"When we had 45,000 invoices to process, we had to change course."

Even though we are all becoming more environmentally aware, we still produce a lot of waste every day. Hans: "At our 5,400 FTEs in nine countries, collecting and processing waste is central. And of this waste we are able to reuse 93%, a great 'green' USP compared to our competitors."

Renewi is implementing sustainability in all parts of the organization. The business premises in Lommel, where more than 110 employees work at the Shared Service Center, consumes hardly any energy and is self-sufficient.

Old-fashioned invoice processing could no longer

But before this responsible Shared Service Center was involved, invoice processing took place in an old-fashioned, paper fashion in Mol where the Flemish SSC was located. "In 1998 I joined Renewi (then Van Gansewinkel) and experienced the old situation. Everything was going well, but when we had about 45,000 invoices a year to process in 2003, we had to change course."

That's why he started talking to ICreative. "We decided to take a look at an organization that had been using Basware's invoice processing solution for some time. This was exactly what we were looking for and looked very user-friendly. We were immediately convinced."

Renewi had taken the first step toward digital invoice processing, but this was only the beginning. "Colleagues who booked the paper invoices also scanned them. There was a scanner in a corner where everyone scanned their own invoices and then entered them via computer with Basware. But with the arrival of the flow of invoices from the Netherlands, this method became too cumbersome. We even hired extra people to scan and validate these invoices this way : we had four people on site who threw themselves into this full-time."

Supplier onboarding to e-invoicing

Renewi wanted to go further: "Together with ICreative, we then wrote to all our suppliers. We asked them to deliver future invoices in PDF or XML via administration-specific e-mail addresses. With this approach, invoices would now reach us sorted and thus require less searching. The result was overwhelming: as a result of this project, we were already receiving 30% of the invoices digitally."

With 10,000 suppliers submitting invoices in their own ways, it's a real challenge. 

At Renewi, however, 70% "paper" continued to come in. Together with ICreative, Hans Wolfs wanted to take a significant digital step here as well. "With 10,000 suppliers supplying invoices in their own way, this is a real challenge. In the process, our OCR system needed a lot of time to capture the various invoice templates, regardless of all the new templates from new suppliers."

Increase automatic invoice recognition

Renewi then considered modifying the software. Hans: "But that didn't give us any guarantee of making significant strides and expanding invoice recognition, which was below 50%, to 90%. I spoke with a business associate who had run into the same problem. He advised us to outsource the paper invoice processing."

"Together with ICreative and Basware, we wanted to build out that 30% electronic invoices and reduce the remaining 70% within a year. Our experience with ICreative and Basware was already positive, which made us choose to enter the follow-up phase with them. And with success: that 30% has now doubled and 60% has grown."

He continues: "The all-encompassing Basware Network really gives suppliers every opportunity to submit invoices, after which we receive them as e-invoices. The sky is the limit!"

Whereas Renewi was once a paper-based organization, the company now operates 100% paperless through its intensive collaboration with ICreative.

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