Metro Inc. holds the second largest market share in the food distribution and retailing business in Quebec and Ontario with nearly C$11 billion in sales and more than 65,000 employees. Faxinating Solutions has been an electronic commerce service provider to Metro for over 10 years, providing integrated solutions that faciliate the transfer of Metro's supplier's transactional data.
Metro requires all of their suppliers to be EDI-compliant. However, forcing these suppliers to implement EDI standards and the necessary software proved impossible. Many of the smaller suppliers were unable or unwilling to make the required investments in hardware, software, monthly VAN charges and the personnel needed to run it all. Many of these smaller suppliers run their operations the old fashioned way, paper-based.
With the help of Faxinating Solutions, Metro has implemented a 100% EDI-compliant system without having to force their suppliers to adopt EDI.
With Faxinating's exAct® software and FAX2EDI / EDI2FAX service, suppliers to Metro are able to be 100% EDI compliant, without actually having to adopt EDI. Instead they use the Faxinating system that works best for them, paper-based or Windows-based software.
The Quest for Compliancy
Metro receives thousands of invoices from their suppliers per week. Previously, the processing of these invoices was done by hand - invoices mailed in would be keyed into the accounting system by a multitude of data-entry personnel.
In the quest for automation, Metro determined that a natural solution would be to migrate the reception and processing of these invoices over to EDI. Instead of sending a paper invoice a supplier would create and send the invoice as an EDI document.
Once received by Metro, the EDI invoice data could be imported into their system automatically, reducing cost and eliminating errors.
However, getting all their suppliers to migrate over to EDI was not realistic, since a lot of these companies didn't have the technology or expertise required to run an EDI-based operation.
To bridge the technology gap, Faxinating offered two solutions: The exAct® software and the FAX2EDI / EDI2FAX service.
exAct® Software
For companies that are computer-literate, Faxinating offered the exAct® software solution. This service allows companies to create or import their invoice data on their computer and send it to Faxinating Solutions though an Internet connection. Once received, the data is verified, logged, converted to EDI and sent to Metro. It's easy to use, but requires computer literate personnel.
FAX2EDI
For companies who were unwilling or unable to use a computerized system, Faxinating offered the FAX2EDI / EDI2FAX service. Suppliers using this service fill in their invoice information on preformatted forms. These are then faxed to Faxinating Solutions, toll-free.
Once received, the data on the faxed forms is extracted using OCR/ICR technology and a data operator manually verifies the data. Once the data is captured, it's verified, logged, converted to EDI and sent to Metro.
EDI2FAX
Error reports, statuses pertaining to invoice transactions as well as purchase orders are sent from Metro via EDI. Once received by Faxinating, these documents are either formatted into paper-based reports and faxed or emailed to their intended recipients, the suppliers.
Conclusion
The combination of exAct® software and FAX2EDI means that Metro can maintain a 100% EDI compliancy with their trading partners without rocking the boat and forcing them to invest in expensive hardware and software.
Instead these suppliers are offered easy-to-use, pay-as-you-go solutions that enable them to be EDI compliant - everybody wins.
The costs associated with processing invoices manually has been eliminated and the number of errors resulting from invalid data entry has been reduced. Finally, the suppliers are paid faster because their invoices are processed quicker. For more information or to schedule a free demonstration, contact our sales team at 1-800-282-6283 Ext. 231 |
