6 BUSINESS IMPACT OF STREAMLINED PROCESSES IS NOT JUST SAVING COSTS

4 GENERATING CHANGE 12 CONSTRUCTION GIANT ENDED UP BUILDING A PAYMENT FACTORY 14 EXTENSIVE FINANCIAL PROCESS OUTSOURCING SUPPORTS RETAIL COMPANY’S GROWTH STRATEGY

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Part of Itella Group

Y 2011

441 209Printed matter

About

We help our customers to streamline their finance and accounting processes using automation to improve efficiency, flexibility and business support. our services and solutions cover the entire field of financial management – from a single process all the way to full business process outsourcing. We provide financial process automation for more than 10,000 customers. We operate in 9 European countries, employing 2,400 professionals. opusCapita is part of Itella Group.

IN tHIS ISSuE >>

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 2

OPUSCAPITA JOURNAL pASSIoN foR fINANCIAL mANAGEmENt / pubLISHER opusCapita / EdItoR IN CHIEf ulla Kenttä / EdItoRIAL tEAm Karoliina Haikonen, Kimmo Kauranen, toni paloheimo, marketta tammisto / EdItoRS Communications Agency Effet oy / tRANSLAtIoNS bellcrest translations / LAyout milko tarvainen, tiina Lautamäki / CovER pHoto Sami tirkkonen / pRINtEd by Hämeen Kirjapaino oy, finland, 2014 / fEEdbACK info@opuscapita.com / www.opuscapita.com / ISSN 1458-0012

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16Let’s accept it: the era of steady growth is simpLy over, and every company must aLways be ready to change. are you prepared to finance the new strategies?

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04 Generating change06 Ready to move forward? 08 “It’s all about business impact”12 Customer story: NCC14 Customer story: Suomen Lähikauppa18 payment factory supports growth19 Swift Alliance Lite2 from cloud20 News and events22 Inside story23 opusCapita – value by automation

[ CoNtENtS ] 3

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14extensive outsourcing of financiaL management supports growth.

12

10“companies can increase their agiLity by comprehensiveLy improving their purchase-to-pay functions.”

hot topics!

“companies can increase their agiLity by comprehensiveLy improving their purchase-to-pay functions.”

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 4

AN EXCITING change is under way, connected with the opusCapita name.

the name Itella Information is a thing of the past – we are now opusCapita.

We are not, of course, excited simply by the change of name, but by what it signifies.

the basis of our business is unaffected. We are still part of the Itella Group and the leading expert in financial process automation, with “value by automation” as our customer pledge and daily mantra. but we are determined to be more.

As opusCapita, we will put all our efforts into helping our own specific clientele – the Cfos and financial departments – develop their business by offering a comprehensive approach and effective tools for everything necessary for financial management and a superior customer experience.

And how will we do that? by listening to our customers and focusing on their needs and expectations.

Customer experience and the value we create for the customer are at the core of opusCapita’s operations. We are not just saying this, we also ensure that this is what we do.

for example, we interviewed over 200 customers to help us focus our activities on the right issues. We would like to thank everyone who gave their time to do this!

together with the entire personnel we have also defined the attributes of our new operating culture at opusCapita, with the focus on the customer being of utmost importance. We each also have a Net promoter Score to ensure that customer value can turn into reality every day. When our customers actually experience and see the changes in those matters that are important to them, we will know that we have succeeded!

We believe that with our strategy and new operational culture combined with the products and services that are the best in Europe, opusCapita can be the value leader company in the financial management branch.

Change is the theme of the times. At opusCapita we are driving forward our own changes with motivation and ambition. We will gladly help you generate the changes you desire in your organisation.

HEIkkI LäNSISYRJä CEO, OpusCapita

generating change

> on 1 november 2013, itella information (part of the itella group) changed its name to opuscapita. the company is a leader in automation and outsourcing services for financial and cash flow management. the name opuscapita can be traced back to the pioneering cash flow automation solutions company acquired by itella information in 2011.

Hot topICS >>

OPUSCAPITA is the leading e-invoicing operator

in northern europe, and approximately 200 million

electronic transactions are handled each year by the

services it provides. opuscapita is also one of the few

operators in its sector that is able to provide services

extensively in every country around the baltic sea.

use of e-invoices is now growing rapidly in europe.

“electronic delivery traffic messaging creates a

foundation for the automation of finance and supply

chain processes. for example, e-invoicing makes it

possible for the money contained in sales invoices to

be repatriated more quickly, and electronic purchase

invoices ensure reliable cash forecasts, as the liquidity

situation can be displayed more precisely and in real

time,” explains Jari annala, vice president, automation

solutions, opuscapita.

