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Case Study
Virgin Voyages is positioned for future growth while reaching 74% touchless processing
Virgin Voyages is a unique and luxurious cruise line company that was founded in 2014 by Sir Richard Branson. They were preparing for ships to start sailing again after Covid and were looking to sail away from its manual AP process. Virgin Voyages knew that an AP Automation solution would help improve efficiency, reduce costs, and position the Accounts Payable department for growth as the company expands its operations. They carefully evaluated potential AP automation solutions that had the ability to integrate with Workday Financial Management.
Challenges
Virgin Voyages faced several challenges in their accounts payable process. One of the major issues was the repetitive manual keying of invoices, which consumed a significant amount of time and was prone to errors. This process also made it difficult to get invoices into their Workday Financial Management system, further delaying the payment process. Additionally, the company was anticipating a significant monthly increase in the number of invoices they received, but did not have the available resources to handle the workload.
“We don’t just want OCR. We're looking for touchless processing, the team isn’t interested in using multiple solutions to get invoices into Workday”
- Gaudy Grullon, AP Manager
Solution
Virgin Voyages commits to efficiency and a desire to streamline its AP process, which led to partnering with Ascend. Ascend is one of only two Workday Select Partners. Virgin Voyages wanted to leverage Ascend's expertise in Workday Financial Management with their AP solutions real-time integration, and 60% touchless processing SLA.
ElevateAP has a snappy and intuitive user interface, plus customizable dashboards that make processing invoices and managing AP easier than ever. With the ability to automatically validate, pair, and code supplier, purchase order, and contract term information for PO and Non-PO Invoices Virgin Voyages would be able to eliminate repetitive processing and manual keying of invoices all while setting up their AP department for growth without adding headcount.
Benefits
Ascend's onboarding team was able to facilitate a smooth implementation and Virgin Voyages is now focused on touchless processing and the use of a single solution to get invoices into Workday. Less than six months after partnering with Ascend, Virgin Voyages' invoice volume has nearly doubled. But this is no problem for their AP team because they are reaching a 74% touchless processing rate, which means that out 74% of invoices are automatically processed and sent straight into Workday Financial Management without the team ever seeing them.
The fact that the invoice volume has nearly doubled in less than six months is a sign of growth for Virgin Voyages, and the fact that the AP team is able to handle the increased volume is a testament to their capabilities and the effectiveness of ElevateAP.
Conclusion
Ascend's AP solution has been a valuable asset for Virgin Voyages' AP team. Being able to double the invoice volume while reaching a 74% touchless processing rate is impressive, and it's a testament to the effectiveness of Automation. By partnering with Ascend and implementing ElevateAP, Virgin Voyages' AP team has been able to improve their overall invoice processing workflow. It's great to see companies embracing automation to improve their operations and stay competitive in today's fast-paced business environment.