Tr

ansi
ti
oni
ngFrom
Manual
Proc
esses
t
oAutomati
on
 02
Introduction
Despite all of the technology at our disposal and in an effort to cut
costs or reduce the friction of change, many organizations still rely
on manual, repetitive tasks for vital business processes like rebate
management.

Instead of focusing on giving high-level insights and strategy,

organizations find themselves stuck chasing down errors, reconciling
data, and trying to make important decisions based on an
assortment of often incomplete or inaccurate rebate data. Everyone
knows how their own process works, even if it has its faults, and little
effort is made to challenge the status quo because of an “If it ain’t
broke, don’t fix it” mentality. But standing still has never led to
progress, and it only heightens the risks if they continue to cling
onto manual processes.

Throughout this whitepaper, we will discuss the limitations that

Contents manual processes bring and how automation is the answer.

Introduction 2
Signs your processes are still highly manual 3
Risks and challenges associated with manual processes 4
Ditch the manual spreadsheets 6
Embrace automation 6-8
 03

Signs your tasks; entering the same

information twice, having the
Inputting data
into multiple systems
processes are same conversation with different If your business has numerous
still highly manual people or sending the same standalone systems and
reminder emails. Duplicating applications that are poorly
processes occurs when integrated or are unable to speak
As your business grows, so does
departments work in silos, and with each other, chances are
every process – in volume and
there is a lack of communication you’ll have disparate sources of
complexity. All of which cries out
between employees. Whichever information and wasted hours of
for more defined processes and
the case, duplicate work means manually inputting data from one
systems that can work together
lost profits, slowed progress, and system to another. This leads to
to store critical information.
lack of innovation. productivity issues and even
In this highly competitive and
employee churn, as they get
volatile marketplace, business
Reporting is slow frustrated with the way things
leaders must constantly keep
Businesses that analyze deal are done.
a pulse on the signs that tell
performance manually usually
them it’s time to transform their
Then if you multiply that by the not filed away correctly, they do so monthly or quarterly. Lack of transparency
manual processes before they
number of pieces of paper you’ve then spend more time searching However, in today’s competitive Manual processes within a
result in a decline in financial
got, that’s a lot of time your for it. landscape, it’s critical that you company tend to create data
performance.
employees are handling simple, make changes in real-time. silos. With several different
repetitive tasks when they could Duplication of tasks There’s no way to calculate the departments utilizing several
Drowning in paper be doing something more Whether intentionally or not, you full cost of delaying decisions different workflows manually,
If your organization relies on productive. If the document is may find that you are duplicating until you replace it with it becomes increasingly difficult
paper-driven processes, every automation. Once you do, it’s to track and organize data
single one of those pieces of easy to see that your business between different teams. As
paper goes through a different
process – receiving, reading, 41% of businesses struggle to turn data into
decisions, according to a Forrester report.
was missing out on potential
sales and revenue by doing
a result, you lose a transparent
view of what is happening within
logging, responding, filing etc. things the slow way. your organization.
 04

You lose information regularly business isn’t growing, or it’s changes, you open up the difficult for managers to have a
Various studies report
The ability to find information growing too slowly, inefficiency possibility of quantities being that nearly clear overview of processes and
quickly is crucial for any business could be what’s holding it back. entered incorrectly, information how they can be improved.
but the larger a spreadsheet
becomes, the more likely it is to
Continuous business growth
becomes impossible if your costs
being mistranslated, and,
ultimately, the wrong data being 88% Data errors
either crash or corrupt, resulting are too high and keep getting passed to the purchasing or sales of spreadsheets Manually entered rebate data is
in lost data. When important higher, or even simple tasks take teams. contain errors. prone to errors and, as your
information goes missing longer than they need to. business grows and the number
altogether, this hinders not only
the ability of finance to deliver Mistakes and errors aplenty
Risks and paste it into another system
which quickly becomes a
of deals you manage increases,
you’ll find that spreadsheets slow
timely and accurate financial Not only is manual data entry challenges repetitive activity and adds up to down and calculations get more
information, but also effectively
prevents them from adding real
mind-numbing, but it also makes
it very easy to make mistakes.
associated with lots of wasted time. While you’re
paying a full-time employee to
complex. Rebate accountants
have to rush to complete tasks
strategic value. Just one typo could lead to manual processes input data into a spreadsheet, on schedule which can lead to
major errors. When multiple your competitor has already human errors and oversights
Your business isn’t growing email exchanges with Manual processes are a huge automated that process and is with financial data. Finding and
Business growth is essential if spreadsheets attached are being drain on time and money for completing it quickly and at a fixing the problem takes even
you want to keep up with passed back and forth with organizations. Due to the process reduced overall cost. more time. This is less likely to
changes in your industry. If your various tweaks and formatting being long and cumbersome with happen with all your data in one
information being sent to Lack of visibility system.
multiple touch-points Put simply, those manual
throughout the enterprise it’s repetitive tasks that workers are Misplaced or lost
common for the following risks slaving away doing; not only are trading agreements
and challenges to arise. they eating into your employee Manual processes can see time-
productivity amongst other sensitive documents like trading
Reduced productivity things—they’re also very difficult agreements sitting on desks for
Your employees may need to to keep track of. What this means several days, weeks or even
copy data from one system and in practice is that it’s extremely months as they come up against
 05

