Discover how Stewart Tech’s innovative approach of Sage Alerts and Workflow helped one manufacturing client optimize workflow for better efficiency.
INTRODUCING INORGANIC VENTURES
Inorganic Ventures is a manufacturing pioneer in crafting Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) and calibration standards for a broad variety of analytical testing instruments for the global scientific and industrial community. In business for more than 35 years, they’ve grown to more than 120 employees and their expertise spans ICP, ICP-MS, IC, atomic absorption, wet chemistry, and QC needs, with the flexibility to meet specialized requirements.
Background
From its lab in Virginia’s New River Valley technology hub, Inorganic Ventures refined its research and testing proficiency, leveraging elite manufacturing capabilities to serve a growing number of clients. With their remarkable growth in recent years came new opportunities for efficiency and further growth. A long-time client of Stewart Tech that was already using Sage 100, the company realized that they needed additional support and ways to improve back office workflow efficiency.
Challenge
The Problem: Manual Credit Hold Management
Having experienced substantial growth in recent years and fully reaching the potential that Sage 100 provided, their processes were no longer fully meeting their company’s needs. The company faced a significant challenge in managing credit holds.
Each day, their team had to manually search for accounts on credit hold, review outstanding invoices, and process payments. This time-consuming series of tasks was prone to human error, and the process became increasingly inefficient. The manual process consumed approximately an hour each day, making the need for automation crucial. Inorganic Ventures turned to Stewart Tech to assess and optimize their process of managing credit holds in order to eliminate inefficient use of time, cut-down on repetitive, mundane tasks, and improve their overall workflow.
Solution
Stewart Tech sat down with Inorganic Ventures’ Controller Adam Stevens to discuss their remarkable growth, understand their limitations and frustrations with their current processes, assess the workflow, and help them determine next steps.
Implementing automation enhancements that could work in conjunction with their current Sage 100 system was the way to go. As an add-on capability, Sage Alerts and Workflow was an especially good fit for its native integration. The unique combination of data mining alerts, reporting, and workflow technologies that automatically monitor and respond to critical information in ERP applications, allowed Inorganic Ventures to quickly realize big improvements automating their credit hold processes. With some training and assistance by Stewart Tech,
Sage Alerts and Workflow seamlessly integrated with Inorganic Venture’s existing Sage 100 ERP system, and the transformation was under way.
Results
Their credit hold automations now run in the background, checking accounts for overdue payments once a day after business hours. The system is tailored to their specific criteria and preferences, automatically placing accounts on credit hold a few days after the due date, even considering weekends and holidays. Additionally, customers receive notifications a few days before being put on credit hold, proactively allowing them to settle their accounts. Automation to remove customers from credit hold status once their account is settled is also in place. Furthermore, a weekly report is generated detailing which customers’ credit statuses have been updated, eliminating the need for manual tracking.
- Efficiency Gains: Time-consuming manual processes are now automated, saving approximately five hours per week and leading to significant cumulative time savings annually.
- Credit Balance Management: The system identifies accounts with negative or zero balances past their due dates, allowing for proactive resolution.
- Scalability: Automating credit hold processes prevented the need for additional staff as the company grew, ensuring manageable accounts receivable duties. This freed up current staff to work proactively with customers, improving cash flow and mitigating risks associated with delayed payments.
- Employee Engagement: Empowering employees to engage more with customers resulted in enhanced customer relationships and strategic thinking.
- Automation as Empowerment: Automation enhances employee capabilities, encouraging creativity and critical thinking to improve processes.
If you’re ready to automate, optimize, or streamline your accounting and ERP processes, call on Stewart Technologies.
Visit the Demos and Overviews section of our website to see how Sage and Stewart Tech can better serve your accounting needs. Or schedule a consultation call with one of Stewart Tech’s Sage-certified consultants.