>40%

15–40%

<15%

e-inVoicing, B2B/B2g/g2B1). expected market penetration in 2013

OPUSCAPITA USERS WORLDWIDEopuscapita services and solutions are used in more than 50 countries.

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20132010 2011 2012

transactions the development of e-transactions in europe by opuscapita

e-invoicing supports financial process automation

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1) b2b=business to business b2g=business to government g2b=government to business

[ JournaL 01/2014 ] 6

finance process outsourcing is an option to be considered by organisations trying to boost their financial management.

ready to moVe forward?

text marketta tammisto • photo sami tirkkonen

7

MARkET research shows that there seems to have been a radical change in attitudes towards the outsourcing of financial management. Companies were once hesitant, but are now considering the pros and cons of outsourcing with open minds and they are ready move forward.

petri Karjalainen, vice president, Customer operations at opusCapita, has been developing financial management outsourcing services since 2009. He con-firms that customer feedback and market research data proves that companies are now more actively interested in out-sourcing than ever.

money, resources and quaLity

there is no doubt that the main reason for this interest in outsourcing is the pro-tracted economic recession. Companies are aware that no rapid relief is on the horizon, and they are preparing for the meagre years ahead by actively searching for new ways to boost their operations, including financial management.

Karjalainen urges companies to focus on transaction costs. outsourcing the transaction handling process will rapidly and permanently improve profitability.

“depending on the company’s own processes, outsourcing can reduce costs by up to 35-50 per cent per transaction. this may be a small amount, but a small amount saved on millions of transactions

adds up to a large amount on the bottom line,” says Karjalainen.

flexibility is another key target for outsourcing.

“When a couple of dozen people take care of financial management, it is necessary for each person to have a large basic workload in order for operations to be profitable. As a consequence, finding the resources to produce various ad hoc reports for the group’s management or implement development projects is not easy. therefore, flexibility in resourcing is often sought through an outsourcing partner,” says Karjalainen.

third on companies’ wish lists is, per-haps rather surprisingly, the improvement of quality. but in order to ensure quality don’t you have to do things yourself?

“Quality is achieved with stan dardised processes and well-developed bench-marks, but companies do not necess-arily think it is a good idea to invest large amounts of time and money into the continuous development of finance processes. A company that chooses to outsource may end up with procedures, benchmarks and continuous develop-ment that are in line with best practices as part of their deal.”

Karjalainen reminds us that a similar path was travelled in the outsourcing of It services, starting with doubts and ending in a situation in which outsourcing is now the general practice.

“We know, through experience, that when you work with a supplier special-

ised in a specific product or service, there is an overall improvement in quality.”

cheap Labour vs. automation and right-shoring

for huge global companies, the out-sourcing of a certain area of financial management in the usual way, to a country with cheaper labour costs, will undoubtedly produce the desired ben-efits, i.e. cost reductions. but Karjalainen points out that for the majority of North-ern European companies turnover is in the range of EuR 100 to 1,000 million, so the usual type of outsourcing favoured by global companies will not necessarily benefit these companies.

“medium-sized companies in Europe will gain more from outsourcing that is based on automation, efficient processes and right-shoring. processes are created in such a way that certain jobs can be taken care of locally while others can be taken care of at any time and anywhere, possibly more cheaply in a neighbouring country.”

> 60-70% of financial management costs come from routines associated with payments, in-voices, salaries and other transactions. reduction of transaction costs has a rapid and permanent impact on profitability.

> a company does not lose its control when it outsources, it actually gains more control, because benchmarking and transparency principles are agreed upon when a process is outsourced.

> choosing an outsourcing partner of the right size is essential so that a company’s needs and special characteristics can be taken into account sufficiently.

ready to moVe forward?

PETRI kARJALAINEN, Vice President, Customer Operations at OpusCapita

moREhttp://opuscapita.com/ocfao

wouLd you like to meet a person who knows the worries and concerns of financial administrations in middle segment companies like the back of his hand? meet opusCapita’s Sami Seikkula. He has 14 years of experience in developing financial processes, which makes him an indisputable expert on the subject. besides experience and vision, he has passion and enthusiasm and can make improving financial processes sound simply fascinating.

for the past few years Sami Seikkula has been working with companies on various outsourcing opportunities. He says that in the public debate, labour arbitrage and its cost benefits have received inordinate attention.

“these cannot be denied, that is for sure, and when volumes are immense, the savings can be huge.”

“but maximising operating efficiency is not the primary goal for many companies when they set out to improve

their financial processes. And for middle segment companies and their business operations, this may not even be very relevant.”

Instead, according to Seikkula, their outsourcing is often driven by serious quality issues, which may have a negative impact on business and customer re-lations. take sales invoicing, for example:

“Sales invoicing is about customer service and a smoothly running invoicing process offers value to both the payer and the invoicer. yet anyone who’s ever paid an invoice has plenty of experience of bad invoicing processes. Why is that?”

