SEAL for Procurement Document Management and Automation
More than ever before, procurement teams are operating in a challenging and fast-changing environment. They’re tasked with tough operational excellence goals while working with fewer personnel and reduced budgets. By digitizing and automating document-intensive business processes, organizations can gain enhanced visibility and optimize their mission-critical supply chains while reducing manual data entry and data entry errors, improving supplier information management, lowering transaction costs, and accelerating the receiving process.
Although procurement is a critical process for any organization, without automation, procurement teams are still spending a lot of time on paperwork, and simply don’t have the possibility to understand the bigger picture. A typical Request for Proposal (RFP) process for example can consume hundreds of man-days, requiring efforts from many procurement experts but also line of business requestors and approvers in various functional areas within the organization. Adding to this challenge, organizations are facing increasingly complex requirements and shrinking business budgets while being asked to conduct efficient, fair and auditable procurements.
due to paper-based processes, key data fails to be captured and be readily available for decision makers.
mitigate the lack of visibility and inefficiencies stalling mission-critical supply chain activities leading to disruption in products and services delivery.
valuable human resources wasted in routine activities with manual processes of data entry, based on paper.
Our solution
- Fragmented supplier information management, high transaction costs and slow procurement process that translates into missed project deadlines and postponed product and service releases;
- Reputational risk and fines spiralling out of control without effective governance;
- Missed opportunities to capture early-payment discounts through faster cycle times and lost leverage in negotiations with suppliers;
- High operating costs and inefficiencies with space lost to cumbersome storage and money lost on printing, shipping and physical
Based on SEAL, our next generation content and information governance platform, we have developed process-specific solutions that empower the procurement team to manage and maximize the value of their documents by classifying and indexing them for access by any and all that require it. We offer solutions that enable the procurement department to digitally manage critical content and business processes associated with procurement documents, to help achieve compliance with industry regulations, a significant reduction in cost, and a corresponding increase in operational efficiency.
Early stage digitization of all procurement related documents. Combining advanced OCR with powerful artificial intelligence, machine learning and new generation content services functionalities to capture, process, store/archive and manage procurement documents regardless of source or format, as part of a business process.
Procurement process automation for the highest productivity. Significantly improve the process in key areas like: order-to-pay, strategic sourcing, supplier and contract management.
Cost cutting and highly increased operational efficiency while ensuring information governance.
- Enhance unstructured content and associated workflows management, improve supplier collaboration, drive repeatable cost savings, integrate procurement and contracts management and significantly improve compliance leveraging a seamless Integration with existing ERPs like SAP and other line-of-business applications;
- Reduce errors that lead to operational troubles through business rules and automation and streamline the document distribution and approval process;
- Easily and safely access, share, and collaborate on documents across your organization or with external stakeholders leveraging an embedded viewer and advanced capabilities for secured document sharing while maintaining a full audit trail to ensure compliance;
- Instantly find documents based on the business information they contain, including full-text search of their entire content with the help of a powerful embedded search engine;
- Better and faster business decisions with a more accurate visibility and transparency over the entire procurement process to improve cash flow analysis, liquidity management, spend management, contract compliance, supplier relations and more;
- Store opportunities to capture early-payment discounts through faster cycle times.
Reference architecture
- Reduce paper-based processes as well as error-prone manual paper handling and data entry improving supplier information management, lowering transaction costs and accelerating the receiving process to deliver projects on time and on budget;
- Enhance communication of the procurement team with Lines of Business to ensure their needs are met;
- Consistently manage the bid process to ensure the best suppliers and offers are chosen;
- Have all stakeholders communicate effectively with shared access to information;
- Manage procurement-related documents and contracts consistently as corporate records ensuring the right controls are in place, which improves compliance with negotiated rates and other terms and
- Provide user-friendly access to business information contained in procurement-related documents, throughout their full lifecycle leveraging a simple yet powerful user interface;
- Automate security and compliance processes to reduce company exposure and mitigate risks;
- Take advantage of early payment discounts, which can add up to significant cost savings over time;
- Access and manage documents on the go with secure mobile access to meet the growing expectations of mobile workers;
- Automate key document distribution processes, freeing up the procurement team for more valuable activities and ensuring that projects aren’t delayed because materials are not available when needed;
- Audit the procurement process to increase control and visibility of processes, improve document and information security, and lower regulatory and legal compliance risks;
- Gain additional efficiencies and cost savings through integration with other applications and systems like SAP to ensure consistency and drive normalization of item and supplier master data;
- Simple and convenient digitization of physical documents leveraging OCR, powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities already build into
Tangible Benefits
Radically reduce costs through document digitization, consolidation, deduplication, and automation.
