UK Energy Bureau for Finance Directors
UK Energy Bureau Services
Yes, finance directors have heard it before; we all know that we need to harness technology to make more accurate savings across many areas of business.
But, have you heard the one about the robots – yes, robots, now that is where the true opportunities lie. Finance departments across every industry would see bigger gains if they introduced robotics into their procedures…
Robotic process automation is the next step in artificial intelligence for business. We forecast that cloud computing and robotic process automation will disrupt the energy sector in 2020, automating energy bill management – and even procurement itself.
UK Energy Bureau for Finance Directors
Third party intermediaries (TPIs) and bill validation firms are facing a pivotal moment as they are disrupted by technology – Robotic process automation (RPA). RPA is a new scalable technology that provides automation of manual or multiple complex processes to significantly enhance business tools. Specifically, robotic process automation, or RPA.
Finance departments have the opportunity to harness this technology now more than ever because RPA takes robotic process automation and machine learning to deliver powerful tools that make advanced decisions and eliminates human error.
There is no replacement for market intelligence, experience and strategy, however there is a lot of wasted time and resource that can and should be automated. Too many good people are bogged down with data processing and reporting and a lot of money is being lost to inaccurate billing. That is a legacy model. It is ripe for disruption.
EaaSi from Catalyst Commercial Services is the UK’s only cloud based integrated digital energy platform to fully automate and validate your energy spend management across all departments, locations and energy output feeds. EaaSi uses RPA to provide a fully automated energy spend management platform delivering insights to businesses on your utility bills and the data associated to your meter end points instantaneously. In essence it puts power back in the hands of the finance team.
While the EaaSi UK energy bureau platform will free up time and resource for energy and procurement teams, finance departments may see most upside.
We believe that energy procurement and billing should sit within the finance department.
They need information at the touch of a button rather than having to rely on third parties. From a validation perspective, there are huge labour savings to be made, and the platform’s accuracy means FDs are much more informed on energy contracts and cost management.
Because the platform integrates directly into packages such as SAP, Sage and major ERP systems, the CFO or FD has immediate visibility, rather than having to wait for the energy manager to go through all of that – this makes life much easier for both parties.”
How does EaaSi do this?
Customers plug in estate and contract data to create a ‘digital filing cabinet’,
EaaSi then automatically ‘normalises’ data from supplier bills, providing a framework for site comparison.
The UK energy bureau platform can automatically login to supplier platforms to request and collect bills. If some bills are missing, it can fill in gaps based on average prices and consumption for time of year, and update when bills arrive.
How EaaSi helps finance teams:
- fully automating invoice validation, EaaSi collects audit compliant PDF invoices automatically from suppliers the day they are available and validates – giving you a view of your actual energy spend with zero touch human interaction.
- integrates with platforms such as Sage/SAP to produce a payment file, once payment is complete, the system is updated, providing a full audit trail
- enables accounts departments to accrue costs and forecast budgets, and provides benchmarking tools to compare contracts with market trades and prices
- provides highly accurate energy and carbon reports, with a number of further energy benchmarking and management tools in development
- forecasting and budgeting for coming periods, removing the need to get TPI/brokers involved as the software puts the relevant documents together to enable suppliers to bid directly for the contract either as a whole or in part.
- It facilitates the reporting requirements of ESG for AIM and PLC businesses, delivering insights and information on contract management, consumption and forecasting along with carbon reporting.
- provides businesses with a full 360-degree analysis of utility costs from receipt of bills to payment, along with the ability to view invoice errors, rectification requests and results.
To request a demonstration of the EaaSi platform or to hear how EaaSi is helping large, multi-site and SME businesses save vast amounts of time and money, do get in touch with the team or check out the website:
About Catalyst Commercial Services
Catalyst is a market leading independent energy consultancy that provides energy procurement, sustainability and environmental services. Catalyst is one of the leading providers of utility purchasing and contract negotiation services to the commercial sector. With over 15 years’ experience in this dynamic market, the team of energy market professionals provide a full options appraisal for business utility contract needs.
