Explore!

Challenge

Explore! was bogged down by the paper related to all of the trips they arranged annually. The accounting department was hit particularly hard. They relied on a largely manual system of receiving, tracking, and paying invoices that filled 60 bank boxes yearly. When all of that paper consumed an entire floor of its building, Eileen Havard, Head of Finance, and her team knew it was time to investigate paperless workflow options on the market. “We had limited storage space and a top floor that was taken over by boxes and paperwork,” says Havard. “We needed that space to run another department for our growing company and knew it wasn’t being put to its best use.”

Solution

To get out from under all of that paper, Explore! turned to DocLink, a system that has since freed up the travel provider from the mounds of paper and redundancies created by its previous setup. As an integrated solution, DocLink works seamlessly with Explore!’s backoffice financial system, Epicor Enterprise. The company now captures images of all invoices and checks and links them together through DocLink, thus eliminating the need for that storage space, cutting down on its paper costs, and allowing for faster, more accurate audits.

“We have not lost a single document since implementation, and we know where all invoices are within the workflow and can chase up managers with email alerts,” says Havard.

Benefits

Thanks to DocLink, Explore! saves $20,000 a year on stationery purchases alone. They have eradicated six years of paper documents and the need for an entire floor of storage boxes. Audits are easier for the company because of higher visibility to all accounting operations and transactions, and the company has been able to grow its revenues without having to hire additional accounting personnel. Explore! has also eliminated all incoming paper mail in favor of electronic or fax-to-desktop options which can be instantly captured into DocLink.

“We have practically annihilated any incoming mail in paper form,” Havard says. “It’s nice to know that we can pull up any invoice for approval with just a few clicks rather than have to scavenge around through paper piles.” Even more critical for a company that was founded with an eye on environmental sustainability is the fact that DocLink has reduced Explore!’s carbon footprint and created a “greener” work environment. “We’re always trying to be kinder to the environment,” says Havard, “and DocLink has helped us achieve that goal.”