I t i s because sales invoicing is not seen as an end-to-end process but as a series of separate actions, says Seikkula. Invoicing is generally the responsibility

of the sales department, which is operating with data that is more or less incorrect, and this results in a lot of extra work for the financial department. mistakes slow down the repatriation of payments. this impacts cash flow and liquidity management and reduces the reliability of forecasts. What is more, mistakes in invoicing cause problems and unnecessary work for customers and can

reduce customer satisfaction, possibly to a serious degree.

there are similar examples in all financial processes. In the purchases ledger, a company may pay cons iderable attention to invoice circulation when a thorough rethink of the purchasing strategy could bring real business benefits.

“process quality has a clear and measurable business impact. End-to-end thinking and active dialogue between

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 8

> the principal job of chief financial officers is to help their company make the right business decisions.

> it is the financial department’s job to support business operations. > improving financial processes is all about the business impact. it’s as simple as that.

“It’S ALL About tHE buSINESS ImpACt”

SAMI SEIkkULADirector, BPO and Solution Sales, OpusCapita

“IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BUSINESS IMPACT”

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> the principal job of chief financial officers is to help their company make the right business decisions.

> it is the financial department’s job to support business operations. > improving financial processes is all about the business impact. it’s as simple as that.

“It’S ALL About tHE buSINESS ImpACt”

departments will help a company shed its poor processes and partial optimisation.”

how are your business processes in 2015?

the economy continues to sail in troubled waters and all companies are dealing with big issues: how to ensure the continuity and profitability of the business?

“financial matters have increased in importance in the management of companies, and the financial management is now expected to provide analyses, calculations and forecasts for decision- making. outsourcing is seen as one way of freeing-up the financial department’s resources from routines to work that generates business value, and companies are very actively seeking operating models and potential outsourcing partners that would suit their needs.”

opusCapita has a financial process

database with over 150 benchmarking analyses within the top 1000 companies in Northern Europe. the database is one of the most extensive in the Nordic countries. opusCapital also uses Hackett’s and deloitte’s databases.

“Each customer decision is unique and motivated by the company’s business needs, and thanks to analyses, we have a reasonably objective idea of the financial processes of the best companies and of issues that have proved challenging to many,” Sami Seikkula says.

Sami Seikkula and his colleagues have assisted innumerable companies in mapping financial process bottlenecks and drawing up three to five-year development roadmaps.

“ the road may be long and winding, but with a roadmap, the financial management will be able to control development and turn it into a communicable form and proceed towards the goal one step at a time.”

“IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BUSINESS IMPACT”

DRIVERS FOR BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING (BPO)

> finance organisation unable to scale according to business requirements (volumes declining, costs rising, further development challenging)

> unharmonised finance processes prevent development of efficiency (consolidating resources and automating processes not possible)

> personnel challenges (maintaining and developing skilled resources)

> needing to meet increasing demands of cost efficiency, control, compliancy and quality requirements and to secure business continuity

> needing to focus own critical resources on core business and value adding activities

a new model for deliVering superior customer Value

opusCapita has launched a new initiative to make its services even better. together with pilot customers, the company is de-veloping a new kind of model for in-depth analysis of customer value to help meet customer expectations in every case and in every phase of the customer relationship.

more about the initiative in the next opusCapita Journal.

ComING:

moRE customer case on page 14http://opuscapita.com/ocfao

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 10

COMPANIES can increase their agility and gain synergy benefits by comprehensively improving and streamlining their purchase-to-pay functions according to a survey carried out by opusCapita on the development projects and needs related to companies’ purchase-to-pay functions.

the survey indicates that companies have substantial potential for development within financial administration and procurement and in the way related services are produced. In the near term, the most important development areas are the efficiency of operations and the reduction and automation of manual work stages. other measures include management of suppliers, monitoring and forecasting of costs, and optimisation of working capital.

the survey shows that the biggest problem areas in purchase-to-pay functions are an ever growing number of suppliers, the poor transparency of working capital and liquidity and the difficulty of forecasting these, and a low level of automation in operations. business managers believe that harmonisation and comprehensive management of the chosen financial and purchasing processes can improve transparency and the ability to make forecasts.

the survey was targeted at senior and operational management, such as finance and purchasing leaders, in finland, Sweden and Norway.

show me the moneydeveLoping purchase-to-pay:agility and synergy

source: survey: competitive edge and value by streamlining purchase-to-pay. companies would gain significant benefits by improving their purchase-to-pay functions. opuscapita, autumn 2013. the whole report (pdf ) at www.opuscapita.com ➡ bLogs and newsLetters

what are the drivers to deveLop purchase-to-pay operations to be more efficient?

