This is our story of co-creating a Quote-to-Sustain solution for a global manufacturing company
As we know ...
The finance function is accelerating towards re-defined stewardship that calls for ownership of transactional operations, business growth and customer experience. A digital-driven approach that unifies front, middle, and back-office processes through intelligent automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics is now an imperative in Finance and Accounting (F&A) operations.
The challenge for a leading manufacturer was…
Its F&A operations, spread across multiple geographies, were siloed, fragmented and manual. This decentralized model was leading to high operating costs, and poor compliance and controls. It was also impeding the manufacturer’s efforts to elevate its finance function to a future-ready state in order to architect company-wide transformation.
Here’s what we co-created as a solution...
WNS developed a future-ready digital blueprint leveraging the synergies of a connected Quote-to-Sustain (QtS) solution to enable the manufacturing company’s vision. WNS’ QtS, an industry-first offering, is powered by data and intelligent automation. This ‘business-and-technology stack-as-a-service’ is driven by WNS’ domain expertise in F&A across industries, combined with its digital, analytics and process expertise to deliver sustainable growth.
WNS’ QtS broke silos and resulted in:
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Providing real-time control and visibility with deep insights through integration of unified master data, digital contracts, cognitive credit and digital orders
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Gaining access to powerful analytics-driven reports — predictive disputes and deductions, intelligent collections and seamless cash applications — that powered scalable, sustainable and future-ready strategies
The outcomes from the process of co-creation are…
The manufacturing company was successfully able to move the needle to digital finance. Backed by automation, AI and analytics, QtS enabled an agile and scalable finance function to support the manufacturing company’s growth, improve compliance and margins, and minimize risks.
The path-breaking outcomes of this transformation so far, include:
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USD 38 Million incremental free cash flow by optimizing payments from late paying customers; 11 percent reduction in bad debt by improving late stage collection via the revenue assurance process thereby adding incremental cash flow
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Greater awareness of compliance opportunities due to an adaptive, stratified and unified master data and risk management approach
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Improved time-to-resolve, minimized disputes and deductions, proactive credit exposure to reduce order holds and credit holds, leading to enhanced customer experience
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Unified governance for better accountability and efficient review process
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Stakeholders were empowered due to enhanced and consistent processes and technology experience
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Timely and accurate reporting, provisions, reserves and forecasts; digital dashboards offered greater visibility and controls
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Proactive approach to disruptions and changes due to unified reporting and monitoring platforms
Tackling a Global Storm with Resilience…
While our 10-year partnership with the manufacturing company has been an exciting journey, the disruption caused by the pandemic was the most crucial test for this relationship. When lock-downs and restrictions were imposed, WNS quickly invoked its comprehensive and far-sighted business continuity strategy. Within a short time-frame, 100 percent of the manufacturer’s operations were up and running, while ensuring the safety and health of our employees. Through regular communication, the manufacturing company was updated at all times of the evolving situation across diverse regions. A Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) ensured that tasks were strategically prioritized and enabled seamless remote working. There was no impact on governance and control mechanisms. The agility we demonstrated during the crisis enabled the manufacturing company to close books in a timely manner.