SMART SWABIANS:
WMF automates its invoicing process with Lobster_data
Swabians are known to be industrious and inventive Germans. They’ve been a resourceful bunch since time began – and aren’t known to tolerate waste. Nor are they fans of paying too much or too little. Traditional Swabian company WMF operates in exactly the same way. Invoices are handled in a transparent, fast and error-free way. And so that everyone gets the money they deserve, WMF uses data integration software Lobster_data to help.
When WMF Consumer Electric makes payments to wholesalers, accuracy is of paramount importance. WMF Consumer Electric supplies coffee machines and kettles to large consumer electronics stores such as Saturn and Media Markt. The electronic stores pay their bills once a month and send a list of all the goods they’ve sold back to WMF Consumer Electric. In the past, each of these countless line items had to be booked onto the system by hand. Lobster_data simplifies that process. The software automatically converts data from the retailers’ formats and enables machine payment notifications. The time taken to post invoices has gone from 3-5 days to 3-5 minutes!
Transparency at the right price
Monitoring is especially user-friendly with Lobster_data. Should any errors occur, for example, due to incomplete or incorrectly-entered data, it will be flagged up immediately and can be quickly traced and solved – saving both time and money. “We chose Lobster_data because it operates transparently and clearly throughout the data conversion process. It also offers a fair pricing model”, remarks Achim Straile, who is responsible for the accounting systems at WMF. Most Lobster_data features are included in the basic model, meaning there are usually no additional costs that have to be added to the product’s price. “The fact that we don’t have to licence every little extra as an addition was an important factor in our decision to buy”, continues Achim. Should customers want to go for an additional solution, beyond the many basic features, Lobster DATA GmbH can also offer these services.
Soon after its introduction, three companies within the WMF Group were working with Lobster_data. In the near future, a further three will also be added. “If we can easily replace our old system, other subsidiaries will quickly follow suit.
So far, conversions have gone very well indeed”, says Achim. Making the change to Lobster_data was largely carried out by WMF itself, “and if any questions arose, the Lobster support team offered us great support”.
Lightening the load all the way down the line
The decision to opt for Lobster_data at WMF originally came from employees at a WMF subsidiary, who became convinced of the advantages of Lobster_data and didn’t want to work with any other data integration software any more. The parent company then reviewed all the features of Lobster_data, compared it to other software and competitive products on the market, and it soon became clear: “there is other software available out there at comparable prices, but they don’t offer the same things that Lobster_data can”, says Achim. With the old software, discrepancies in the system couldn’t always be immediately recognised. For example, if someone in accounting made a mistake while entering some data, it was a tedious process tracing it back down the line before someone could fix the issue. That’s where Lobster_data is different. “Compared to our old system, Lobster simply offers a better product”, Achim explains cheerfully. That’s why Lobster_data should be used by WMF group-wide in future, for all its ordering and delivery processes.
For years now, Lobster_data has been simplifying electronic data interchange, reducing workloads in internal departments and saving the company both time and money. What’s more, Lobster_data can be shared by a total of six subsidiaries that belong to the group.
Lobster_data ensures things run smoothly and that money can be saved – in perfect alignment with that famous Swabian spirit. Achim sums it up: “we’re very satisfied”.
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