- Charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation
- One of the UK’s longest-running arts festivals
- Runs a region-wide programme of creative engagement
Solution Benefits
- Streamlined accounts payable process
- Accommodates a complex budget structure
- Time savings across the business
Background
Norfolk & Norwich Festival is one of the UK’s longest-running arts festivals. For 17 days each May, the Festival transforms public spaces, city streets, performance venues, parks, forests and beaches bringing people together to experience brilliant and inspirational events. The charity also brings their festival spirit to a year-round programme of work with communities, schools and artists to inspire and nurture creativity in those who need it the most.
The Challenge
Norfolk & Norwich Festival needed an invoice processing solution that could assist them with invoice approval with an accurate audit trail of who took action on an invoice. As a charity and partly grant-funded organisation, they have a rigorous procedure for monitoring and authorising all spending to ensure they comply with their annual auditing requirements. This was proving difficult with their previously more manual accounts payable process. The solution also needed to integrate with their Sage 50 finance system.
In 2020, the charity was forced to adopt an electronic system for processing invoices and recording invoice approvals. This had the benefit of aligning with their environmental policy to reduce paper use, but also meant they needed to put a temporary system in place before they could find an automated solution.
This solution used a combination of Excel spreadsheets and email authorisations to allow budget holders to approve their invoices before they could be signed off by the CEO for payment. The finance team described this process as “very laborious and time-consuming, and it often involved duplication of data input and file storage.”
Norfolk & Norwich Festival required a solution that could help them control and manage their invoice authorisations, while also being time efficient and easy to use by staff across the business, not just the finance team. The team turned to Sage Marketplace for a solution, and it was there that they discovered Agilico Verify, our cloud-based automated invoice processing solution.
”Verify has helped our team immensely. During our busy festival time, where a large number of payments are being made on a daily basis, Verify streamlines the process across all the team members involved – you know exactly where you’re at!
Head of Communications & Development, Norfolk & Norwich Festival
Photo credit: Luke Witcomb
The Solution
The finance team at Norfolk & Norwich Festival booked an online demo of Verify and knew from the offset that it would solve their specific business needs. They found the meeting to be invaluable as they were able to ask questions about how the system worked and were able to compare it to other similar solutions.
Verify was their chosen solution as it was clear it would solve their needs, and it is easy and intuitive to use. The finance team also selected Verify because it is extremely flexible and could accommodate their complex and unique budget structure. Additionally, Verify is priced per invoice rather than per user, which Norfolk & Norwich Festival appreciate as a small charity with tight budgets. This means all users that need to be on the system can, reducing the risk of fraud and ensuring that they can better control and see who is processing and approving invoices. Plus, as Verify is cloud-based, colleagues can process invoices from anywhere, whether they are working in the office or in various venues for the Festival.
The installation and training process was simple and stress-free. The support team trained colleagues on the initial setup process and the support team are always on hand if they have any questions or need assistance with Verify. Verify was also able to accommodate Norfolk & Norwich Festival’s complex budget structure into the routing process so they can ensure their invoices are taking the correct route throughout the business.
Their accounts payable process now consists of an invoice being automatically captured by the system, with relevant data pulled off for processing. Verify can automatically identify the supplier, invoice number, net, VAT and gross, among other information, to reduce the need for manual data entry. Once the captured data has been checked, it is passed to a member of the finance team for coding, before going to the relevant budget holders and then the CEO for approval. Once approved, the invoice data is automatically posted into Sage 50, ready for payment.
”It’s really helpful to have a system which keeps all the invoices together so I can review & action or go back and find payments without having to ask our finance team. It’s made the signing-off process more manageable and efficient.
Office Manager, Norfolk & Norwich Festival
The Benefit
Since implementing Agilico Verify, Norfolk & Norwich Festival have observed several benefits. Firstly, they have received significant time savings when processing invoices, cutting the admin time for invoice processing by half. Staff can see exactly what stage their invoices are at, meaning they do not need to contact the finance team for updates. Meanwhile, the data capture and automated invoice routing elements results in time not spent sending invoices around the business nor manually entering data onto spreadsheets or into Sage 50. This all results in time savings across the business, allowing colleagues to spend their time doing more important and exciting work than processing invoices.
As well as this, it is a much less tedious process, with one member of staff describing Verify as “sanity saving!” Staff can simply jump on the system whenever they have invoices to action, wherever they are in the world. Invoices are automatically routed to the correct people without manual involvement, and it suits their unique budget and routing processes.
Overall, Norfolk & Norwich Festival are happy with their decision to implement Agilico Verify. It has been praised by colleagues across the business and it has helped them take another step towards their environmental policy to reduce paper usage. Verify has achieved their automated invoice processing goals and they couldn’t imagine going back to manual accounts payable processes.
Partnering for Success: Agilico’s Collaboration with Barclays through the Eagle Labs Programme
Agilico is proud to collaborate with Barclays through their Eagle Labs programme, a partnership aimed at fostering innovation and digital transformation across various sectors.
This collaboration combines Barclays’ extensive resources with Agilico’s expertise in delivering cutting-edge solutions, providing organisations with the tools and support they need to streamline operations and drive efficiency.
Together, Agilico and Barclays are committed to helping businesses and charities, like Norfolk & Norwich Festival, thrive in an increasingly digital world.