very unimportant

somewhat unimportant

neither important or unimportant

somewhatimportant

very important0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1%

increase automation

capabilities to manage and steer the end-to-end process

increase end-to-end visibility

capabilities to analyse and forecast

reduce need of internal it

comprehensive solution from one partner

20% 40%

increasing operational efficiency & automation

focus on supplier management and development

cost monitoring and forecasting

forecasting & optimising wcm and liquidity

enhancing the purchase-to-pay chain

savings monitoring and forecasting

improving compliance & auditing

re-evaluating information systems

improving environmental & responsibility issues

TOP FOCUS AREAS OF PURCHASE-TO-PAY DEVELOPMENT

60%

11

CUSTOMER StoRIES

NCC

the construction giant ended up building a payment factory.

SUOMEN LäHIkAUPPA OY

Extensive outsourcing of financial management supports the growth strategy.

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 12 [ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 12

nccCuStomER StoRy

you can’t imagine the work that is involved when the payment of 1.4 million supplier invoices from several companies located in several countries is transferred to numerous banks – manually.

this was the situation at NCC before they decided to totally reshape their payment process and ended up building a payment factory with opusCapita.

Creator: Jarle Nyttingnes

[ CuStomER StoRIES ] 13[ CuStomER StoRIES ] 13

we have already saved time and resources that we can now make better use of in other parts of our operations. NINA BRUN, Head of Back Office

NCC is a construction and property de-velopment company which pays over 1.4 million supplier invoices each year for everything from building material and work clothes to machinery.

the payment of invoices happens through a “shared service centre” in which all financial administration takes place and which is used for NCC companies in four Nordic countries. However, the benefits of centralising could not be fully achieved as processing of the payments was taken care of quite manually.

Let’s buiLd a factory!

NCC wanted a supplier who could auto-mate everything from bank statistics to archiving for a fast and secure integrated process. A clear goal was greater control over account authorisations – to have them in one place. Administration of these also needed to take place in a uni-form way. Another aim was a single login and a standardised user interface for all types of payments at all banks.

the solution was to build a payment factory with opusCapita.

“opusCapita offered the best solution for our complex needs,” says nina brun, Head of back office at NCC treasury.

opusCapita payment factory cen-tralises the majority of supplier payments into one process with a standardised user interface – irrespective of whether the transaction is going to a supplier via a bank in denmark, finland or Sweden. NCC now saves time and money, has more control over cash flow and avoids the risks that are involved in manual work.

opusCapita and NCC worked together to define which building blocks were needed in the construction of the solution.

“We realised that the solution was to collect everything in one place, which allowed the customer to automate more,” explains peter arrman, Head of Solution Consulting at opusCapita.

In NCC’s case, one remarkable ben-efit of a higher level of automating was achieved in archiving. Like many others, NCC used to archive its receipts in paper format. Now, many metres of shelves containing files and countless hours of work have been replaced with the press of a button.

the project is being developed fur-ther, but Nina brun says that NCC has already saved time and resources that can now be used better in other parts of financial operations.

> the challengeNCC had an extensive administrative process and payments were handled in different ways depending on which country and bank were involved.

>> the solutionthe opus Capita payment factory solution takes care of all the payments. the payment process has been standardised, irrespective of the bank or country. Everything is handled with a standardised interface. NCC now has a good overview of the whole process and better control of cash flow and liquidity.

Aboutncc

one of the leading construction and property development companies in the Nordic region.

develops and builds residential and commercial properties, industrial facilities and public buildings, roads, civil engineering structures and other types of infrastructure.

Also offers materials used in construction and conducts paving and road services.

bella Sky Hotel, Copenhagen. photo: ty Stange

Consumer goods company Suomen Lähikauppa develops its operations in accordance with its strategy of strong growth.

suomen lähikauppa oyCuStomER StoRy

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 14

text and photos aiLa väLiKosKi

SAMI kARPPI, Cfo at consumer goods giant Suomen Lähikauppa oy, knows exactly how much the company’s f inancial management processes cost. the amount is now much lower than it was a few years ago, and this cost-efficiency has been achieved by outsourcing the company’s financial accounting processes to opusCapita. the transparency of costs has also created a new tool, which supports the decision-making of the company’s management when new services are being developed.

“A transaction-based pricing model helps us to accurately calculate what the renovations and new services will cost the financial management,” explains Karppi.

Suomen Lähikauppa develops its op-erations in accordance with its strategy of strong growth. for example, during 2014 the company will establish 20–25 new stores and renovate 120 stores. the company has pilot stores in which it is de-veloping a store format which supports modern and diversified local services.

the growing number of stores, a large investment programme and a diversifying selection of services posed a challenge for financial control. It was necessary to

update the company’s financial system environment, which was fragmented, and processes, which were mainly based on manual functions.

