GE Accounts Payable Sees the Paperless Light

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1 Case Studies, A. Litan Research Note 15 September 2003 GE Accounts Payable Sees the Paperless Light During a three-year period, General Electric has streamlined its accounts payable operations and slashed incoming paper invoice volume, capturing $111 million in discounts in 2002 alone. Core Topic Financial Services: Financial Services Architectures and Emerging Technologies Key Issue What technology and services sourcing alternatives will enable FSPs to build differentiating competencies while ensuring acceptable time to market and cost containment? General Electric (GE) is a diversified company that manufactures and markets a variety of products and services in industries including aircraft engines, financial services, medical imaging, plastics, power generation and television programming. GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 315,000 people in 17 business units. GE's 2002 revenue totaled nearly $132 billion. GE's business units operate with considerable autonomy. However, 13 out of the 17 units (all except NBC Network, Plastics, Appliances and Medical) use GE's centralized Shared Services unit in Fort Myers, Florida, to manage the payment of incoming invoices from more than 185,000 suppliers, 81 percent of which are U.S.-based. Problem: GE's Shared Services accounts payable (AP) facility aimed to efficiently process the 5 million bills that GE's 13 business units received each year. In 2000, GE adopted a Six Sigma process to slash the number of paper invoices about 85 percent of the total received at year-end Paper invoicing created many problems: Defective Invoices: Approximately 35 percent of the paper invoices were "defective," lacking required information for proper payment and accounting. Defective invoices were forwarded to GE buying centers, where employees would typically write the proper accounting code on the invoice, note "OK to pay," and send it back to AP. Lost Discounts: Because it often took two to three weeks or more to pay an invoice, GE captured only 75 percent of the discounts available for fast payments in It sought the remaining 25 percent. GE also had no system for paying discounts if it missed the supplier's initial cutoff date. The company also was unable to earn discounts from suppliers Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 that wanted the option to extend them occasionally, based on their cash requirements. Excessive AP Overhead: The Shared Services group employed 220 people in AP who mainly served as gobetweens linking suppliers and GE buying centers. Nearly half of the staff worked exclusively on processing invoice exceptions, which mostly arose from paper invoices. Approximately 85,000 invoices rest in GE's resolution "rework queue" each day because they lack enough data (such as an accounting code or a link to a purchase order for automatic processing). Each such invoice spent 8.5 days but as many as 30 in the rework queue. Excessive Call Center Staff: This group employed 32 workers to answer phone calls, mainly from suppliers inquiring about the status of their payments. No Method for Automatically Reconciling Invoiced Services: GE was often billed for services (such as legal advice) or spot purchases (such as company-sponsored lunches) that lacked purchase orders (POs). Without the POs, there was no record to reconcile the invoice against, requiring the invoices to be sent to the appropriate business unit for manual payment approval, and then returned to AP for payment. Objectives: Eliminate most paper invoices and cut the invoice defect rate from 35 percent, because paper invoices caused the most errors and payment delays. Promote supplier use of the Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS) payment model. GE pushed suppliers to adopt ERS, which automatically triggers payments when goods are satisfactorily received and enables POs to reconcile electronically. For GE, ERS eliminates the need for invoices because GE's receiving operations scan bar codes on goods that GE buying units originally issue to repetitive suppliers along with POs. Drive defects to the source. GE sought to cut the AP exception processing role. Via a central workflow system, GE aimed to route exceptions to business units so that they could correct information in their sourcing systems and ensure that the invoice reconciled to the PO. Front-end validations would prevent suppliers from transmitting or creating defective invoices in the first place. Capture more early-payment discounts. In paying more quickly, GE hoped to capture the 25 percent of discounts it was not receiving. It also desired mechanisms to calculate 15 September

3 and enable discounts after an initial discount window closed, or if a supplier wanted to offer discounts to meet cash needs. Institute no change in paper checks. GE liked paper checks because of a typical week's financial float and, therefore, had no interest in moving to electronic payments. On projected 2003 payables of $37 billion (for 13 business units), such a float is substantial. However, GE will set up electronic fund transfers for suppliers that request them. In 1999, GE's paper check volume was 98 percent of payments; that dropped to 57 percent in Reduce head count in the AP department, especially those dedicated to processing the rework queue. Leverage applications across GE. Shared Services will encourage use of its new AP applications by the four business units that don't use the group for invoice processing and payments. Approach: In 2000, GE's AP executives determined that there was no one solution or technology to address all invoicing and payment needs. Initially, they focused on methods such as ERS or purchase cards (P-Cards) to address their requirements. However, they realized there was a need for a family of systems (see Figure 1) to support a variety of invoice types. GE's goal is still to migrate as much as possible to ERS, but this model works well only with regular suppliers that send GE tangible, high-value goods on a repetitive basis. Figure 1 Payer Invoice Management Options Invoice Dollar Value Low High Low P-Cards echeck Web Invoicing Invoice Volume High epcards Web Invoicing File Feeds EDI ERS Pre-approved Payments Optimal mix for payer management of incoming invoices Source: Gartner Research (September 2003) 15 September

