How Voneus Broadband Saved Time and Reduced Paperwork with DOKKA
Company
Voneus is a company dedicated to revolutionizing rural broadband by leveraging cutting-edge technology and forward-thinking strategies. They are committed to serving communities across the UK and delivering technological innovations to local businesses, residents, councils, and schools. As of today, Voneus is one of the largest internet service providers in the country.
Utilizing their own network infrastructure, the company provides lightning-fast broadband with speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 1 Gbps. From wireless broadband specialists to building ultra-fast fiber-optic networks, Voneus has surpassed urban connectivity in remote rural areas. Their broadband services, powered by fiber and future-proofed, are available in several counties in England and Wales.
Quick facts:
- 4 office locations throughout the UK
- Remote-friendly work environment
- A workforce of 140 employees located nationwide
- A finance team consisting of five individuals, divided into three main divisions: Accounts Payable, Credit Control, and Cost Control & Analysis.
Challenge
As Voneus grew, manual operations became increasingly challenging to manage. The finance team was burdened with piles of physical files, printed paperwork, and archiving folders, leading to a slow and cumbersome process of managing regular accounting work.
Invoice processing was especially problematic. The accounts payable team would gather invoices, attach them to an email, and request signed and scanned approvals. Once the approvers signed and scanned back the invoice, the signed version was printed again, and the invoice data was manually entered into the online banking system for payment.
The back-and-forth email communication and manual payment processing were slow, time-consuming, and ineffective, and involved a great deal of printed paper. The existing invoice processing workflow was unsustainable, and the Voneus team knew they needed to switch to a digital solution.
In April 2021, Voneus took the first step towards automating their accounting processes by implementing Netsuite ERP. While Netsuite improved filing and archiving, it did not solve a crucial pain point – the approval system.
To manage approvals within Netsuite, licenses would need to be purchased for every user requiring approval through the system, and the entire staff would require additional training. As a result, Voneus began searching for a more convenient and cost-effective solution.
Solution
At the time, Voneus was already in the process of automating various business processes. They needed a solution that would complement NetSuite, support the integration of a new Warehouse module for managing purchase orders and matching, and integrate with the Bacs payment system to speed up payment processing to suppliers.
As the company was leaning towards becoming a paperless office, they combined a few process changes to eliminate paperwork and reduce manual work.
After careful consideration of various AP automation solutions, Voneus decided to go with DOKKA because it did not require any contracts and offered unique features like advanced machine learning.
The integration of DOKKA was easy for the AP staff and approval managers. With the support of DOKKA’s customer success team, all staff became comfortable with the new software solution in less than a week.
DOKKA transformed the speed and workflow of approvals and significantly reduced manual invoice processing. It eliminated the need for staff to send emails back and forth, waiting to collect scans, saving them precious time and allowing for processing with just a few clicks.
After using DOKKA for less than a year, Voneus confirmed that it had transformed their business.
“We loved your unique feature of connecting the transactional fields with the machine learning element. It was easy to drag and drop data, and the system learned from it. For instance, DOKKA learned who should approve transactions from a specific supplier, and it just required a quick review before sending it for approval. This feature has saved us a significant amount of time.”
- Craig Brass, Systems Architect at Voneus Broadband
Biggest Wins
“Approving things is much easier now. I don’t have to constantly remind my colleagues to approve invoices or other documents. It has also saved us a lot of time that we used to spend writing emails or doing other manual tasks. Overall, it has made our work more efficient and streamlined.”
- Deborah Stevens, Accounts Payable Clerk at Voneus Broadband
“We went with DOKKA because there were no long-term contracts, which gave us the flexibility to try it out without making a significant commitment. The pricing and features were right for us, and we knew that if it didn’t work out, we could cancel without losing too much. However, one year later, we’re still using DOKKA and it has transformed our business. We have no plans to change to another solution.”
- Craig Brass, Systems Architect at Voneus Broadband
