When one thinks of getting payments for invoices they have just issued, they probably think a 30-day turn around might be more of a pipe dream. This is probably because they do not have the right document management and delivery solution in place.
Just over 10 years ago, Kurt Bulbring a local software developer was inspired by the opportunity to better this situation and developed Virtual Postman an electronic document collation and delivery solution that does away with some of the processes that cause delays in payment fulfilment.
This solutions, which is suitable for all industries, enables the company that is making out an invoice to send it electronically together with all the other documentation requited to have it processed at the receiving company and have a payment made.
‘The Virtual Postman software creates, archives and distributes ad hoc and standard business documents in the most efficient and cost effective way. Distributed documents are electronically reconciled and published on the Internet for 24-hour access. The application facilitates proactive document management, auditing, tracking and exception handling. Incoming documents are archived, indexed and routed according to predefined business process definitions,’ he explains.
Bulbring has actually grown the Virtual postman brand into a fully fledged company that specialises in developing solutions which streamline, record and automate a company's interface with the outside world.
The company says that effective, recorded and efficient incoming and outgoing communications save time, prevent unactioned events, improve turnaround time, facilitate KPI measuring, tighten management control and improve cash flow.
In addition, document relationship definitions ensure all document bundles are complete before being filed away.
Virtual postman claims that its case studies have shown that an implementation of its solution in the accounts department have resulted in a 70% reduction of time spent retrieving documents, 65% reduction in paper usage and 50% improvement of cash flow.
The virtual postman software also links into a company’s accounting system and allows for real time tracking of all transactions and leaves a virtual paper trail to allow for easier transaction tracking.
According to Bulbring developer and founder of Virtual Postman, the solutions is suitable for a company regardless of industry focus but is more suited for companies that issue out 500 invoices a day or more.
Over the past 10 years in business, Virtual Postman has managed to attract some of South Africa’s leading companies as its clients. Its client list includes: Unitrans, ACB logistics, AXIZ, City Property, Absa, Prime Cure, Safrican, Tracker, Nampak and Value Logistics.
He notes that the solution has received a lot good response from its over 40 clients locally because of the number of benefits it provides. These include:
‘Within three months of implementing our solution at Nampak, we managed to reduce its debtors book by 30%. This just goes to shows how effective the solution can be if implemented and used effectively. If it did this for Nampak it can do the same if not even much for other companies,’ explains Bulbring.