4 The options for payer invoice management include: P-Cards and electronic checks (echecks). This approach is best for low-frequency, low-value items (such as paying for company lunches or other one-time spot purchases). P- Cards are typically used for purchases made by phone in which the GE buyer provides a supplier a corporate credit card number. The echecks are used through a Web-based screen in which the GE buyer initiates an electronic funds transfer to the vendor from a GE bank account. Web invoicing. GE developed a Web invoicing solution that enabled suppliers to create and submit their invoices electronically via a Web browser. Web invoices are created from the originating PO, removing price discrepancies that had delayed payment. Using workflow, the application routes discrepancies with receiving data to appropriate personnel for resolution. This solution has been successful for "drop shipment" (supplies sent to third parties for assembly of components for GE) and service invoicing. epcards. An epcard is an electronic settlement process driven by a PO. When a PO is created, epcard issues a unique credit card account number, which is printed on the PO and is authorized for the PO amount. When the supplier settles a transaction using the account number, the request is verified against transaction limits assigned when the PO was created. GE uses epcards issued by GE Capital and, therefore, also collects issuer fees for use of the card. File feeds. GE enables suppliers to upload files from their billing systems and convert them into Extensible Markup Language (XML) for transmission and subsequent translation into GE applications. Electronic data interchange (EDI). This works well for highvolume/high-value invoices. GE uses EDI with 560 major suppliers. ERS and pre-approved payments. ERS is most efficient for high-value/high-volume transactions when there is an established relationship with a supplier that ships tangible items on a repetitive basis to GE. Pre-approved payments is a term that GE established for ERS transactions in which the business unit (not AP) reconciles the PO to the receipt document. Efficiency Steps GE moved the processing of its rework queue to Hydrabad, India, where it set up its own facility and hired 85 staff (at half the fully loaded cost of U.S. employees) to work on exception items to resolution so that a payment can be made. 15 September

5 GE also worked with suppliers to move into an invoice management quadrant (if they weren't there already). GE knew it would be successful, because most suppliers need GE's business and would willingly change their invoicing practices to keep it. However, GE acknowledged it wouldn't convert all suppliers to electronic invoicing because some were too small to make the change or had no recurring relationship with GE. GE had earlier contracted with Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a Texas-based provider of business process and IT outsourcing, to manage its AP mailroom. ACS collected incoming paper invoices, imaged them and sent the file to its data entry service in Monterrey, Mexico, where operators (who are paid on a per-item basis) convert the imaged invoice into electronic data using split-screen technology. On conversion, ACS's Mexican provider transmits invoice data to GE's Fort Myers operation to match POs to invoices. Invoices that don't reconcile to POs are sent to GE's rework facility in India for resolution. Customer Service GE developed a Web-based inquiry application for customer selfservice when suppliers want to query their transaction status. GE buying centers also use the system to answer their transaction questions. The system accommodates basic inquiries on the status of POs, invoices, receipts and payments. All related GE data resides in a central database that serves this application. GE also implemented an notification system that alerts suppliers when to expect payment and when payment has occurred. Discount Application GE developed a tiered discount application and a payment accelerator program. The tiered discount program is negotiated with suppliers that want payments made on approval of their invoices. Negotiated standard discount terms are prorated based on the ready-to-pay date. Invoices ready to pay before the discount due date are paid early with an additional daily prorated discount taken; invoices ready to pay after the discount due date (but before the net due date) are paid with a decreased discount amount that is prorated daily from the original discount date. The payment accelerator program enables suppliers that typically don't offer discounts to offer them on a one-time basis. Using GE's Web-inquiry system, for example, suppliers can identify invoices approved by GE for payment, but that won't be paid until the due date. The supplier can then offer GE a one-time discount for faster payment, based on the value calculated by the payment acceleration program. 15 September

6 Service Invoice Reconciliation GE is developing a service provider time-worked reporting system to automatically reconcile invoices for services (such as legal advice or temporary secretarial help). Once completed, this system will enable GE to automatically reconcile invoices to the hours worked as recorded in this application. Results: Reduction of paper invoice volume. GE receives approximately 4 million invoices, comprising $37 billion in goods and services. Because all paper invoices are imaged, paper bills have dropped from 85 percent of total volume at year-end 1999 to 24 percent at year-end The breakdown by invoice type now is 24 percent paper images, 21.9 percent proprietary file feeds, 11.6 percent EDI, 20.6 percent ERS and 17.3 percent Web invoices. The remainder are check requests, repeat payments and pre-approved payments. Reduction of AP staff head count from 220 to 110 (35 based in Fort Myers and 85 in India, at 50 percent of the cost). Elimination of all 32 call center employees. The Web inquiry system manages 75,000 inquiries per week. Unanswered questions are directed by the Web application to staff in India for resolution. Reduction of the 35 percent invoice defect rate to 15 percent to 20 percent. Capture of 90 percent of early-payment discounts in 2002 (worth $111 million), up from 75 percent in 1999 (worth $46 million). The difference arises from faster cycle time, increased supplier participation in the discount program, tiered discounts (contributing $11 million) and the payment accelerator program (adding $1 million). Reduction in the daily rework queue from 85,000 items to 5,000. Critical Success Factors/Lessons Learned: There is no "one-size-fits-all" answer. GE discovered the need to deploy a family of solutions to automate and streamline its AP operation. Behavior and processes must change first; technology is only an enabler of change. Success requires many tiers and the implementation of different interdependent components that address different, but related, needs. 15 September

7 Acronym Key ACS AP echecks EDI ERS GE P-card PO XML Affiliated Computer Services accounts payable electronic checks electronic data interchange Evaluated Receipt Settlement General Electric purchase card purchase order Extensible Markup Language To effect change, GE Shared Services needed acceptance from business units that had to alter such processes as sourcing, payables, line units and suppliers. Bottom Line: General Electric's best-in-class approach one that is readily available only to the largest buying enterprises that command significant purchasing power with their suppliers shows that achieving efficiencies and maximizing cash flow requires a family of solutions. Hard and purposeful integrated project work (and no easy answer) is what delivers solid results that returns millions of dollars to GE's bottom line. 15 September