“We now have improved visibility, spare time for further AP tasks, and happier suppliers. Not to mention fantastic team morale. We have a happier, more efficient team.”
This wasn’t something Suzanne Homewood, Accounts Payable Manager of Mole Valley Farmers, would have said 18 months earlier. Quite the opposite, in fact.
So, how did Suzanne transform her AP department from “chaotic” to efficient, boosting morale in the process?
Cooperative farming principles
Mole Valley Farmers was established in 1960 when a small group of farmers in South Molton, North Devon, created an agricultural buying group. The success of this early enterprise resulted in the Mole Valley Farmers family of companies becoming a leading agricultural supply business spanning the length of Britain.
Employing 2,000 staff, and with a turnover of more than £600m, the AP department manages around 6,500 suppliers and over 500,000 invoices a year.
Since 2019, Mole Valley Farmers has been migrating to a new IT platform, Microsoft Dynamics AX. The business also engaged a third-party company to capture, read, and scan invoices into a portal, before performing a three-way match.
So, Suzanne’s priority was now statement reconciliation, which she said, “wasn’t efficient.”
Lack of statement reconciliation visibility
Suzanne explained why she'd been frustrated with her statement reconciliation process and why staff turnover was so high back then.
“Everything was manual and there were many challenges. When I first joined Mole Valley Farmers, the statement reconciliation process consisted of a pile of statements and various highlighter pens. The team were manually typing data into a spreadsheet, line by line. With my continuous improvement background, I knew there would be a more efficient way of working.
Initially, I introduced VLookup through Excel. This meant training an already overwhelmed team and asking suppliers to provide statement copies in Excel. We couldn’t achieve 100% and therefore had manual exceptions. It was a bit chaotic.”
Positive peer feedback
Suzanne had already looked at two systems to relieve the pressure and anxiety around statement reconciliation. She also wanted to reduce the number of invoice and payment errors. When she learnt about Xelix at the Accounts Payable Association’s Managers Update, it became a third contender.
“This was the first time I’d heard of Xelix. People around me were saying “yes, we use them and they’re fantastic” and “customer service is fantastic”. That was the clincher for me. Customer service is one of our core values, so based on this feedback, I made a call to Max,” added Suzanne.
Of course, Xelix is an investment, so Suzanne had to get buy-in from her FD. A proof of concept using all three Xelix modules and Mole Valley data flagged around 120 payment issues to investigate. Two highlighted huge duplicate payments. Suzanne showed her FD.
One payment was over £50,000 and another was equally large. We’d paid those invoices twice.”
“I remember my FD’s remark. He said: “Why didn’t our scanning company pick these up? We’re paying for that service. Why didn’t they pick it up?”
The issue was due to slightly different invoice numbers. Not something our scanning company can pick up. But with broader criteria, and AI working in the background, Xelix did. Those two invoice errors sold Xelix to my FD. He could see the ROI would be pretty much instantaneous, and it would protect us in the future,” she said.
Transforming statement reconciliation
Suzanne wanted to improve statement reconciliation and gain visibility of her team’s productivity. With Xelix, she achieved that and more.
“On average, we’ve had a 40% productivity increase in statement reconciliations. Plus, we’re now reconciling 90% of statements received. A large statement would previously take up to a whole day to reconcile. With Xelix, it takes around two hours. For smaller statements, 15 to 20 minutes has become five minutes.
This improvement frees up time towards the end of the month. The team use this to work through unallocated cash on accounts,” said Suzanne.
She went on to explain how using Xelix impacts their supplier relations.“Customer service has always been key for me and Xelix helps us improve supplier relationships. When we reconcile statements, Xelix automatically sends an email to the supplier. They can see our requests for copy invoices, and if they respond the same day, we can have them on our system for payment the following week. It’s such a quick turn-round now, it’s brilliant.”
As for audits, Suzanne described Xelix as a “game changer”, saving weeks of work.
“We’ve always had to manually re-reconcile suppliers the auditors chose. It would take us three weeks to work through. With Xelix, you choose your supplier and reconciliation date, and it does it automatically for you. Plus, we can give the auditors direct access. It saves us so much time,” said Suzanne.
Before using Xelix, the AP audit process typically took around two to three months. With Xelix, the process is complete within two weeks.
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A happier, more present and higher performing team
Not only has Xelix transformed Mole Valley’s statement reconciliation process, but it’s also changed how Suzanne and her team feel about their roles. With a team split between permanent home working, office-based, and hybrid working, Suzanne explained how they feel now.
“Team morale has improved tenfold. I used to see a lot of sickness and tears. I don’t have any now. One team member who used to sit in the background has flourished since implementing Xelix. Her confidence has grown, and she’s become our go-to person for Xelix-related questions.”
Further opportunities
Suzanne says Mole Valley isn’t done with Xelix yet and she anticipates further AP improvements. For example, their productivity improvements have freed up time for someone to focus on the Xelix’ Transactions module.
The scanning company only checks for supplier name and purchase order issues. So, Mole Valley started using Xelix Transactions as well. They expect to pick up errors the scanning company isn’t capable of finding – like the two large duplicate invoices.
“We’re thankful for Xelix being there now to capture those duplicates as well,” said Suzanne.
Another area flagged for development is Xelix’s reporting suite. And Suzanne feels the benefit won’t just be within the AP department.
“There are elements of the reports which could assist the Treasury department. Such as forecasting spend based on the number of invoices due in the coming weeks. Xelix’s reporting suite proves useful for procurement too, providing a report on spend by supplier, for example,” explained Suzanne.
Mole Valley Farmers also aims to use Xelix for the agricultural side of its operations. Whilst 50% of the business, it amounts to around 1,000 active suppliers and 40,000 invoices a year. This data will soon feed into Xelix.
Further opportunities
Suzanne says Mole Valley isn’t done with Xelix yet and she anticipates further AP improvements. For example, their productivity improvements have freed up time for someone to focus on the Xelix’ Transactions module.
The scanning company only checks for supplier name and purchase order issues. So, Mole Valley started using Xelix Transactions as well. They expect to pick up errors the scanning company isn’t capable of finding – like the two large duplicate invoices.
“We’re thankful for Xelix being there now to capture those duplicates as well,” said Suzanne. Another area flagged for development is Xelix’s reporting suite. And Suzanne feels the benefit won’t just be within the AP department.
“There are elements of the reports which could assist the Treasury department. Such as forecasting spend based on the number of invoices due in the coming weeks. Xelix’s reporting suite proves useful for procurement too, providing a report on spend by supplier, for example,” explained Suzanne.
Mole Valley Farmers also aims to use Xelix for the agricultural side of its operations. Whilst 50% of the business, it amounts to around 1,000 active suppliers and 40,000 invoices a year. This data will soon feed into Xelix.
Ongoing protection will deliver ROI
Suzanne summed up her experience of Xelix so far. Had the team delivered?
“My initial expectations from Xelix were to provide automated statement reconciliations and great customer service to help us with changes we required. They’ve definitely met those.
We have regular reviews with the Xelix team in which they inform us of any changes they’re making following our feedback. They also want to know what changes they can make to help us become more efficient. It’s exactly the customer service I’d expect from a company like Xelix.”
And what would Suzanne say is the most significant transformation having implemented Xelix?
“The insight we gain from the Transactions module. Not just duplicate invoices but processing errors such as not having VAT on an invoice when that account usually does. It also highlights process downfalls and training gaps, so it’s a greater indicator for optimisation in those areas too. In terms of return on investment, this is the most valuable aspect of Xelix for us.”
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