Transform paper-based workflows into digital ones and automate document-centric processes to optimize operations.
Digital documents enable AI/ML-powered insights such as automatic document classification and compliance issue detection.
Adopt a digital, modern, metadata-driven architecture to replace paper-based systems or outdated digital platforms with obsolete frameworks.
Ensure compliance through unified governance, records management, and policy enforcement across the entire content lifecycle.
Intuitive design ensuring high adoption, minimal training, and greater productivity for business users.
Find out why we are DIFFERENT
Competitive licensing, fast implementation, rapid user adoption and low maintenance costs vs. traditional DMS/ECM platforms
Metadata-Driven Architecture: Empowering Content with Business Context
Document Understanding, Automate Document Tagging and Categorization and Intelligent Metadata Extraction
Low-Code Efficiency: Build Business Solutions Faster with Clicks and Minimal Code
Powerful yet simple interface, designed for business / non-IT users
Automate Management and Improve Information Accessibility for Daily Business, Audits, and Litigation
Seamless API Integration with On-Prem and Cloud Applications for Cross-Platform Processes
Orchestrate Unstructured Content Management and Compliance Across On-Prem and Public Cloud, for Data Mobility and Rule-Based Control
Content Management Modernization
It’s time to get rid of legacy ECM (enterprise content management) and move to the next-generation content services platform. Use our proven “application-aware” content migration platform – StarMigrator Engine together with a proven and tested methodology to deliver a seamless, risk-free, fast content and metadata migration from legacy platforms (Opentext Documentum, OpenText Content Server, IBM Content Manager, IBM FileNet, Alfresco, etc. into SEAL and start saving money while moving to modern architecture and provide an amazing user experience to the line of business users. Use SEAL to optimize up to 50% of the content management costs, to boost user adoption while leveraging comprehensive content management, information governance, and records management capabilities.
Content Consolidation and Aplications Offloading
Today, organizations generate massive amounts of unstructured content that are dispersed across various locations and systems. This situation poses several challenges, including escalating costs, decreased productivity due to difficulty in finding relevant content, decision-making delays caused by poor metadata quality, and compliance issues.
By moving unstructured content to dedicated content management platforms and connecting this unified repository to line of business applications generating and using content, companies can reduce their costs, the burden on top line business applications, improving their performance and scalability.
Additionally, consolidating unstructured content into a single platform allows for improved information management and compliance, reducing the risk of data breaches and maintaining trust with customers and stakeholders.
Governance and Regulatory Compliance
In today’s business world, companies face an increasing range of regulatory requirements that they must comply with, including those related to tax, fraud, bribery, competition, data privacy and protection, consumer protection, quality, HSE (Health, Safety and Environment), and more. In addition, organizations must be prepared to respond to audits and investigations that are designed to ensure that they are meeting these requirements. These audits and investigations can be costly and time-consuming, and failing to respond to them adequately and timely can lead to significant fines, reputational damage, and legal liability.
One of the biggest challenges that companies face when responding to an audit or investigation is identifying the relevant information that must be produced. This information is most of the time spread across the organization, “buried” in tens of thousands of documents, emails, audio and video files and other records. Finding and organizing this information can be a daunting task, particularly when time is of the essence.
Digital Operations and eSignature
SEAL is a cutting-edge platform designed to revolutionize how organizations manage and utilize their corporate documents. Acting as an Active Document Store, SEAL supports the entire lifecycle of business documents, providing advanced content-centric features essential for digital operations. The platform facilitates end-to-end digital processes, enabling document composition, collaborative authoring, review, approval, and e-signing capabilities.
Compliant e-Archiving
SEAL is a cutting-edge platform designed to revolutionize how organizations manage and utilize their corporate documents. Acting as an Active Document Store, SEAL supports the entire lifecycle of business documents, providing advanced content-centric features essential for digital operations. The platform facilitates end-to-end digital processes, enabling document composition, collaborative authoring, review, approval, and e-signing capabilities.