trading agreements and have a financial insights at their disposal Enable is implemented to handle
clear audit trail. in order to make sound your rebate accounting
decisions, but if the information processes.
Failure to comply with is not readily available, they may
regulations not be able to wait. Missing or Lack of audit trails
If you are using spreadsheets to inaccurate financial data puts Spreadsheets don’t create a clear
manage your rebates it can take your company and its decision- audit trail in the same way that
a lot of time to manually track all makers at a disadvantage and can rebate management software
of the data necessary to ensure lead to costly setbacks if deals does. For example, you may see
financial compliance, not to don’t perform as they should. that something was changed but
mention the errors that can be unable to identify the exact
occur which aren’t just Missed or delayed payments details and who did it. It’s
frustrating but can also be costly. Companies can have whole important to keep a step-by-step
Rebate accounting inefficiencies teams dedicated to negotiating record to keep your data safe
make it harder to perform and managing rebate, however a and accurate. Rebate
compliance audits, meaning fines lack of collaboration between the management software allows you
discrepancies and delays. it’s not only inefficient but also and penalties can happen which teams or a shortage of time can to easily keep a log of all changes
Worse still, it’s not uncommon time consuming. There is also a can damage the reputation of lead to missed or delayed made to your files, dating right
for paper documents to be chance of the deal not getting the company. payments especially if the invoice back to the moment they were
lost or misplaced, which only approved on time if say the is lost. It is likely that rebate initially created.
causes further delays and could person goes away and doesn’t Misinformed decisions income is going to slip through
result in duplicate payments leave a handover with a team Procurement and those the cracks and be missed unless Key person dependency
being made. member or worse yet there can negotiating new deals need a complete rebate solution like If you’re saving your data locally,
often be older versions of the only one person at a time can
Slow deal approvals same type of agreement floating the probability of edit data on the spreadsheet.
If you’re going back and forth around. To solve this issue, it’s
with your trading partner trying best to use an online platform 18%- 40% human error when manually
entering data into
simple spreadsheets
They must save their work and
exit before the next person can
to get a deal approved over email where you can access all your perform their task with the
 06

updated data. And if you have between different departments and small sets of data, they can’t Your rebate data should be
one employee using one set of can result in conflicting cope with the demands of readable at a glance. If this isn’t
data and another using a approvals, mixed messages, and complex rebate management. the case, and you find yourself What do our
different set, both of those high turnaround times. For instance – suppliers and combing through confusing customers say?
calculations could result in Embracing collaboration distributors are increasingly spreadsheets that you don’t
incompatibility and delays which software allows companies to negotiating complicated rebate understand, with figures you
can affect an entire deal. easily share documents with agreements that account for don’t recognize - then this is a
Likewise, if only one or a few clear visibility into their signing shifting market conditions, sign to ditch the spreadsheets.
employees understand the status. inconsistent annual turnover
complex spreadsheet this rates, and many other variables
introduces risk.
Ditch the manual that have to be tracked It’s time to
Departmental silos spreadsheets
simultaneously. The more
dynamism in their deals, the
embrace
There’s nothing worse than a more nimbly companies can automation
fast-moving deal grinding to a Despite that rebate management react to changes in the market.
halt because somebody didn’t software is out there for the However, these agreements are There is rising demand to better “The time Enable saves
sign the trading agreement. A taking, leading organizations are often already far too intricate utilize modern technologies, such me is invaluable, it's easier
lack of a proper workflow for still dependent on spreadsheets and dynamic for a simple as cloud computing and to track and manage the
document collaboration, files, for calculating and accruing spreadsheet to track with any automation, to meet rapidly deals and it provides a
and forms that are passed rebates. Whether it’s because of reliability. increasing future needs due to great audit trail. I like that
everything is now all in
complacency, organizational cost challenges, regulatory one place rather than
According to market research distrust, or just fear of change, Spreadsheets result in an inability pressures and gaining more- relying on several
firm IDC, companies lose businesses often continue using to access accurate, timely and informed insights. This trend spreadsheets or folders.”

