Ballast Nedam: 'A cloud solution took some getting used to'

'A SaaS solution takes some getting used to. You are going to organize work differently. It's nice when the software then does what you expect it to do,' said Maaike Snijder, Manager Center Financial Services at Ballast Nedam, at the Invoice Congress in Nieuwegein on April 11, 2019.

After ten years, Ballast Nedam once again chose Basware. The lessons the construction company learned from the SaaS implementation may have been open doors, but they were no less valuable. "Many open doors give a wide view," Snijder quoted a former manager of hers as saying.

Solid program of requirements

When the old invoice processing system was end-of-life, Ballast Nedam did a comprehensive market orientation. Since the initial implementation, a uniform way of working had been implemented in the administrative processes and new opportunities for automation had arisen.

Snijder: "We are a project organization with a lot of dynamics in the procurement process. We have 9,500 suppliers who are responsible for some 200,000 incoming invoices on an annual basis. Because procurement is project-based, 3,000 suppliers come in and as many go out every year. So we already have a lot of master processing in our 160 administrations.'

Ballast Nedam went into the market with a large wish list of functional, technical and commercial wishes and requirements. 'It is important that you have this program of requirements clear from the start, before you go into the demos. Don't lean back and think, "I'm going to spend a day watching demos," because you really won't remember after about three weeks what exactly you saw. Take notes and tick off during the demos," Snijder advised. The choice ultimately fell again on Basware, with ICreative as implementation partner.

Success Factors

Thanks to thorough preparation, implementation could start immediately after the decision. She stressed that cooperation was essential. 'Immediately after the decision we appointed a joint steering committee with three people from ICreative and three people from Ballast and drew our agendas. The joint steering committee prevented possible ambiguities and escalations. Furthermore, both parties remained critical of their own organization and contribution to the implementation," said Snijder. 'It ensured that the project remained on time and within budget.

Users had to get used to the automatic updates of the cloud solution. Snijder: 'Very nice that you are always up to date, but you have to pay attention to what this means for your own way of working.' Looking to the future, the effort is now shifting more and more to the quality and timeliness of the purchase order and to handling exceptions in the process. This requires different knowledge and skills from employees in the Shared Service Center.