As a solution, Suomen Lähikauppa chose to outsource its financial manage-ment. the project turned out to be one of the most extensive outsourcing of finan-cial management and payroll accounting services in finland. financial accounting was outsourced to opusCapita in spring 2012.

“We outlined a target situation for our processes and we developed them with opusCapita into the way we wanted them. the processes are now of high quality, turn-around times are quick and the figures in the management’s report-ing system are reliable and displayed in real-time,” says Sami Karppi.

He emphasises that extensive out-sourcing solutions always involve a large amount of cooperation, as operations are developed by both parties and the cost impacts of changes are assessed together. the industry knowledge of the company outsourcing its processes is always needed when business-specific finance solutions are being provided.

Suomen Lähikauppa’s purchase and

sales invoice processes are one example of the way in which system solutions based on electronic transactions and financial automation have significantly raised the cost-efficiency of processes.

“We want to reduce the amount of administration that is carried out by the staff at our stores, so that they can focus on customer service. With opusCapita we are currently looking into a new and more efficient way to carry out cash ac-counts. the current way of doing things is complicated and involves several manual phases, and it takes up too much time for the staff at our stores every day.”

in our new erp project we will shake up more of our finance processes with our outsourcing company, opuscapita, and we will decide which of our own and opuscapita’s systems will be replaced by the new erp. SAMI kARPPI, CFO

suomen lähikauppa oy

> the challengeto update the financial accounting processes so that they are cost-efficient and produce accurate and real-time financial information for the management. to allocate the company’s resources at the core of the business, developing the services of the daily consumer goods stores.

>> the solutionthe entire financial accounting process was outsourced to opusCapita who is responsible for Suomen Lähikauppa’s general ledger and fixed assets accounting, purchases ledger and circulating of purchase invoices, accounts receivable and invoicing, warehouse accounting, cash accounts, payment traffic, payroll, and travel and expense invoices.

finland’s third largest daily consumer goods company, which owns the national store chains Siwa and valintatalo. the total number of stores is 670.

the revenue in 2012 was around EuR 1.0 billion, and the company employs approximately 6,000 members of staff.

Suomen Lähikauppa oy is owned by the triton fund III investment fund.

Aboutsuomen lähikauppa oy

[ CuStomER StoRIES ] 15

[ JournaL 01/2014 ] 16

text marketta tammisto • photo sami tirkkonen

tarzan survived thanks to his strength, senses and the lianas. In the complex jungle that is the economy, we survive thanks to our brains and automation. However, there are two things that are needed in both jungles: rapid reactions and agility.

Agile companies can deal with economic complexities.

Be prepared!

Automatedprocesses

Harmonizedprocesses

Bankindependency

Centralized &transparent

information flow

Leading

Implementing

Practicing

Developing

Awareness

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

17

ECONOMIC forecasts for 2014 start off promisingly but they all contain a ‘but’.

In the united States, the economy will recover but at a slower rate than expected.

China’s Gdp will grow but this growth will decelerate and the deceleration may turn out to be fast and unpleasant.

the economy will grow in industrial-ised countries in 2014 but falter again in 2015.

Recovery will begin in Europe following a zero growth year but exports outside the Eu will continue to decline.

the era of steady growth is over

the fact is that this is the most difficult decade for the European economy since the Second World War and there is little hope for much improvement. Every nation and company must accept that the world has changed permanently. the era of steady growth is simply over. Capacity for change and agility have become key competitive factors in business.

many companies have already picked up on this and changed accordingly. they look for growth in new markets, adjust their strategies and improve their operating models. We must always be ready to change.

can you financeyour change?

Implementing change depends largely on financial resources. tighter capital adequacy, liquidity and risk management requirements have made banks more wary of lending and they have increased the interest rates offered to companies. Even if money is available, it may turn out to be unbearably expensive for an unstable company.

financial difficulties may sink even the most carefully considered strategy, whether it is aimed at daily survival or world domination.

this also explains the results of the accompanying Cfo survey. Liquidity is increasingly important for businesses

and they must take any means to ensure that their financial management has total control and an unobstructed view of the company’s and its every subsidiary’s financial operations in real time. this way they can manage operative risks and, most importantly, monitor and forecast profitability.

automation provides access to the necessary KnowLedge

for tarzan, his senses and knowledge of the jungle were enough.

the business environment is more complex and to have access to the necessary knowledge, a finance department must have intelligent information systems that cover all financial processes. they provide the assistance the financial management needs to support the company’s strategic change.

