Basware Expands Connectivity Services to Enable Full Purchase-to-Pay Automation

STAMFORD, Connecticut, March 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Basware, the global leader of purchase-to-pay solutions, today announced the addition of e-procurement functionality to Basware Connectivity services. Basware Connectivity covers the entire purchase-to-pay process from cataloging and procurement to e-invoicing, providing crucial integration with an organization's existing stock and resource management systems. Basware Connectivity benefits both supplier and buyer, reducing cost per transaction, mitigating error, eliminating paper-based processes and speeding up payment.

Basware Connectivity for Procurement enhances the buyer-supplier collaboration capability of Basware Connectivity, adding:

    - Purchase Message Exchange:
    - Integrating electronic order negotiations within one buyer-supplier
      ecosystem
    - Eliminating the errors inherent in manual order management and creating
      a fully auditable trail
    - Catalog Exchange:
    - Facilitating the electronic delivery of supplier catalogs to the
      buyer's procurement environment, boosting the quantity of catalog items
    - Supplier self service enables 24-hour updating of content
    - Enforces negotiated contract conditions and pricing

Electronic invoice and procurement message exchange significantly increases data accuracy by replacing error-prone manual processes with automation. Through Basware Connectivity, electronic documents are created in procurement systems and fed directly to invoice processing solutions, enabling better visibility and a full audit trail. Electronic transactions enable automated order management as well as automated invoice processing and payment, which in turn minimize manual intervention. By turning the procurement and invoice processes electronic, buyers can automatically match over 90% of incoming invoices against placed orders.

"With these new additions, Basware Connectivity is the first single purchase-to-pay solution that enables an organization to move its entire procurement process into an electronic environment, fully integrated with existing stock and finance management systems," said Ari Salonen, general manager, Basware North America. "Every time a transaction moves from one system to another, whether within a single organization or between supplier and customer, it adds delays in fulfillment and opens up possibilities for error. By automating these processes and moving to electronic document exchange with Basware Connectivity, buyers and suppliers can significantly reduce errors in the process, so they get it right the first time around and cut their processing costs in half along the way."

For the supplier, electronic processes reduce order delivery and invoicing cycle times dramatically, which in turn translate to quicker payments and improved cash flow. Suppliers can easily generate invoices directly from the order data, which ensures full accuracy and eliminates the need for credit invoices.

Jyri Virtanen, logistics manager at Plandent, a dental supply company and Basware Connectivity customer, added: "We receive around 450 orders each day, and with Basware Connectivity the entire process has become much faster and more efficient. Previously, a single order might contain 50 hand-written order rows, but with an electronic system we can easily receive consolidated orders. Basware Connectivity enables us to fulfill our customers' orders quicker and also has substantially reduced error levels. Now, with the elimination of the delay resulting from manual ordering and shorter delivery times, we can focus more on actual customer service."

About Basware

Basware is the global leader in purchase-to-pay solutions with more than 1,500 customers and 850,000 users in over 50 countries around the world. With Basware, organizations can reduce the cost of buying and paying for goods and services and gain visibility and control of their entire spending process by automating manual processes, from sourcing, contract management, purchasing and supplier collaboration to invoice automation. Basware solutions and services enable substantial cost reductions across businesses and deliver value by providing compliance and control, as well as fast return on investment. The solutions are distributed and implemented, either on site or as a service, in Europe, the U.S., and Asia-Pacific through an extensive network of Basware offices and business partners. The company's U.S. business, Basware, Inc., is headquartered in Stamford, Conn. More information can be found at http://www.basware.com/us.

The Basware name is a registered trademark of Basware Corporation. The Basware logo is a trademark of Basware Corporation.

All other product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE Basware Corporation