed order documents for audit purposes§Most important — Sonoco’s Customer Service strength is ability to engage with customers — order entry activities were necessary but the tactical work was getting in the way!
Invoicing Challenges§ “Paper” process — all invoices* printed and dispositioned
§ Manually emailed or faxed§ Postal/snail mail
§ Time-‐consuming and error-‐prone§ Dependent upon people, printers and postal service!§Never have proof that invoices were actually printed and/or dispositioned when disputed by customers — and we were never truly certain ourselves!
*non-‐EDI
Why We Partnered with Esker?§ Innovative technology — allows elimination of non-‐value added work from our process
§ Integration to Oracle — allows Oracle to remain “uncustomized”§ Good reviews from Gartner and Forester§ Esker/Sonoco philosophies
§ Customer focused — in all aspects§ “Agile” development/deployment methodology — Chevy/Cadillac
§ Cost-‐effective, cloud-‐based solution§ No impact to customers — tool allows our side to be automated without asking our customers to make changes
Esker Order Entry Project Development§ Structured, Agile project plan§ On-‐site team
§ Esker Team — Cross Functional§ Sonoco Team — CSRs, Supervisors, Administrators
§ Interviews and creation of story cards to identify, force rank, and track development progress
§ Complete involvement/engagement by both Esker and Sonoco§ Incremental development process — don’t know what you don’t know
§ “Give us 80%” — Useable Chevy vs Loaded Cadillac philosophy
Order Entry Project Development — cont’d§On-‐budget and on-‐time — 8 weeks total development time and we were “live”
§ Fine tuning as we started addressing exceptions — from 70% to 95% of our orders over the course of next 6 months
§ Esker teammates have been business partners at all levels —Sales/Acct Management, Project Management, Support, Development
Esker AR Online Project Development
§Much more “generic” product§ All project planning and development was done remotely§ 6-‐week deployment time — 2 weeks of that on the Sonoco side with data and Oracle report modification
§ 100% implemented for first business in 3-‐week timeframe
Resulting Process Improvements — Order Management§ 27% IRR on project — just for first business — will get higher as we leverage with additional businesses
§ 95% compliance rate in 2016 — we went “live” in April 2015§ Order processing times reduced by 65%*§ Initial project scope:
§ Hartsville centralized Industrial NA Customer Service Center§ 380 non-‐EDI, non-‐intercompany orders/day§ 37 CSRs
§ Able to redeploy 2 CSR positions and additional “freed” time allowed for Prospecting and Customer Care initiatives
§ Zero Returned Sales due to the use of the new technology
*Order Management Time Study Results
Resulting Process Improvements — AR Online§ Fast ramp-‐up — 100% of targeted customers live within 3 weeks of implementation (1200 Bill-‐To’s, average 180 invoices/day — one business)
§ AR Dashboard§ Invoice queue — allows CSRs to “see” invoices before distribution§ Can add attachments if needed§ Can “reject” or hold invoices if questions
§ HUGE improvement for Credit Collections team§ Proof that invoice was sent — when and to which email address§ Easy/instant resends if needed§ Self-‐serve
§ Expected working capital improvement in first business of $2.4MM
Future Plans — Sonoco/Esker§ Continued expansion of Esker Order Management — currently planning rollout to second NA division
§ Continued expansion of Esker AR Online — in process with second NA business; 3rd NA business in October; 4th NA business in December
§ Partnering with Esker for invoicing process in Mexico and South America for 2017 — Electronic Invoice distribution, archiving and authentication with SAT
§ Expansion into Europe — Germany and U.K. targeted early 2017
Overall Experience
§ Very happy with the Esker relationship§ Cost effective and IRR and productivity goals have been met and/or exceeded
§ Partnership — they look for ways to help us and listen to my (sometimes) crazy ideas!
§ The technology has helped our business focus on our core competencies — eliminates non-‐value added tasks
§ Completely positive experience!
—Discussion —