And what is more, unlike tarzan, they actually exist.

> cfos’ top 3 focus areas • profitability follow up and forecasting 70% • operative risk management 48% • Working capital and liquidity management 46%

> what are your company’s top 3 challenges?

source management events – executive trend survey h2/2012, cfo world media Kit 2012

www.opuscapita.com ➡ contacts

your organisation’s aBility to react to

rapid fluctuations in the

economy. if there is room for

improvement, get in touch

and we’ll see what we can do.

Be prepared!

ASSESS

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 18

financialprocesses

accountsreceivable

treasury

g/Laccounting

accountspayable

payment fac tory

payments

directdebits

banks

swift

Directconnections

accounts

statements

balances

acknowledgements

debits/credits

integrationsand

enrichment

payment &account

processing

netting &in-housebanking

bank connections

cash management forecasting

THE ABOVE example is a good illus-tration of the key concerns of Cfos in today’s international companies, namely liquidity and the need to secure finance.

It also demonstrates that the same logic applies to cash flow automation as to production automation: automating the handling of large quantities of data and standardising processes saves time and money and also boosts productivity. more importantly, there is greater trans-parency in the processes and more effec-tive risk management.

“the example given is the real case of an actual company, but we have also carried out similar projects of various sizes for a number of different companies to

improve the efficiency of their incoming and outgoing payment processes. our customers are looking for complete pro-cesses, where a single party provides and takes responsibility for the entire chain,” explains kimmo kauranen, director, presales at opusCapita.

With the help of opusCapita, an international company can have a common payment factory to centralise and automate information flows from the purchases ledgers, sales ledgers and general ledgers of both the parent company and the subsidiaries. A single, centralised team can manage the outgoing and incoming payments to banks from different countries and

purchases ledgers via a single interface. Either SWIft connections or direct bank connections can be used.

“We are the only company in Northern Europe that is able to supply the automation package needed for a comprehensive payment factory. this also includes solutions concerning cash flow information monitoring and liquidity management,” says Kauranen.

“the treasury will always know exactly what payments the company’s units have to make each day and how much money is coming in, and so the need for working capital can be optimised. money will be located just where it is needed, and in the right amount,” Kauranen explains.

> Following a merger, an international company found itself with four ERP systems and a variety of bank connection solutions to almost twenty banks in twenty countries of operation. For handling outgoing and incoming payments, the company had a number of overlapping purchase-to-payment processes and a lot of parallel operating methods. Liquidity was difficult to forecast, because of the absence of reliably visible cash flows in the company’s units.

> A comprehensive payment factory solution was built for the company, standardising its outgoing and incoming payment processes in the different countries. All cash flows are now managed by the company’s treasury and the cash forecasts are accurate. The number of banks has been reduced significantly, and international bank connections operate via a cloud-based SWIFT solution.

payment factorysupports growth

texts aiLa väLiKosKi

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When money is not left idle in ac-counts, for example as a liquidity buffer, all capital can be allo-cated strictly towards implementing the corporate strategy.

“this means we are helping create new business sol-utions. our own solutions support projects that invest in growth and provide the tools to assess at quite a new level the competitive ad-vantages in sales and procurement, for instance, and the terms of customer and supplier financing,” says Kauranen.

THROUGH opusCapita a route is open to banks all over the world, trav-elling via the new cloud-based bank connections from SWIft.

Among the first cash manage-ment solutions to do so, opusCapita – as a SWIft partner – is offering the new Alliance Lite2 cloud-based con-nections to the bank network. opus-Capita is the first Nordic provider of this service.

this bank connection system is now integrated into opusCapita’s payment manager solution, which is offered as a cloud service. this means that for the purposes of new bank connections a company does not need to make any extra investment in hardware or licences.

Cost-effective connections to the banks that a company selects will be the foundation on which the payment factory activities of inter-national corpor ations are built.

“Getting bank connections with global coverage has been either too costly or too complicated for businesses. for ever y impor t-ant investment decis ion, such as a payment factory project, there must be a solid business case,” says Jukka

Sallinen, Solution manager at opus-Capita.

“When you calculate the total cost of a project over three years, for

example, and add up the possible risks associated with bank connec-tions, you can see that the previous connection solutions might even have acted as a barrier to introducing fully fledged, centralised payment factories familiar to all users.”

banK connections directLy from erp

Jukka Sallinen is an expert on inter-national bank connections and has experience of planning and implementing many extensive payment factory solutions. He explains that many businesses are thinking about integrating their bank connections directly with their ERp system. this can now be easily done, as it is simple to use the cloud-based bank connections integrated into opusCapita, because no separate software or hardware installation is needed.

Alongside the new SWIft con-nections, opusCapita has direct con-nections to all major banks in the Nordic countries and to most inter-national banks.

