customer stories

Nanonets AI helps ACM Services automate Invoice Extraction, saving 90% time for the Accounts Payable team

10x

Increase In Processing Speed

98.9

% Extraction Accuracy

90

% Time Saved

Industry
Remediation Contractor
Document types
Invoices
Location
Maryland, USA
Integrations
Foundation Construction Accounting Software

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Client:

ACM Services

ACM Services is a full service environment remediation contractor based in Maryland, USA. Founded by Thom Hess in 1990, ACM services has grown and developed into a very successful business which has completed over 10,000 asbestos, lead, and mold abatement projects, including emergency repair work and restoration on The Pentagon after the disaster of 9/11, abatement on prestigious campuses such as American University, and clean up for high class organizations such as Lockheed Martin.

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The Challenge

The AP department at ACM Services was charged with the difficulty of manually keying in information from invoices they received from their vendors. The vendors they use more frequently often send batches with anywhere from 1-300 invoices, 3 times a week. In a 40-hour work week, three batches of this size took anywhere up to 15-20 hours of an employee’s time.

This created 4 major challenges in operating efficiently:

1. 1040 man hours (~4 months a year) of manual data entry into Foundation Construction Accounting software leading to a loss in AP team’s productivity

2. Incorrectly captured information from invoices due to manual data entry, caused a delay in the invoices being paid to their vendors

3. Delay in capturing invoice information accurately, led to delay in payments to vendors and hence an inability to avail any discounts from vendors

4. The inflexible ingestion of data into Foundation software which needed a rigid CSV template narrowed down the possibilities of vendor-wide invoice automation

Being a financial controller in charge of accounts payable is hard work. The more projects we become involved in, the more money we spend. With more than 4,000 vendors and subcontractors we use regularly to complete our services, invoicing can become a difficult and tedious process. I saw that entering invoices one by one was an inefficient process. I was looking for a way to make entering invoices more convenient and accurate when I came across NanoNets.

- Ryan Hess

The Solution

Ryan tried the free Pro trial with Nanonets, experimenting himself for a few days to understand the technology. Receiving relentless support from Nanonets’ automation consultants was the key in helping him make his decision.

By using the “AI training” feature of the Pre-trained Invoice Extractor offered by Nanonets, Ryan was able to add many additional fields that were needed to be captured from an invoice.

However, Ryan faced 2 significant challenge in his invoice automation journey.

1. The Foundation software required a General Ledger (GL) code (a key label not present on the invoice) along with the vendor name in the CSV file during data ingestion, to update vendor records with payment information in the invoice. Nanonets resolved this problem by looking up the vendor name in the invoice in a GL Code - Vendor Master CSV file, and auto-populating this information in the CSV exported by Nanonets.

2. The Foundation software required information in a standard, yet rigid CSV format. Nanonets resolved this problem by customizing the CSV output to a Foundation compatible format, when exported right off the Nanonets platform.

Now, Nanonets receives invoices from Ryan’s team, captures critical information in real-time, matches the vendor against GL Code - Vendor Master CSV file, and exports the validated information to a standard CSV file format that can be easily ingested by the Foundation Accounting software. The GL code key, present in the CSV containing the extracted information is matched against the GL code on Foundation to update records.

The updated Accounting system allows Ryan to make quick payments,  managing his expenses, all in one place and on time.

Here is what the final workflow looked like:

Nanonets stood out to me specifically because of the first conversation I had on the phone with a representative. He told me in detail about how the system learns over time to pull accurate information and how they could create a custom way to integrate with our current system (Foundation Construction Accounting Software). Nanonets worked closely with me to integrate their AI system into our accounting program. They took the time to find a way to make it work, saving us a ton of time on accounts payable.

- Ryan Hess

The result

Before
1000 hours
Manual Processing time
After
90% Reduction
Change in processing time

The Result

The stripping of data by Nanonets technology has led to 3 significant benefits for the client:

1. Using Nanonets AI, the AP team has able to process all their invoices for the week in a single day, saving him upto 90% of their time.

2. The quick turnaround time of invoice extraction has not only led to a happy work environment, but has also led to a large reduction in costs of invoices for ACM Services. By paying invoices early, ACM services has been able to avail discounts from their vendors, which has been improving their Net Profit.

3. Automated data capture, coupled with the Vendor - GL Code matching and export of captured information into a CSV format compatible with Foundation Software, has enabled  an automated, efficient Invoice Automation workflow.

To learn more about ACM Services and their work, check out https://acmservices.com/To learn more about Nanonets, check out nanonets.com or speak with us today!

I would recommend Nano over other services because of their friendly team. I knew integration with our current stubborn accounting software was going to be difficult, but the NanoNets team assured me they could make it happen for us. They delivered better than I could have expected. I have built a relationship with Nano which is an important ideal of ACM and it feels now as if they are part of the family.

- Ryan Hess