Streamlining Invoice Processing for a leading FMCG and Dairy Manufacturer in the Middle East

Our Client

Our Client is a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality food and beverage products, headquartered in Kuwait. With a legacy spanning over 60 years, they are one of the most trusted and established names in the region, offering a wide portfolio of dairy, juice, ice cream, and culinary products.

Renowned for its commitment to quality, innovation, and consumer satisfaction, our client operates with state-of-the-art production facilities and an advanced distribution network that ensures availability across the GCC region. The company maintains rigorous quality and safety standards, making it a household name and a symbol of excellence in the FMCG sector.

Major Challenges

The finance department faced mounting challenges due to the industry’s fast pace, supplier diversity and high transaction volume. Some of the challenges include: 

• 5000+ invoices getting processed every month required significant manual effort and increasing risk of human error. 
• Manual invoice entry from email and scanned PDFs led to delays and human errors. 
• Inconsistent invoice formats and frequent mismatches. 
• Vendors submitted invoices in various layouts and file types. 
• Price fluctuations in commodities often caused mismatches. 
• 3-way matching is critical but difficult due to discrepancies in quantity or delivery timing. 
• Frequent mismatches between invoices, POs and Receipts. 
• Late payments could disrupt supply of perishables like dairy, juices and fresh produce. 
• Difficulty tracking invoice approval and payment status. 
• Delayed payments and missed early discounts. 
• Lack of real time visibility into invoice status and cash flow impact. 
• Difficulty tracking invoice status across multiple departments. 

Conneqtion’s Solution

Our client partnered with Conneqtion to automate invoice capture, validation, and matching processes integrated with Oracle EBS.

Key components included:

• Multi-channel support for invoices that are uploaded in different formats. It allowed bulk uploads or auto ingestion from the users’ mailboxes.
• AI-powered OCR for automated data extraction and adapts to invoices from different suppliers without predefined formats.
• We enabled standard and custom validations to ensure that the invoice is in perfect condition before it is matched to a PO or a receipt.
• Automated 2-way and 3-way invoice matching with tolerance rules to support thresholds for price/quantity variances.
• Custom approval workflows configurable based on department, vendor, amount, etc.
• Role-based access ensured that only authorized users could view/edit/approve invoices.
• Highlighted discrepancies related to mismatches in price, quantity, tax etc. using exception management.
• Real-time ERP sync pushes approved and matched invoices to ERP, receives payment status, and updates back from ERP.

Advantages

• Invoice process automation eliminates tedious, repetitive tasks so that the AP team can focus on more strategic work enhancing efficiency, reducing manual errors and faster invoice processing. 
• With streamlined workflows and automated validations, the invoice lifecycle is reduced by up to 40%. This enables the business to take advantage of early payment discounts and reduce the risk of incurring late fees. 
• Seamless integration with Oracle EBS ensures accurate data capture and validation, leading to fewer mismatches and exceptions during reconciliation, and a smoother month-end close process. 
• Automation ensures that invoices are processed and approved on time, enhancing payment reliability. This strengthens the trust with vendors, leading to better terms and long-term partnerships. 

Key Contributors to Success

• Cross-functional collaboration between Finance, Procurement, and IT teams ensured seamless alignment of business rules and system requirements. 
• Our team worked on providing industry specific configuration and best practices tailored to Oracle EBS. 
• Quick response to customization requests helped adapt the solution to complex matching and approval rules. 
• Post implementation reviews led to refinements in exception handling increasing automation over time. 
• Targeted training sessions and clear communication ensured smooth adoption by the AP team.