RedSky’s Invoice Register with Automation is enabling Brandwells to complete its monthly analysis, accounts, cost reports and VAT returns 10 days sooner.
Brandwells Construction has been reaping the benefits of RedSky’s Invoice Register since October 2019, when the company migrated from the legacy AXiM product to RedSky’s latest system. Eleven months later it implemented Automation. The digitisation of all invoice processes has introduced surprising efficiencies.
Using RedSky’s Invoice Register
Finance Director Rob Schofield said: “We receive up to 3,000 invoices a month and RedSky’s Invoice Register now catches around 95% of our suppliers.
“The suppliers send their invoices to a specific invoice email address. From there, the invoices drop straight into the Invoice Register where they park up, waiting to be dealt with. We can see who the invoices are from before using the ‘update invoice’ button, which forwards them to our OCR [optical character recognition – automation] software.
“The invoice then goes through the OCR part of the process, which prepopulates the invoice document on screen with all the details we need – things like the date, invoice number, supplier name (which will pull through a unique supplier code), VAT registration and invoice totals, VAT and goods.
“We have ‘trained’ the system to recognise most of our suppliers, so it only takes a matter of seconds for us to view and approve each invoice before importing it into the RedSky system. The training process is active while live, so any new suppliers or amendments to current supplier invoices are always updated via the training function and ready to go live for the next invoices.”
The benefits of the Invoice Register
The entire invoice process is much faster now. Whereas Brandwells used to cut off costs to report on around the 20th day of the month, it can now start its month-end process a good 10 days earlier.
Rob said: “Streamlining the Purchase Ledger process in this way has proved a massive timesaver in terms of manual hours. There have been other quantitative savings too, in reduced stationery costs and reduced storage costs and requirements.
“We are a mainly zero-rated business, so are now able to submit and apply for our sizeable VAT refunds a good 10 days earlier than previously. This is good news for our cash flow because generally the funding is agreed before the point when we would previously have closed off the month-end costs!”
The Finance team and surveyors can now access any invoice document on-screen immediately on the RedSky system. If there’s a query on a current or historic invoice, they no longer have to waste time hunting for a physical document in the downstairs storage area.
“My team is now working more productively,” said Rob. “Everything is processed automatically within the system, so they don’t have to spend hours keying data into the system – they can focus on analysis and business improvement instead.”
Brandwells is hosted and the Invoice Register is web-based. This meant that the individual who processes the company’s invoices was able to work throughout Covid by accessing the RedSky system from their home – and continues to have the option to do so.
Rob said: “If we hadn’t gone down the Invoice Register and Automation route, I don’t know what we would have done during the lockdowns. We would have found a way, but thankfully our migration meant that disruption for these processes was minimal.”
In conclusion…
Rob is delighted to have implemented the Invoice Register with Automation. “They have allowed us to streamline and speed up our processes for invoices and authorisations,” he said. “Alongside introducing Managed Timesheets and Encrypted Emails, the benefits outweigh the software implementation costs by a long way.”
About Brandwells
Founded in 1973, Bristol-based Brandwells Construction is one of the most highly regarded groundworks contractors in the South West and South Wales regions, handling contracts worth up to £55 million annually. It employs up to 300 operatives who work on projects including housing infrastructure, house foundations, earthworks and reinforced concrete construction.
To find out more about RedSky’s construction-specific software solutions, contact us by filling out our contact form or telephone 44 (0)20 3002 8700. Middle East customers telephone 971(0)4 362 5106.