Sales & Customer Service
In today’s competitive market, delivering exceptional sales and customer service is paramount for organizations seeking to retain customers and enhance their brand reputation. Managing customer-related documents efficiently and ensuring timely responses to feedback and complaints are critical components of this endeavor. Companies must centralize and streamline their document management processes to provide quick access to customer information and automate the handling of feedback and complaints. SEAL addresses these needs by offering a comprehensive solution designed to optimize sales and customer service functions through advanced document management and process automation.
Contracts Management
SEAL for Contracts Management is a cross industry solution that offers control and visibility over all your contracts and supporting documents during their entire lifecycle using full paperless operations. Every single contract is stored, categorized and can be easily and securely accessible from anywhere using any device for a new level of productivity.
Procurement & Supply Chain Management
More than ever before, procurement teams are operating in a challenging and fast-changing environment. They’re tasked with tough operational excellence goals while working with fewer personnel and reduced budgets. By digitizing and automating document-intensive business processes, organizations can gain enhanced visibility and optimize their mission-critical supply chains while reducing manual data entry and data entry errors, improving supplier information management, lowering transaction costs, and accelerating the receiving process.
Finance & Administration
Responsible for planning, controlling and auditing the company finances and cashflow, the finance department is a crucial component of any business. Though not always obvious, this department is a core enabler of a company’s growth and development. By implementing digital and automated processes to manage and distribute financial documents, finance managers can free up their staff to focus on strategic initiatives and serve the lines of business with accurate and relevant information.
Human Resources
The HR department depends on document-driven processes, usually on paper. Paper requires archiving cabinets, and, in time, the amount of paper stored quickly become unmaintainable. Plus, paper tied to bloated processes slows HR Managers down from doing important work that pushes a business forward. Automation and digitalization can help you to reduce the time it takes to complete your HR tasks without sacrificing quality of work.
Legal
In today’s business environment, organizations face numerous legal challenges and risks, including compliance with regulatory requirements, managing litigation processes, and ensuring the integrity of legal records. Efficiently handling these legal matters is critical for minimizing risks, controlling costs, and achieving favorable outcomes. SEAL provides a next-generation platform designed to support legal and litigation management by automating case management processes, ensuring secure document handling, and facilitating compliance with legal standards.
Banking
The banking industry is undergoing a digital transformation, and document automation is a crucial component of this process. Banks need to efficiently manage large amounts of unstructured data (documents, emails) scattered across various locations and systems, while ensuring security and regulatory compliance. Document-centric processes require specialized platforms that are optimized for unstructured content
management and automation, as they should not be managed by the core banking or other transactional systems.
Insurance
The insurance industry faces several challenges, including intense competition, taught compliance regulations, meeting rising customer expectations, and the management of extensive amounts of data and documents.
Automating document-based tasks, including managing internal regulations and policies, risk analysis, claims management, and underwriting policies, is a crucial undertaking, given that many insurance processes rely heavily on documents.
Energy
The energy industry is undergoing a transformative shift driven by the need for decarbonization, regulatory pressures, and evolving technological advancements. Key challenges include managing vast amounts of unstructured data, ensuring regulatory compliance, and enhancing operational efficiency. Effective unstructured content management and automation are critical for addressing these challenges, enabling energy companies to streamline operations, reduce costs, and make informed decisions.
Manufacturing
Operational excellence is vital in the manufacturing industry. Effective document management and automation is crucial and allows manufacturers to leverage their information to innovate and grow effectively.
The manufacturing industry needs also to ensure regulatory compliance and reduce risks. A massive amount of controlled documentation is necessary, where a mistake at any level can affect the production and the organization’s reputation.
Construction & Engineering
Every aspect of the architectural, engineering and construction project involves an increasing number of documents that must be captured, processed, stored / archived and managed. SEAL enables contractors in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction industry to manage critical corporate content and business processes associated with the Projects (Build) and Operations documentation, thereby attaining compliance with industry regulations, cost reduction and a corresponding increase in operational efficiency.
Transportation & Logistics
The transportation and logistics industry generates and manages a vast array of documents daily, from invoices and bills of lading to shipping declarations and cargo manifests. Efficient handling of these unstructured documents is critical to operations. Tasks like adding files to document folders, sharing with external parties, issuing delivery proofs, or ensuring confirmation signatures often involve repetitive, manual processes prone to error.
By automating document workflows, companies can minimize errors, reduce reliance on paper-based processes, and streamline digital operations.
