How WelThuis cuts errors and costs with Elari

Having to do the same work with half the staff all of a sudden is challenging. At WelThuis, this sometimes led to invoices being paid on a wing and a prayer. With Elari, they were able to immediately cut down on a lot of errors and save money.

Now that they’re using Elari, invoices are automatically matched to the purchase order. And if an invoice doesn’t include a purchase order number, the finance team just needs to check with someone in the Purchasing department. That person will then follow up on it right away.

WelThuis: processing invoices and purchase orders digitally

“In the past, we would sometimes pay an invoice on a hunch,” explains Arnold van Atten. He has been a buyer at WelThuis for over seven years now. “If a person placing an order hadn’t registered the receipt, no one but him knew whether the delivery had already taken place. We were also separate departments: Accounts Payable on the second floor and Purchasing on the first.” They did share a desire to be brought together into a single department. The changing landscape in the healthcare sector made sure that wish was granted.

Reduced budget in healthcare

Healthcare is changing; hierarchies are flattening, and the same is happening to the budget. For WelThuis, this meant that half of the back office staff was let go during the reorganization. “With half the number of people, we still had to perform the same tasks. In today’s healthcare culture, with its self-managing teams, support through digital systems is a natural fit. The systems we had couldn’t handle that. Also, a number of systems didn’t integrate well with each other, and we wanted to reduce the number of systems we were using anyway.”

“Even without training on Elari, I was able to get right to work. The system is intuitive.”

Ton van Dorp, Back Office Manager at WelThuis

“We were already using a system, so the basic principle was the same. The difference lies in how user-friendly this system is. As a result, everyone was up and running within a month of the switch.” Ton van Dorp, Back Office Manager, agrees: “I started as manager in January and didn’t take any training. I sat down at the computer and was able to get to work right away. The system is intuitive.”

The Purchasing department mainly uses the integration with the online stores of nursing supply and food suppliers. “That’s because they already have a solid integration with the system. And if an integration needs to be set up, it’s done within a day. I provide a contact person, and then it’s quickly taken care of.”

They also use the catalog for items they purchase from regular suppliers. “The funny thing is that more and more managers at our nursing homes are choosing items from the catalog. In the past, they’d call someone listed in the directory and place an order there. Then we’d have to add that supplier to the system, which was a real administrative hassle.”

3-way matching

“Now that procurement and financial administration are part of the same department, there’s a synergy. We’re receiving more and more digital PDF invoices, but that’s not where our focus lies. We check whether an order preceded the invoice. If an invoice doesn’t have a purchase order number, my colleague just has to look at me. I then try to figure out right away where the problem lies.”

For 3-way matching, Elari offers the option to record the receipt of orders. “In the past, buyers would mark all orders as ‘delivered’ in one go after a month. Now I can see in the progress reports that the number is increasing. Then I send an email from the system to the person concerned.”

Every wish granted

“In the near future, we want to work more with reports and analysis, especially ABC analysis and the Pareto chart. These topics are covered in all procurement training courses. You have to be an Excel expert to figure out the 80%. After a day of fiddling around, you’ll figure it out. You really want to get that done, and now the system does it for you. It almost makes you want to do a little dance.” According to Ton, this had been on Arnold’s wish list for a long time, and he was “given exactly what he wanted.”

“As an organization, we’re known for seeking out innovation. The danger here is that such pilot projects are difficult to sustain. Elari fits perfectly into our vision: innovative, but at the same time ensuring efficiency.”

‘The happiest woman in the back office’

Financial employee Selma Zelihic is also wildly enthusiastic about the software. According to Selma, there are four main reasons why she enjoys going to work again. Since switching to Elari, she has experienced: simplicity, logic, intelligence, and service.

Simplicity

“In the system we used before, customers who wanted to invoice digitally had to fill out a questionnaire before they could submit their invoice. I regularly got calls from customers asking if this was really necessary, because it’s quite a hassle. In Elari, we have a mailbox where they can send their invoices. It can even just be a PDF instead of an XML file. The system works with both.”

Logic

In addition to its simplicity, Selma finds Elari to be particularly well-organized. “What I used to struggle with most was that the system was too complicated. Nobody understood it, and we had to figure it all out. My colleagues and I spent the entire week making corrections. Since the reorganization, I’ve been working almost entirely on my own, and fortunately, I’m now using Elari. The system is intuitive. I don’t have to worry about unintended consequences in the background when I click a certain button. Now I’m back to doing my actual work, instead of spending most of my time fixing errors.”

Intelligence

It’s nice that the system thinks ahead for Selma in some areas and reminds her of certain things. “When purchase orders are ready for 3-way matching, I get a notification from the system. Before, I had to go through all the vendors myself; now the system does it for me.”

Service

“And as the icing on the cake, the service is also excellent. I’m used to having to wait a few days for a response to questions via email. When I did get a response, they’d ask for clarification on my question. That just set me back even further. Now it seems like my question gets resolved within a few seconds. And if they don’t understand my question, they just give me a quick call to clarify, and it’s still resolved super fast.”

There’s no denying that Elari has had the desired effect on Selma. She even insisted on mentioning that, since using Elari, she’s “the happiest woman in the world.” This is, of course, the effect we hope to achieve for all our customers.