Germany Also Switches to Exact Software
For several years now, Alistar has been Exact’s implementation partner for Medisize. Brouwer: “Our most recent project with Alistar involved their migration of Medisize Germany to Exact on July 1, 2016. Germany had previously been using INFOR, but that system was severely outdated. The version they were using there was also no longer supported. Everything was still running on old servers and old PCs, so all of that had to be replaced at some point. Because the solution was no longer supported, the risks became too great, and on top of that, there were no reliable backup options. Since we work very well with Exact here in the Netherlands for our sales process, and because we may want to merge those countries in the future, we also chose Exact for Germany.
This, of course, had a number of advantages for us. We’re very familiar with the software, so we can implement it more quickly. It also makes it easier to integrate the systems. With different software systems, it’s much harder to make that transition, especially if you want to consolidate. That’s naturally a lot easier now. From a purely technical standpoint, Exact is also an up-to-date system that can handle everything they need in Germany. Finally, Exact offers all the necessary backup options and incorporates all the latest developments.”
It really is a leap forward in time!
Benefits of Electronic Invoicing
As of this writing, the project has just been completed. Brouwer therefore cannot yet comment on any specific benefits achieved, but certainly expects to realize them in the future. “Within Exact, we can now also send electronic invoices. Medisize Germany is a company with a very large customer base: a few thousand hospitals, pharmacies, and home care providers. It fulfills a great many small orders for these customers. This involves processing approximately 50,000 order lines per year, which is a lot of work. If we can realize benefits by sending invoices electronically, we won’t have to print them and put them in envelopes anymore. We still need to set that up, but it’s one of the things customers in Germany are asking for a lot. More and more of these organizations want to receive their invoices as PDFs in an invoice inbox. They either print the PDFs or process them using scanning and OCR software, which automatically enters the invoice into the system for payment.”
Integration Between Exact and Alistar EDI Tool Reduces Manual Steps and Errors
“Finally, we have another project underway to create an integration between Exact and EDI. We had that integration in the old system as well, but it was purely one-way. It only allowed us to import orders. But in addition to receiving orders, we also want to be able to send invoices and order confirmations in EDI format. So we’re currently setting that up in collaboration with Alistar. The Alistar EDI Tool will also save us a lot of manual work and help us avoid errors. Many hospitals and purchasing groups require this format from us as well; otherwise, you simply can’t be their supplier.”
All in all, Brouwer sees a number of great benefits in the future with the solutions from Exact and Alistar: “It’s truly a leap forward!”
