At Peinemann, the digitization question did not arise from a hype, but from daily practice. The group grew strongly through acquisitions and autonomous revenue growth, while the administrative processing did not follow that growth at the same pace. Within an organization with more than 30 entities and an international footprint, this became increasingly visible in finance. With AllSolutions as ERP in 20 entities and eConnect as an integrated partner for invoice processing, Peinemann therefore took a targeted step from manual and paper-driven work to a digital chain. The impact was concretely noticeable: over 50,000 incoming invoices per year could be handled with less manual work and higher processing speed.
The initial situation had several tensions at the same time. Peinemann continued to grow in size and complexity, but the administrative processing was still largely based on old working methods. This meant many manual steps, paper flows, and limited scalability.
For finance, this was particularly palpable, because the incoming invoice flow is large. Within the organization, one employee was responsible for processing all incoming invoices, while the volume increased to more than 50,000 per year. Without structural digitization, that model would become increasingly vulnerable to lead time, error probability, and workload in the long run.
There was also a supplier risk. The party that was previously used for Scan & Recognize, stopped its services. As a result, Peinemann not only had to replace, but also immediately decide whether to opt for a limited tool again or for a broader chain approach with room for e-invoicing in the long term.
Finally, there was a change management challenge. Digitization only really succeeds when employees experience the benefits in their daily work. The transition therefore not only had to be technically correct, but also work practically for the teams that process invoices daily.
Scale also played a role geographically. With branches in multiple locations and growing international activities, invoice processing had to become less dependent on physical transfer, local routines, and personal knowledge.
Peinemann chose an integrated route: combining AllSolutions as an ERP foundation with eConnect for invoice processing and e-invoicing preparation. That choice was based on three practical criteria: user-friendliness, connection to the existing ERP landscape, and experience with the specific context of AllSolutions.
In the first phase, the emphasis was on digitizing incoming flows in the entities that work with AllSolutions. That started with Scan & Recognize and automatic data transfer, so that manual input could be reduced. The team rolled this out step by step across the various entities.
Important in the approach was that it did not remain a one-off project. The organization worked with a series of small, targeted improvements, internally referred to as mini-projects. Examples of this are digitizing bank processing and increasing automatic matching. This not only created a new system, but also a continuous improvement process.
At the same time, the foundation was laid for the next phase: supplier onboarding and broader use of e-invoicing. As soon as the last AllSolutions entity was connected to digital processing, the focus could shift from internal efficiency to chain optimization with suppliers.
In daily operations, the division of tasks proved to be particularly important. By immediately taking over invoice data and having employees focus on exceptions instead of on standard input, a work form was created that is faster and more scalable with growth.
From a management perspective, the central management layer also helped. That made it easier to set up organizations and users, follow dashboards, and use data for adjustments at the group level. This made digitization not only an operational improvement, but also a management tool.
The most convincing result is the combination of volume and capacity. Peinemann processed over 50,000 incoming invoices per year and maintained a compact staffing in the accounts payable administration, despite the group's growth in entities and activities.
The effect was also visible on processing speed. In practice, the team indicated that about 80 invoices could be checked and processed in less than an hour. That pace is relevant, because it shows that digitization not only offers a theoretical advantage, but directly affects the daily rhythm of finance.
In addition, the quality of processing increased. Due to automatic data transfer and focus on deviations, the process became virtually flawless according to the users, with less rework afterwards.
A fourth result is in organizational behavior. Because employees experienced the benefits themselves, the willingness to propose new improvements grew internally. Digitization thus became a shared work principle instead of an imposed project.
A fifth result is continuity, also outside the office. In a period of working from home, invoice processing could continue without dependence on physical folders or paper routes between desks. This made the operation less vulnerable and more predictable.
Finally, controllability increased. From a group control perspective, the management environment offered more insight into organizations, users, and data, which is important for management at the group level.
An additional benefit was in culture and ownership. Because teams noticed that relatively small improvements had a direct effect, the willingness to propose improvement possibilities themselves increased. That made the digitization effort permanent, instead of a temporary project with an end date.
"The best thing is that it immediately takes over all invoice data. It's fast, virtually flawless, and saves so much time." Annette Godijn, Peinemann
- Use the moment of a supplier change as an opportunity to implement a broader chain improvement, not just a 1-on-1 replacement.
- Make digital invoice processing scalable with exception-driven work, standard cases must flow through automatically.
- Work with small, visible improvement steps so that teams quickly experience the benefits and support grows.
- First build a stable internal processing basis and then start structured with supplier onboarding.
- Steer on both speed and data quality, that combination determines whether digitization is sustainable in the long term.
- Ensure that control and operations use the same management information, so that improvements become scalable not only locally, but throughout the group.
- For transport, logistics, and industry-oriented organizations with multiple entities and high incoming invoice volumes.
- For AllSolutions environments that want to organize Scan & Recognize and e-invoicing in one coherent chain.
- For finance teams that need to scale up with limited staffing without sacrificing control and processing speed.
Do you want to know how this works in your situation? Schedule a meeting.