Heritage Grocers “Ottimates” 75K Invoices a Month With 97% Accuracy
Greg Flores, corporate controller at Heritage Grocers Group (HGG), has extensive experience optimizing accounts payable (AP) processes. While managing AP for more than 300 businesses at Flores Financial Services, he discovered how to use AI to streamline invoice and payment management effectively.
At HGG, Flores implemented an AP automation tool, Ottimate, to streamline invoice processing and enhance receivables with the power of AI. Since then, Ottimate has transformed HGG's workflow. "Ottimate reduced our invoice processing time by 50% to 70%," Flores noted.
Navigating Challenges in Invoice Processing
As HGG grew from one to four banners, couriers continued to collect paper invoices at each store and ship them from six states to its centralized AP department in California.
"This could take two or three days," Flores explained. "It was a big logistics challenge."
The manual process continued once the invoices reached headquarters: "We would receive those paper items and code them into our ERP," Flores said.
Embracing a New Invoice Processing Experience
To improve HGG’s invoice process, Flores turned to Ottimate’s invoice automation software. “Invoices are received at the back door and scanned into Ottimate,” he said. “It reads and codes them automatically. The AP team is now only dealing with the exceptions because if an invoice has passed all the criteria we’ve established, Ottimate processes them directly.”
The powerful system also enables HGG to take advantage of early payment discounts. "If you have a seven-day payment discount, but it takes you that long to get an invoice in your system, you can't take advantage of it,” Flores said. “Whereas if it only takes a day in Ottimate, you would."
Scaling With an Efficient AP Team
After acquiring El Rancho Supermercado, Tony's Fresh Markets and Los Altos Ranch Market, HGG expanded to 115 storefronts across six states.
"The number of staff members we had to manage was not sustainable," Flores said. "We needed to grow without incurring more overhead. Ottimate allowed us to do that organically without needing a headcount increase."
Ottimate eliminated manual invoice processing, allowing Flores to redirect personnel to tasks that have a valuable impact on the business.
Implementing Ottimate has also provided Flores with peace of mind. "I don't have to worry about my AP team," he said. "I know they'll get all our invoices processed on time."
Improving Team Access to Financial Data
Previously, HGG’s processed invoices were sent to expensive off-site storage facilities for archiving, making retrieving specific documents costly.
With Ottimate, the team has immediate access to financial documents. "There's no need to go through boxes of paper. I punch in the invoice number, and [Ottimate] immediately finds it. It reduces the time we spend on research," Flores noted.
Identifying Variances in Receivables
Flores found additional value in applying Ottimate’s AI to HGG's receiving process. When deliveries arrive, the staff scans the invoice, and Ottimate reconciles it with the purchase order, flagging any mismatches exceeding $15.
"The receiver match is more immediate now because we scan the invoice into Ottimate, it matches instantly against the PO, and we catch the exceptions," Flores explained.
Accuracy is essential, especially considering HGG’s annual product purchases total $2.4 billion. Mistakes can be costly. For instance, paying a vendor the wrong price or selling a product at the incorrect cost can lead to significant issues."Ottimate prevents us from receiving goods from a vendor we weren't expecting and ensures we select the correct vendor," Flores explained. "It provides better controls and should help prevent overspending by identifying discrepancies when an invoice does not match the purchase order."
Enhancing Vendor Relationships
With the integration of AI through Ottimate, HGG has significantly enhanced its vendor communications. "We have thousands of vendors, so if we're quick and accurate in processing payments, there is a trickle-down effect. We can get information to them more quickly," Flores said.
As part of its AP Automation, HGG integrated Ottimate with its ERP, creating better financial data management and vendor clarity.
Improving Month-End Closing With AI
Finally, Flores’ team noticed the benefits of AI in its closing process: "With Ottimate, we get closing finished faster — in just five to seven days — with strong accuracy on all our purchases," Flores said.
HGG's purchasing team also benefits from automatically identifying whether invoices have been processed and flagging exceptions: "Some buyers like to see what they bought this month from a particular vendor. They can pull up that record in Ottimate, see all the invoices and drill down onto a certain one," Flores explained.
When asked why Ottimate is a good fit for the grocery industry, Flores concluded: "We're saving labor and time and getting more rapid and accurate information, which helps us make better, more effective decisions."
Learn how Ottimate can transform your company’s receiving and invoice processing.