“We have been at the front line in implementing new solutions for the standardisation of payment and account statement messages, and now we are at the leading edge in bank connections. We are also the first software company globally to bring SWIft’s 3SKey authentication to our cloud services,” explains Sallinen.

SWIft, Society for Worldwide Inter-bank financial telecommunication

moREcase ncc on page 12http://opuscapita.com/ocptp

opuscapita, the first in the nordics to provide

swift aLLiance Lite2 from cLoud

kIMMO kAURANEN Director, presales, OpusCapita

JUkkA SALLINEN Solution Manager, OpusCapita

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 20

NEW SERVICE SAVES TIME:AutomAtIC pRE-poStING

in response to its customers’ wishes, opuscapita is introducing an additional service to its inchannel invoice receiving service. customers who receive e-invoices, e-mail invoices or digitized invoices can now receive a posting suggestion with their invoice data.

“posting is the most time-consuming stage in the management of the accounts payable. automatic pre-posting of invoices will bring substantial time savings and improve process quality,” says tiina liikamaa, senior product manager at opuscapita.

the service will be introduced first in finland, sweden, norway and germany.

moRE http://opuscapita.com/inchannel/

MORE and more letters are de-livered to recipients in digital format, but printed letters continue to be popular, as recipients spend more time reading printed letters than they do electronic letters. So what is the reason for this? Can something be done to improve the reading experience with electronic letters?

opusCapita wanted to know more about what recipients notice and read on invoices, so it carried out an eye-tracking survey in its Swedish market. the survey was done by friends & tactics, who con-ducted an analysis of eyeflows and

tested two different types of letters, invoices and information letters. A test group was given an assign-ment to look at the invoices and letters as if they had been sent to them personally. the friends & tac-tics analyst then conducted open interviews with each test person. the survey found that the people spent more time reading the letters that contained colour and person-alized messages, and that the in-formation contained in these letters was clearer.

AN ATTRACTIVE INVOICE IS A BETTER INVOICE

as a company coming from the land of santa claus, opus-capita organised an event for polish customers and their kids just before christmas. the cheerful evening had the best of endings when santa claus arrived with presents for all the young participants.

I’VE MET SANTA!

NEWS ANd EvENtS >>

the best invoice is colourful, personalized, and informative. and if there is an offer in your invoice that’s even better as this will attract additional interest. the colours show the time spent on each object – the warmer the colour, the longer the time.

moRE http://opuscapita.com/etsurvey/

21[ NEWS ANd EvENtS ]

opuscapita is participating in the CFO Executive Meeting Vereon on 26–27 february in frankfurt am main, Germany.

In Germany, we will also be present at the Finance Symposium on 14–16 may in mannheim. the finance Symposium is the largest financial trade fair in the German-speaking region.

In Norway and in Sweden opusCapita will participate the Treasury & Cash events that will take place on 29 April in oslo and on 25 may in Stockholm.

In Helsinki, finland, we will participate in the Treasury and Cash Summit on 13–14 may, and the Valtio Expo on 20 may. the event is organised by the State treasury of finland which is a longtime user of opusCapita software.

the traditional OpusCapita Finance Forum will be held on 8 may in Helsinki.

COME AND MEET US!

OPUSCAPITA’S BOARD MEMBERS HAVE BEEN APPOINTED

opuscapita’s general meeting has appointed the members of opuscapita’s board. they are heikki malinen, ceo, itella, sari helander, cfo, itella, Juhani strömberg, vice president, strategy and development, itella, timo löyttyniemi, ceo, the state pension fund, Juha mikkola, senior investment director, norvestia and ossi pohjola, private entrepreneur and board professional, business integration group.

SEBASTIAN kRAPF APPOINTED CFO OF OPUSCAPITA

opusCapita appointed Sebastian krapf, 44, m.Sc. (Econ.) as Cfo and a member of its management team. Krapf has extensive experience of various financial management tasks at international groups in finland, Asia and Germany. before opusCapita he worked for Konecranes, located in mumbai and Shanghai. Krapf has previously worked for medifiq Healthcare and uponor.

fINd out about upcoming events at www.opuscapita.com ➡ news and events

[ JouRNAL 01/2014 ] 22

INSIdE StoRy

ROBOTS are here to stay and even today there might be more of them than you think. Robotisation, i.e. making robots do our work, is revolutionising work in entire industrial sectors, and entering our homes, too. After all, who wouldn’t want to leave the housework to a robot? Automatic vacuum cleaners moving around the house on their own are already an everyday reality, although a far cry from their science fiction counterparts with all their human features.

