Digital transformation in the order-to-cash process

Ratiodata takes the next step in digitalisation

Ratiodata has been an award-winning IT service provider and managed service provider for over 50 years. It focuses on customized concepts and supplies its customers with IT hardware, software and services. A strong focus of its expertise is on solutions for customers with complex IT and digitalization needs as well as high regulatory requirements. Ratiodata is a company of the Atruvia AG group of companies and the system house partner of the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken cooperative financial network.

Motivated by an extensive customer survey at the end of 2023, which revealed the customer's desire to optimize the support process, the Münster-based company set about optimizing precisely these processes. The order-to-cash process was the structural bracket for a large-scale automation project, as it has many overlaps with customers and touches on significant parts of the company's core activities. Ratiodata's internal sales department and order management were the most important contacts in the project, as the processes in question primarily affect their areas of activity.

From the preparation of a quotation, the receipt of an order, to the processing and payment of their various services, a large number of applications are involved in the provision of services, various interfaces have to be overcome and specialists from different departments are involved in keeping the processes running.

The core of automation is usually the connecting and controlling activity of people in the process. Error-prone and repetitive tasks can increasingly be performed by bots. The shortage of skilled workers and the attractiveness of jobs are a further driver for automation initiatives. The future of German companies is therefore clearly bionic, in which the potential of people and machines is unleashed - as is already the case in many production lines.

noventum consulting GmbH was the partner in the Ratiodata automation project. The Münster-based IT management consultancy took on the task of analysing the processes and IT infrastructures of the order-to-cash environment in detail, taking organizational and regulatory requirements into account and developing a suitable automation strategy and roadmap.

After successfully carrying out a proof of concept (PoC), the noventum consultants and their client came to the conclusion that Microsoft Power Platform should be used as the solution.

The course of the project

The optimisation of the order-to-cash process (O2C) was triggered by customer requests. A detailed customer survey in 2023 revealed that 86% of customers have been loyal to Ratiodata for over ten years and value its security, expertise and reliability above all. They expressed a fundamental desire for further optimisation of support processes in the future, which led to the analysis and improvement of the O2C process.

Challenges in the order-to-cash process

At Ratiodata, the order-to-cash process encompasses all activities involved in generating sales, from the preparation of quotations to the receipt of orders and payment. This process is crucial for liquidity and is therefore classified as business-critical.

The complexity of O2C processes varies greatly from company to company, depending on transactions, participation in tenders or processing via dealers and partners. As many specialised departments are involved, studies show that up to 27 sub-processes in seven different areas must be taken into account. Overall, the O2C process consists of numerous sub-processes, system jumps and data transfer points, which makes reengineering very challenging.

Ratiodata first carried out an as-is analysis of the current process in order to visualise it. The initial survey of the order-to-cash process revealed a complex picture of over 100 existing, mostly manual processes. A cross-departmental application that combines individual sub-processes of the O2C process was not yet available in this form. This was followed by the identification of problematic process points and possible solutions. The aim was to create a single point of truth for the respective process data and to automate the necessary data flow.

The internal communication required to collate the process data was also to be largely automated. To this end, the data should be automatically retrieved from the existing systems and stakeholders should be able to dynamically change content in the respective process step via a portal. As a result, no more process data should be lost and all stakeholders involved should have the information they need to work on the process in real time and be able to add to it if necessary.

Project approach After the actual process was analysed, two tools were discussed and their feasibility was examined. In the end, the advantages of the Power Platform were the deciding factor. It is already well established on the market and was convincing in terms of the variety of functionalities. In addition, Microsoft 365 (which licences part of the Power Platform) is already in use at Ratiodata. For this reason, there were only low additional monthly licence costs. Power Automate also makes it much easier to implement company guidelines.

During the course of the project, the Microsoft Power Platform was tested using a proof of concept (PoC) and the following steps were carried out:

• Definition and description of use cases
• Detailed process analysis and optimisation
• Technical conception
• Ongoing knowledge transfer and training for Ratiodata's internal IT staff
• Joint development and implementation of generally applicable governance & security guidelines for the Microsoft Power Platform
• User-friendly design of the user interface

As most of the sub-processes were not previously linked digitally, but were carried out via email, direct communication and other analogue channels, there was no need to "replace" any software. A Microsoft Power App was implemented as the front end, while all master and transaction data was stored in Microsoft Dataverse. The various logics and functions of the application were implemented using Power Automate.

Salesforce and SAP are used at Ratiodata as classic CRM and ERP systems. The tool based on the Power Platform works around this and ultimately provides organisational support. In future, both systems will be connected to the O2C tool via interfaces. This will allow Microsoft Power Platform to be integrated even better into the existing system landscape. The integration of Salesforce has already been prepared and tested. Significant advantages are the central overview of all processes, information on the current status and thus the minimisation of intermediate communication and queries. In particular, the familiar Microsoft user interface makes it easier for less experienced users of the order-to-cash process to quickly find their way around. This is made possible by an ergonomic design and a visual representation of the current process progress and dashboards (see a sandbox view below).

What was achieved together?

The choice of the Microsoft Power Platform to automate workflows at Ratiodata proved to be a successful solution due to the following advantages:

Increased transparency and flexibility: each order job has a suitable overview and employees can see directly what process status it is in. Comments can also be entered. If information is missing, the order can be pushed back one step in the process.

Short-term process improvements: By automating manual process interventions and standardising data transmission.

Homogeneous system landscape: The Power Platform is seamlessly integrated into the existing Microsoft 365 environment.

Flexible usage scenarios: The Power Platform enables flexible usage scenarios for frequent and infrequent users, supported by dashboards and tasks (Planner).

Further improvements by Ratiodata employees: Ratiodata employees can make further improvements to the Power Platform themselves.

Increased customer satisfaction: Improved order processing, complaint resolution, fewer disputed invoices and greater process transparency contribute to customer satisfaction.

Higher employee satisfaction: Fewer repetitive tasks, more time for strategic and creative tasks, reduced complexity and increased innovative spirit lead to higher employee satisfaction.

Conclusion

"The automation project of the order-to-cash process, supported by the Microsoft Power Platform, has brought significant improvements in the efficiency and quality of our business processes. The integration of modern technologies has helped to reduce costs, increase transparency and enable flexible adaptation to future requirements. We have thus taken the next step in our digitalisation strategy. This makes work more attractive for our employees and will also increase customer satisfaction as part of the support process."