The challenge
A major European retail construction materials conglomerate that has grown substantially through acquisitions had unlinked processes for accounts payable (AP) across the organization. Its existing processes were manual and time-consuming, with system constraints that led to an ever-growing backlog of open items and inquiries. In addition to the rising number of queries from vendors yet to receive payments, the delays in the AP function also resulted in the company making duplicative payments to address their complaints. At the same time, the company lacked visibility into workflows for purchase orders (PO), leading to inaccurate inventory management. The company sought Cognizant's help in reexamining the AP and PO workflows and digitizing these functions.