Published on the 04/09/2018 | Written by Esker

The life sciences industry is at the threshold of a sweeping transformation with digitally engaged patients, more complex and stringent regulations, and value-based outcomes defining its expansive spectrum. For progressive life sciences organisations, the vital need of the hour is to be cognizant of the rising quality, compliance standards, customer expectations and take an automated and cost-effective approach to attain operational excellence alongside streamlining the handling of complex documents. “In this scenario, automation of document processing has become a necessity rather than an afterthought within the life sciences industry,” says Jean-Michel Bérard, founder and CEO of Esker. Esker offers the perfect panacea with its cloud-based collaborative platform and AI engine that strengthen business relationships, improve transaction of business-related documents, and enhance productivity.

“Automation of document processing has become a necessity rather than an afterthought within the life sciences industry.”

Esker recognizes the uniqueness and variability of operations in terms of process complexity and formality across organisations and their impact on multiple departments, end users, and third parties. By leveraging AI, machine learning, deep learning, robotic process automation to fax and email, IDoc EDI/XML, data capture, validation, formatting, archiving, and delivery, Esker empowers its clients with the choice to customize automation according to their requirements. “What makes Esker unique from other point-to-point solutions is that it houses all of the necessary functionality needed for the efficient flow and compliant management of customer and supplier communications in a single automated platform,” states Bérard.

Esker’s automation capability brings to the table lower processing costs, full regulatory compliance, faster processing times, flexible deployment options, and complete process visibility. “The end result being Esker satisfies all the criteria that pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device manufacturing companies seek in a comprehensive solution-cost-efficiency, increased visibility, and document security in a unified and integrated platform,” says Bérard. Moreover, Esker’s solution spans procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles and seamlessly integrates with multiple ERPs.

As per Bérard, Esker utilizes the agile methodology so that their customers, business partners, and key stakeholders are able to achieve maximum value throughout every phase of solution delivery. The hands-on approach that customers experience from Esker early in the process, results in faster ROI, value-added features, reduced risks, and lower overall implementation costs. Esker provides context to decisions and modifications, features that are ready to be tested and used in a short amount of time, along with greater process insight. With more than 5000 SaaS customers and 600,000+ SaaS users worldwide, Esker provides Cloud services, which represent approx 85 percent of its revenue.

Bérard shares a client interaction, where MEDRAD Inc., an affiliate of Bayer Medical Care, had to process 12,000+ orders to satisfy the demands of its 4500 strong customer base and struggled with the time-consuming task of manually feeding the order faxes and emails within its systems. With Esker’s order processing automation system, the orders are now automatically captured and populated, resulting in 75 percent faster processing times than previous manual methods. Moreover, Esker was able to reduce the processing time of each order from eight minutes to 1.35 minutes and provide 99.6 percent success in order entry through the AI recognition engine. MEDRAD is also leveraging Esker’s Accounts Payable automation solution to streamline the processing of vendor invoices and purchase requisitions.

With its global footprint in North America, Latin America, Europe and the Asia Pacific, Esker is all set to expand their AI capabilities to predictive analytics with deep learning and empower sales reps and customers with mobile ordering features and tracking capabilities. On the voyage to create a market disruption, Esker is looking forward to improving user experience with new report and dashboard systems as well as enhanced customer information management.