“Over the past 30+ years, Esker has grown into one of the leading document processing automation solution providers, with more than 600 employees in 10 subsidiaries worldwide.”
The life sciences industry has endured a whirlwind of change in recent years. Patients are more digitally engaged, regulations have imposed new financial burdens, and value-based outcomes now define the marketplace. Predictably, pharmaceutical, biotech and med device companies are looking for an added competitive edge — Esker is just what the doctor ordered. Esker is a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions. Addressing all types of business processes, from accounts payable and accounts receivable to order processing and purchasing, Esker cloud computing solutions enable companies to automate the reception, processing and sending of any business document with one platform. Esker helps over 80,000 companies around the world to reduce the use of paper and eliminate manual processes while improving their productivity, efficiency and environmental impact.
With 46.1 million euros in sales revenue in 2014, Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. Offering a suite of document process automation solutions, Esker empowers life sciences companies to navigate changes in the regulatory environment, increase investments in organic growth, ensure quality control when handling sensitive documents (e.g., fax orders), streamline the handling of complex documents (e.g., consignment orders), and enhancing staff engagement and customer experience.
Esker started out as a software vendor back in 1985 with a direct and simple vision in mind — help businesses deliver their paper documents electronically. Today, Esker is widely recognized as a leader in AI-driven process automation software all around the world. Companies use their cloud-based solutions to drive greater efficiency, accuracy, visibility and cost savings throughout their P2P and O2C processes.
“Over the past 30+ years, Esker has grown into one of the leading document processing automation solution providers, with more than 600 employees in 10 subsidiaries worldwide. In the arena of digital technology, which sees so many companies come and go, continuing to thrive for over three decades is remarkable.” Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO of Esker. Jean-Michel founded Esker in 1985, shortly after earning his engineering degree from the Lyon Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA). As President of Esker’s Board of Directors, Jean-Michel is responsible for defining and executing Esker’s business strategy with the Board of Directors. He oversees the Asia-Pacific subsidiary to stay in direct contact with customers and prospects in the emerging markets. He also represents Esker to the financial community, IT analysts and the press. Jean-Michel was named the 2013 Engineer Entrepreneur of the Year by the weekly French news magazine l’Usine Nouvelle and Entrepreneur of the Year for the French Rhône-Alpes region in 2013 by EY. He was also named Entrepreneur of the Year for France in 2000 by EY.
Unique Solutions & Unique Benefits
Spinoffs, M&As and divestitures in the life sciences industry are occurring at a feverish pace. The climate is competitive, to say the least. So how can companies continue growing without accumulating added costs and complexities? Esker has the answer. Their flexible integration and deployment options give companies the opportunity to Integrate with a wide range of medical/healthcare ERP systems and desktop applications; customers can choose from on-premises or cloud-based implementation options; customers can also automate any document process using a single, collaborative platform.
Today, healthcare reform and other regulatory measures have imposed rising quality standards and new financial burdens on life sciences companies. While manual processing approaches are slow, expensive and draining on resources — Esker’s solution offers companies in the life sciences industry a secure, centralized platform for paper-free processing. In order processing, for example, companies that automate with Esker reduce their processing costs by an average of 40-60 percent — the same money could otherwise be invested in research & development or patient care instead of going to low-value tasks.[ width=”1/2″ css=”._1550727596283{margin-left: 0px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”]
Accuracy is also critical in an industry where the well-being of patients is often attached to documentation. For example, an order error can not only impact a company’s reputation, it also represents a potentially negative effect on a patient’s life. Esker takes the worry out of the equation. Through their automated workflow and intelligent dashboard capabilities, staff members have optimal control over critical documents thanks to Paperless processing capabilities that minimize human intervention, manual bottlenecks and errors (e.g., clarifying the unit of material used so that the correct quantity is shipped); Analytics and KPIs that help users facilitate daily tasks, track documents and react quickly to potential issues; Electronic archiving that simplifies medical records management, document storage and search/retrieval.
Following a formal security assessment, Esker’s internal processes, procedures, and controls have been found to be in compliance with the requirements defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. By completing the HIPAA/HITECH security assessment — performed by independent auditing firm A-lign — Esker demonstrates its commitment to the safe and secure processing of electronically protected health information (ePHI).
In an instance, Esker, the worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and pioneer in cloud computing, was recently selected by Kern Pharma, a specialist in the development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, particularly generics, to automate its order management process. Esker’s Order Processing solution has enabled Kern Pharma to cut order processing and customer response time in half, resulting in on-time product deliveries to recipients.
Kern Pharma, an Indukern Group company that’s headquartered in Terrassa, Spain, receives 75,000 orders a year via EDI, fax or email, 40,000 of which are manually processed into its SAP system. Thanks to Esker, Kern Pharma has saved a significant amount of time and reduced error rates associated with manual order processing. Esker’s cloud-based solution works by receiving all of Kern Pharma’s fax and email orders (an average of 3,000 per month) and automatically extracting any relevant data. That data is then validated and integrated into Kern Pharma’s SAP system electronically.
On average, Kern Pharma can process an incoming order in 50 seconds — a process that previously took up to two minutes — resulting in a faster customer response time. Kern Pharma’s Customer Service teams use Esker’s dashboards and metrics to access important information such as the number of orders received in a given period of time or the average time it takes to process orders. Solution administrators can custom-design dashboards to best meet the needs of their users, as well as define metrics that align with business goals. Information can be easily shared and analyzed in order to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions. “Esker’s easy-to-use and engaging environment simplifies the order processing workflow,” says Irene Liébanas, Customer Service Coordinator at Kern Pharma. “With relevant and valuable information at our fingertips, order processing and tracking is done seamlessly and enhances customer satisfaction.”
Shortly after solution implementation, Esker has already delivered cost savings and opened the door for other potential opportunities. “Esker has supported us every step of the project and is always available, even after deployment,” states Albert Almajano, Director Systems Business Group at Indukern Group. “Following our successful collaboration, we recommended Esker’s Order Processing solution to other industry players, and we even plan to implement it within other companies in our group.”
Transforming the Pharma Sector
Order management and supply chain functions are particularly critical in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry in terms of health impacts and patient care. Numerous prominent companies in these sectors have chosen Esker’s order processing solution to automate order management, including BASF, Bayer, Biomet, Biomnis, Fresenius Medical Care, GE Healthcare, Kern Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Menarini, Novartis, Philips Respironics, Roche Italia, Sanofi, Siemens, Systagenix and Terumo. Esker enables these companies to optimize their supply chain by helping to meet Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Additionally, with many of their customers in the public sector, these companies are, or will soon be, affected by the European directive on mandatory e-invoicing, and are turning to document process automation solutions for their customer invoices and sales orders.
Esker automates thousands of orders received by customers on a daily basis from hospitals, clinics, doctors or other healthcare professionals. These customers have seen a number of significant business benefits thanks to order processing automation, including order processing costs reduced by 70 percent; up to 80 percent faster order processing times; reduced processing errors, enhanced visibility and traceability; ability to meet or exceed SLAs.
“Tighter regulations, expired patents and the growth of generic drugs are some of the many constraints that companies are facing in this industry at a time when they need to cut costs without compromising on the level of service offered to the patients,” says Emmanuel Olivier, chief operating officer of Esker. “Automating business document processes, and particularly purchase orders, helps companies reduce their costs.”
For the days to come, Esker wants to continue offering its clients with unique solutions and service, which can assist the customers in enhancing themselves in the future and get good ROI.
