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Say goodbye to spreadsheets
Microsoft Power Platform generates subcontractor invoices automatically, eliminating weeks of manual Excel work.
Deploying time to higher-value work
Finance staff freed from admin can now focus on growth, debt collection and process improvement.
Solution
Microsoft Power Platform
Industry
Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
Background
For New Zealand’s largest integrated physiotherapy, rehabilitation and workplace health provider, efficient invoicing is a crucial part of the job. The organisation relies on a network of employees and subcontractors to deliver care – and paying those providers on time is essential.
Every month, the organisation processes over 300 buyer-created tax invoices for its nationwide network of subcontractors. Until recently, this process was highly reliant on Excel. Manual spreadsheets consumed weeks of staff time and made it difficult for leaders to analyse spending in real-time.
“Our subcontractor costs are our second largest expense,” says the organisation’s Financial Controller. “It is a significant expense, but because the process was so manual, it was difficult to analyse the detail behind the spend or drill into the segments of spend easily.”
For the controller and the finance team, automating subcontractor billing wasn’t just about cutting admin. It was about paying providers correctly and in a timely manner, maintaining trust, and safeguarding the reputation of the business.
Enter FUJIFILM and the Microsoft Power Platform to streamline the process and make life easier for everyone involved.
Manual billing and missing oversight
The key problem with manually managing subcontractor billing, particularly for a larger organisation, is the time investment. “It’s incredibly labour-intensive,” explains the Financial Controller. In the old system, appointment data was pulled from the patient management system, placed into templates, manually reviewed and emailed out.
“At month’s end, half the accounts receivable team was tied up preparing and checking spreadsheets – a process that worked, but took a lot of time, and left little room for deeper analysis,” he says. The process also made it very difficult to provide the insights leadership needed. “At the time, we had limited visibility.
It wasn’t easy to break down the spend by region, provider or service type.” Beyond billing, the business accounts payable process was also highly manual, with little visibility and no ability to automate information capture.
This made things more difficult for the AP team and the people approving invoices, adding time to the process.
Even the smallest formula amendments in Excel could cause delays or create extra work for the team.
The Financial Controller
Trusted delivery, proven result
After earlier attempts at automation didn’t deliver the desired outcome, the organisation turned to FUJIFILM Process Automation to rebuild subcontractor billing with Microsoft Power Platform.
As its Financial Controller explains, the decision was based on capability and trust.
“What I wanted was simple in concept: take all that subcontractor data, drop it into a system, and have it automatically generate the invoices, supporting documents and reports,” he explains.
“With Microsoft Power Platform, that’s exactly what we got.” FUJIFILM had already implemented Esker, a solution that handles AP automation, at the organisation. Given that experience, there was a high level of trust and confidence in FUJIFILM delivering on this complex project.
The Microsoft Power Platform rollout exceeded these expectations, coming in on time and under budget, and delivering on all key goals for the finance team.
From spreadsheets to smart, automated workflows
Microsoft Power Platform has taken a time-consuming pain point and turned it into a streamlined process. Buyer-created invoices that took days to prepare are now automatically generated and sent to contractors or their company.
“The biggest change is redeploying time,” says the Financial Controller. “The team was spending weeks copying and pasting in Excel, which took time away from higher-value activities they were eager to focus on. Now they’re working on new billing solutions for acquisitions, debt collection and process improvements.
It’s provided the team greater job satisfaction, and they can add even more value.” Because the platform integrates with the organisation’s ERP system, subcontractor billing data flows straight into the finance system. The Microsoft Power Platform generates accurate invoices and detailed breakdowns.
Esker handles invoice approvals and expense management, and the ERP system processes payments. The benefits of this ‘closed loop’ are both operational and strategic. The business has eliminated weeks of manual data effort, and the finance team can easily report on contractor spend.
This puts the organisation in a position to scale without any capacity limitations or invoicing roadblocks.
I knew FUJIFILM could do it. They’d already shown me with Esker that they can deliver exactly what we need. Our awesome and experienced team is ready to cope with company growth.
The Financial Controller
For this health provider, the automation journey is far from over – and that’s a good thing. The next step is linking the Microsoft Power Platform data with Power BI dashboards for easy-to-read insights.
It’s another way to save time and boost understanding for the finance team. “I’m a bit of an automation freak,” the Financial Controller laughs. “It’s about shifting time away from repetitive tasks to areas that add greater value for all.
Automation helps us do that.” “With Microsoft Power Platform and Esker working together, we’re building a foundation that scales – not just grows.”
Why FUJIFILM?
- Microsoft Licensing
- Local implementation & support
- Analyse with Power BI
- Automate with Power Automate
- Build with Power Apps
- Add AI assistance with AI Builder
- Integrate it all with Dataverse
- Design with Power Pages
FUJIFILM Process Automation are your local, New Zealand based experts ready to help you on your Microsoft journey. We’ve been implementing best-in-class automation solutions for Kiwis for years and this includes Microsoft’s Power Platform.
The Power Platform ecosystem integrates with hundreds of your favourite tools, including ERP’s, SAAS solutions as well as the rest of Microsoft tools including Office, 365 and more. So whether you need a new Power App for HR onboarding, or perhaps a new workflow to enhance your sales process with Power Automate or automated reporting using Power BI, get in touch with us today and we’ll get you started.