SEB Finans is a modern finance company within the SEB Group, which has as its objective to offer versatile financing solutions for companies that want to invest or that require operating capital. SEB Finans offers factoring and leasing services to its customers.
For the factoring service, SEB Finans has a market share of approximately 30 % in Sweden. SEB Finans’ customers send their invoices to SEB at the same time as to the end customer, enabling them thereby to raise money on the invoice. The customer is paid by SEB Finans, which improves their cash flow. A factoring service may sound simple, but it is a complicated business flow involving many people and systems.
SEB Finans started using StreamServe back in 1997. The organisation was confronted with a challenge that most factoring companies will recognise and are working to resolve, i.e. to receive the customer’s billing information simply and cost-effectively, but in a way other than via a paper copy of the invoice. In 1997, SEB Finans also had a comprehensive manual flow, which entailed the customer sending his paper invoices to SEB Finans, where employees manually entered in the information into the factoring system.
“For our part, it is important to be flexible and to be able to offer our customers simple processing so that they can submit their files to us from the accounts receivables. We have to have the potential to receive files of all types from our customers, and with StreamServe we can fulfil this requirement. The 100 customers that currently use this system can easily submit their invoice file, for example as a text file or as an e-mail with an attached PDF file. Using StreamServe we can automatically ‘decompress’ the file, interpret what is in it and then forward the information to our factoring system,” says Kjell Lindqvist, IT Manager at SEB Finans.
“When we automated this process in 1997 it was very innovative, and results have shown that we made exactly the right choice. The process has been decisive for our profitability and modernity. This has provided us with considerable improvements and rationalisation, with as much as a 50 % increase in the number of invoices per employee. We have improved the quality of the information being entered into the business system and freed up time for our employees, who as a result can devote themselves to more valuable tasks than manually entering invoice information into our system. Another very positive effect is that we are seeing a reduction in occupational injuries, as well as being able to offer our employees a more enjoyable job,” continues Kjell Lindqvist.
SEB Finans receives around a million invoices each year, and 40 % of these now go through StreamServe. The goal is for 80-90 % to be processed via the electronic flow.
“This provides added value in several ways, both for us and for the customer. SEB Finans and the customer both free up time, achieving a more rapid flow with a shorter time until payment. It is also valuable to be able to offer various add-on services, such as enabling the customer to obtain confirmation directly that the file has been received, along with a summary of the number of invoices and the amounts they contained.”
“As IT Manager, I have to be in control and understand our business processes. That way I can select IT solutions that will genuinely help us to improve the business processes and achieve our goals. StreamServe is a strategic IT solution that is enabling us to develop on the market and maintain our position as a leading company.”
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