Italtile finance – A decade of success with BEST’s vendor recons module

As a leading manufacturer, franchisor, and retailer of tiles and home-finished products, Italtile Group implemented BEST’s vendor reconciliation module over a decade ago to automate the processing of large volumes of supplier statements across its 200+ stores. By achieving a 99.46% auto-match rate, Italtile’s finance team has transformed vendor reconciliations from a time-consuming manual effort into a streamlined, transparent process – delivering significant productivity gains and enhanced cash flow management.

Italtile

As a leading retailer and manufacturer of tiles, bathroom ware, and other home furnishings, Italtile aimed to transform its manual and time-consuming vendor reconciliation process by leveraging automation. Since implementing the BEST Vendor Recons module over a decade ago, Italtile has significantly streamlined operations within its SAP environment, achieving considerable efficiency and time savings across its 200+ stores.

Our approach

• Implemented the BEST Vendor Reconciliations module over 10 years ago.
• Expanded the BEST suite with the GL Clearing and GL Reconciliations modules in 2021.
• Automated the reconciliation process, replacing manual, time-consuming activities.
• The solution integrated seamlessly with Italtile’s decentralised purchasing structure, automatically reconciling large volumes of data from individual store locations.

Results

• 99.46% of vendor statements are automatically matched by BEST.
• Only 0.54% of statement lines require manual reconciliation.
• Significant time savings – reconciliations that previously took over a week are now completed in minutes.
• Improved visibility and control over vendor accounts, facilitating timely payments.
• Auditors also benefit from the transparent online reconciliations in SAP.

The BEST solution has enabled Italtile to streamline its month-end close process, allowing the finance team to focus on more strategic priorities. Additionally, the centralised digital records have improved the audit process, with both internal and external auditors able to access the reconciliation data easily.

After over a decade of successful collaboration, BEST remains a cornerstone of Italtile’s procure-to-pay automation, helping the finance team save time and enhance efficiency.

Thank you to Sarah Lowe for sharing these insights and to Eventful People for hosting the informative webinar.