20-30%
these inefficient tools, ultimately easily digestible information from continued throughout the
damaging the bottom line. which to manage, forecast, report pandemic as employees switched Sally Jasper
Group Rebate Coordinator
and drive deal performance. This to remote working. Initially, this MKM Building Supplies
in revenue every year due
While Excel spreadsheets are in turn impacts profit margins, disrupted the way we do
to inefficiencies.
capable of managing simple tasks cash flow and audit compliance. business and underscored the
 07

industry’s need to leverage

What do our automation better.
customers say? There’s a perception that
automation is merely about time
and cost reduction, replacing
people and making things more
efficient. This is an obvious
potential benefit, but automation
can be so much more.

Automation does not remove

humans from the process, it
“Enable dramatically empowers them. It presents
simplifies rebate significant opportunities to
management for us. We transform entire industries and
have many complex deals, disrupt their existing processes.
and now instead of
For rebate professionals they can
spreadsheets, everything
is done automatically. Plus, unlock profitable growth and
the support we get from bring strategic value all with the
the Enable team is help of a rebate management
truly outstanding. They system. No longer bound to
meet with us every week legacy systems or paper files,
to ensure success, and they can work directly within a
they never let us down.”
modern, integrated interface.
Scott Ferguson
Vice President
United Aqua Group A rebate management system is
designed around a philosophy of
 08

centralized data, making encouraging a culture of change. 3. Visibility Automation shouldn’t just be
workflows more efficient and What do our Some staff may be heavily A clear and complete seen as a short-term fix to help
reduces instances of duplicate
data. When you implement
customers say? invested in the old process, and
it’s therefore important to
understanding of your deal,
how it’s progressing and
alleviate the challenges of
COVID-19 and the supply chain,
Enable, you gain greater control demonstrate how automating this who is involved. but more so an integral
over nearly every aspect of your process will add value and help component of the business to
deals. The system organizes them with their day-to-day job. derive value and help mitigate
4. Mutually profitable growth
volumes of data and enables your future uncertainty. Automation is
From negotiation to claim, you
team to work on the same real- Enable can bring you happening all around us and
can ensure trading partners are
time data, ensuring that everyone the following benefits: technological advancements in
all on the same page.
is on the same page. Having every industry are inevitable.
relevant and timely data at your Best-in-class rebate management Companies that automate their
fingertips to make strategic software will give businesses the 5. Accuracy processes are more competitive,
decisions and having the agility flexibility and expertise required With all data centralized and responsive, and agile. Don’t fear
“From a negotiation
to quickly react is what will perspective, Enable has to transform their organization calculated in real time, errors automation, embrace it.
separate the good from the allowed us to be more and empower their employees, are greatly reduced.
great. creative, returning more all through the effective use of Are you ready to
back to our distributors. automation. embrace automated
On the finance side 6. Improved operational
However, none of this is possible rebate management?
utilizing Enable has efficiency
without people, they are the key 1. Boost financial performance
improved our accuracy Automate and collaborate to
aspect of ensuring any Actionable insights reveal paths
automated solution is
and efficiency as rebate
to increased margin, profitability
free up valuable resources across Visit enable.com to
is calculated
successfully adopted, but it is programmatically and sales.
the organization. see how we can help.
often the most neglected part of instead of manually.”  
an organizations transformation. 2. Mitigate business risk 7. Deeper insights
Kerry Atlas
Leadership needs to set a clear VP of Operations & Finance
A single version of truth Gain deeper insight into your
vision and bring their employees NetPlus Alliance ensures auditability and avoids data, thereby aiding decision-
along on the journey through knowledge silos. making.