ALLSKOG: Pursuing maximum invoice automation with AI

– AI and machine learning will help us increase our competitiveness. The finance department will be able to work more closely with operations and provide better help, says Ellen Kristine Støre Govatsmark, CFO of ALLSKOG.

ALLSKOG sells approximately one million cubic metres of timber annually and is a cooperative with 7,600 owners. ALLSKOG’s head office is located in Trondheim. They have a combined 70 per cent market share in their area – from Møre in the south to Troms in the north. The ALLSKOG Group has an annual turnover of NOK 1 billion.

- We have a high level of expertise in all forestry services and we help forest owners increase the value of their forest property, explains ALLSKOG’s CFO

Automating the Accounts Payable (AP) process

Digitalisation has long been central to ALLSKOG’s strategy, leading to several automation and digital transformation projects aimed at streamlining operations and enhancing competitiveness. ALLSKOG is now set to implement the SEMINE platform to automate and streamline incoming invoice processing.

- In addition to improving our competitiveness, SEMINE will free up valuable time for employees in the finance department, enabling them to focus on more meaningful and value-added tasks, says Govatsmark.

Aiming to be a technology leader in finance automation

ALLSKOG aims to lead in financial automation by leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning and is about to start using SEMINE to streamline the handling of incoming invoices.

The CFO explains that, in addition to boosting the company’s competitiveness, SEMINE will free up time for employees in the finance department to perform more meaningful tasks.

- We want to be an attractive workplace where our employees experience professional development that will prepare them for the future. We have a lot of knowledge to offer the organisation, and we want to work more closely with operations to provide better assistance. To achieve this, we need to free up the time that we currently spend on manual accounting, which machine learning can do instead, she says.

Wanted a smarter workflow

When the CFO joined ALLSKOG, she wanted to see whether there were opportunities to handle incoming invoices more efficiently.

- I contacted our partner Sparebank 1 Regnskapshuset to see if we could work smarter, and then the ball started rolling. I began to orient myself with the various vendors, and we entered into dialogue with several of them.

Wanted AI and machine learning

ALLSKOG set up a project group for the procurement and invited a number of vendors to meetings. For the ALLSKOG CFO, it eventually became clear that there was one thing that separated the vendors: The use of artificial intelligence.

- Some of the vendors didn’t use artificial intelligence and weren’t even planning to use it. Other vendors didn’t have it, but talked about implementing it later. And then there were some vendors who were using artificial intelligence.

We thought: Why should we choose a company on its way, when we can choose a company that has already arrived? This was the key decisive factor when we decided to go with the SEMINE platform.

- We got a partner who is extremely focused on AI and has a future-oriented platform. I think ALLSKOG and Semine are both passionate about digitalisation and have shared values.

READ MORE: Here’s why AI can make finance departments even more efficient

Excited to gain new insights

Since SEMINE is still in the roll-out phase (integrated with Visma Business), they are not yet so advanced that they have been able to use SEMINE to provide new business insights, but Govatsmark says she has high expectations for SEMINE. SEMINE posts each invoice at the line level and provides consistent bookkeeping, which can improve the accuracy of the accounts and simplify the tasks for the people working in the finance department.

- This will help us improve our liquidity forecasts, gain better insight into payment terms from different suppliers, and much more. I’m really excited about what we can get out of this.

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But the first step will be to train SEMINE and increase the degree of automation as much as possible, she closes off with.