Industry
Manufacturing
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Highlights
- Tata Motors Limited, a leading Indian automaker, wanted to automate its accounts payable process to expedite invoice processing and improve vendor management.
- Recognizing the need to improve operational efficiency, TML Business Services Limited partnered with TCS to drive AI-led transformation of the auto major’s vendor management and invoice processing systems.
- With TCS Cognix™, an AI-ML platform, Tata Motors have automated most of their finance processes end to end, boosting the overall efficiency of daily operations and improving vendor management significantly.
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Overview
Tata Motors Limited (TML) wanted to modernize its accounts payable process, particularly in managing service invoices.
Fragmented systems and a fully manual service entry sheet (SES) creation process resulted in delays, increased vendor escalations, and reduced stakeholder satisfaction.
To address these operational inefficiencies, TML Business Services Limited (TMLBSL) partnered with TCS to transform and streamline the invoice management workflow. Leveraging an AI-ML powered vendor portal, TCS automated key processes, enabling faster invoice processing, real-time status visibility, and seamless vendor management. This digital transformation not only optimized business processes, driving cost savings but also strengthened TML’s supplier relationships.
Numbers
Challenge
TML sought to boost operational efficiency, improve vendor relationships, and enhance overall business performance.
To that end, the auto major needed to streamline vendor payments and invoice processing, which required the company to address the following concerns:
- Vendor dissatisfaction: Delays in payments, prolonged response times for query resolution, and invoice processing status updates led to growing dissatisfaction among vendors.
- Data inaccuracy: The absence of real-time validation led to incorrect invoices upload, causing downstream processing errors.
- Inefficient follow-ups: Internal follow-ups with business users relied on individual email inboxes, resulting in poor tracking and process inefficiencies.
- Manual errors: The manual service entry sheet creation process often introduced errors and thus slowed down operations.
- Fragmented systems: The lack of a unified system to track invoice statuses hindered process transparency and efficiency.
- Vendor queries overload: The unavailability of an invoice tracking tool increased vendor queries, straining the support teams.
- Limited reporting: Non-adherence of key metrics such as SLA and KPIs and inadequate tracking of outstanding invoices impacted decision-making and operational insights.
Solution
To address these challenges, TCS proposed and successfully implemented the SEVA Portal, powered by TCS Cognix™ - an AI-ML-driven platform.
The solution was designed to enhance day-to-day business operations efficiency, streamline workflows, and foster transparency in finance processes. The key steps included:
- End-to-end automation: TCS worked with TMLBSL to identify process improvement opportunities and executed a comprehensive transformation strategy.
- Cost-effective innovation: We designed and deployed the TCS Cognix™ Accounts Payable (AP) and Vendor Portal (VP) solutions to optimize operations and reduce costs.
- Customized workflow: TCS developed a tailored solution to meet TML’s specific business requirements, ensuring seamless integration with existing processes.
- SEVA portal implementation: This robust platform offered vendors and TML users advanced capabilities such as built-in validation mechanisms and real-time invoice tracking, which significantly improved transparency and efficiency of the entire process.
Transforming financial operations has always been a top priority for us at TML. TCS has been a true innovation partner, in reshaping our operations and driving measurable efficiency through their agile approach coupled with AI driven data and insights.
Outcome
The implementation delivered transformative results for Tata Motors Limited, significantly improving the company’s financial processes.
By leveraging automation and real-time visibility, TML achieved measurable improvements across multiple facets of its operations, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and excellence in process management.
Key benefits included:
- 24x7 process monitoring and real-time visibility: Enabled continuous monitoring and streamlined management of financial operations, ensuring greater control and transparency
- 94.8% on-time processing: Enhanced financial reliability and fostered stronger vendor relationships, boosting overall satisfaction and trust
- 75% reduction in average handling time (AHT): Accelerated processing time reduced from four days to one day, resulting in faster query resolutions and higher efficiency
- 23 FTE reduction and 75% automated SES creation: Automation reduced manual workloads, reduced errors, lowering operational costs, improving productivity and process accuracy
- 80% reduction in vendor queries: Real-time status updates reduced follow-ups, enhancing communication and operational efficiency
- Unified dashboard view: A comprehensive dashboard provided users with a holistic overview of financial operations, enabling better monitoring and decision-making
- Lower system maintenance costs: Optimized processes reduced maintenance efforts, improving cost efficiency and ROI