Pictured above: Esker's managing director, James Elkington

One of the world's leading providers of information and decision support tools for businesses and professionals has found a way to save money and reduce its carbon footprint, thanks to a new service provided by Derby-based Esker Ltd. 

Esker, which is based on Wyvern Business Park in Derby, has installed its innovative Esker DeliveryWare solution for Thomson Reuters, Legal, whose headquarters are in New York and has over 400 worldwide operations, including London, Eagan and Minnesota.

Thomson Reuters, Legal offices in Spain have been using the Esker DeliveryWare solution for a number of years to satisfy government standards for e-invoice delivery, so when the company decided to look at options to automate its mail and e-invoicing requirements and help eliminate paper, it immediately contacted Esker.

At its peak, the company were printing and posting more than 700,000 invoices, credit notes, statements, renewals and customer letters in-house and wanted to find a solution that would modernise internal processes, reduce costs, accelerate cash collection and help protect the environment.

Esker carried out a full audit of the company's current document processes to ensure it could meet all the necessary requirements and then invited Thomson Reuters to its headquarters in Lyon, France to view the corporate production facility, see network infrastructure and meet key Esker management.

The new Esker 'on demand' solution is already giving Thomson Reuters more flexibility and control over the way it communicates with its customers and business partners and will allow it to monitor and track the process its documents go through, including when they are printed, folded, posted and received or returned.

This deal follows the recent opening of Esker's eighth worldwide mail facility based in the UK and highlights the rapid growth of its 'on demand' services for the delivery of business documents.

Commenting on the new software, Keith Singer, Customer Operations Programme Manager at Thomson Reuters (Legal) Ltd, said:

"We had been using Esker DeliveryWare for years to distribute faxes to our customers and wanted to apply the same cost savings and uniformity to our mail and email delivery. 

"Esker were extremely professional and thorough in the process audit and once we had visited their headquarters in France, this gave us the reassurance that they were more than capable of delivering on what they had promised.

"Their service has exceeded our expectations and we have noticed significant improvements in the response from customers to provide payment more quickly.

"Over 85% our invoices, credit notes, statements and dunning letters that were traditionally paper-based are now emailed via Esker DeliveryWare with the remainder going through the Esker Mail on Demand facility. We expect this percentage to increase over the coming year. We want to eliminate paper and they are helping us to achieve that goal at a pace to suit our business.

"In addition to the faster response time that email provides clients on any of their issues, the project will deliver considerable annual cost savings and will, of course, further enhance our green credentials."  

James Elkington, managing director of Esker Northern Europe, added: "We are delighted to be working with a global organisation like Thomson Reuters and look forward to working with them to automate 100% of their documents.

"We have had a tremendous response to the 'on demand' solution and our new UK mail facility. In light of the difficulties that businesses continue to face in the current economic climate it is important to ensure that companies are aware of the latest money-saving technology.

"Our aim is to help organisations reduce the costs that go with dependence on paper." reduce the number of errors caused by the processes it involves and reduce their carbon footprint."

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. They combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization

Founded in 1985, Esker operates globally with more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker has global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Esker is a recognised leader in helping organisations eliminate manual processes, gain process visibility and control, and reduce the use of paper by automating the flow of documents into, within and out of the organisation.