BUT THE BIGGEST revolution will actually involve virtual robots. Robots that remain hidden and unseen in thousands of data centres, tirelessly fulfilling their tasks. today’s Cfos will have to rethink their financial work when virtual accountants start punching in at the office. Artificial intelligence and advanced communications technology make these virtual accountants extremely capable. ultimately, they have the potential to prevent a Cfo from losing sleep in the face of a looming financial statements deadline.

VIRTUAL colleagues will not be physically appearing at meetings just yet, but I must say, this is a fascinating thought. It is always worth thinking big and outside of the box, and even being a little crazy when it comes to new opportunities. this we know from experience. We do not clone Cfos – not yet, at least – but during our more than 30 years of doing business, we have been faced with several

critical strategic decisions. this time we’ve placed our bets on a promising horse – cloud services – and are among the very first to take the management of cash processes into the cloud for easy purchase and use.

THEY SAY it is difficult to forecast the future. In order to predict where the global economy is headed next or guess the correct lottery numbers you need a clairvoyant or a fortune teller with a fancy crystal ball, but you don’t need supernatural forces to help forecast the financial standing of a company, its cash flow or liquidity position.

FOR THIS PURPOSE we have created automated financial process solutions, which operate in essence like a group of virtual robots. they are there at the banks and even at the most remote corporate units all the time. they never worry about geographic distance, different currencies or messy system environments. In the same way that Gutenberg’s printing press was not an isolated one-off revolution but a number of small inventions put together, we have combined financial process improvements and new operating models to make an innovative single solution. this provides Cfos with security and confidence to do their job and embrace some of the future’s benefits already today.

maKing the future – today

entering data used to be a major part of a financial administrator’s job. fortunately, that’s in the past now. today, we are making the future – and writing the history of financial process automation. what does the future have in store for us? Let’s have a look!

TONI PALOHEIMO Director, Product Management and Business Platforms, OpusCapitaTwitter Finnish and English: ToniPaloheimo

[ CoNtACtS ] 23

estonia opuscapita as, tartu mnt. 43,10128 tallinn, tel. +372 6519 000 finland opuscapita group oy, Keilaranta 13,

02150 ESpoo, tel. +358 20 452 3000 germany opuscapita gmbh, büttnerstr. 21, d-30165 Hannover, tel: +49 511 336 30 2777

latVia as opuscapita, mūkusalas iela 41 b, 1004 Riga, tel. +371 7 066 500 lithuania uab opuscapita, užubalių k.,

Avižienių pšt., Lt-14180 vilniaus r. sav., tel. + 370 5 278 0330 norway opuscapita as, frysjaveien 40, 0884 oslo, tel. +47 22 72 84 70

poland opuscapita sp. z o.o., ul. poleczki 35, poleczki business park, building A1, 02-822 Warszawa, tel. + 48 22 461 25 00 

sloVakia opuscapita s.r.o, Elektrárenská 4, 831 04 bratislava, tel. +421 2 4961 9200 sweden opuscapita ab, Englundavägen 7,

171 23 Solna, tel. +46 8 475 28 00

 

> financial automation to improVe your Business performance

opusCapita provides financial process automation – either outsourced or as a service – to more than 10,000 customers in over 50 countries.

VALUE BY AUtoMAtIoN

opuscapita head office opuscapita group oy, Keilaranta 13, fI-02150 ESpoo, fINLANd, tel. +358 20 452 3000fax +358 20 452 9271, www.opuscapita.com, information.fi@itella.com

Part of Itella Group

PRO

DU

CTS

FINANCIAL BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING

OU

TSO

URC

ING

SOLU

TIO

NS

PURCHASE-TO-PAY STREAM

PAYROLLSTREAM

ORDER-TO-CASHSTREAM

INVOICEMANAGER

PAYMENTMANAGER

RECEIVABLEMANAGER

DOCUMENT HANDLING SERVICESfor printing, scanning, electronic transactions and electronic invoicing

SOLUTIONS FOR CUSTOMERS’ PURCHASE-TO-PAY, PAYMENT AND ORDER-TO-CASH PROCESSES

OpusCapita provides fi nancial process automation – either outsourced or as a service – for more than 10,000 customers in over 50 countries. The company operates in nine European countries, employing 2,400 professionals. In 2012, net sales totalled EUR 270 million. Company headquarters are in Finland. www.opuscapita.com

Part of Itella Group

YOU SEE AN

ORANGE

WE SEE- A RETAIL CHAIN WITH

STREAMLINED FINANCIAL PROCESSES

- HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS PER MONTH

- TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PURCHASE INVOICES PER MONTH HANDLED WITH HIGH EFFICIENCY

- AUTOMATED AND ELECTRONIFIED SALES INVOICING

- VALUE BY AUTOMATION

Passion for fi nancial management