Beeline Concessions

Beeline is a fashion accessories wholesaler founded in the 1990s in Germany. It is present in Europe and overseas, in particular in the United States. For the French market, the brands SIX, IAM and TOSH have been grouped together since April 2021 under the banner Beeline Concessions. This group offers services to mass retail points of sale (Camaïeu, Kiabi, Leclerc, Carrefour, etc.). The entity generates a high volume of expense reports, which has led it to obtain a specific tool, the deployment of which is described by Claire GATHU, France Finance Manager.

My experience with Notilus? It’s a superb solution that I’d recommend to any company that does not yet have the tools or does not have an IT culture. The Client team and Notilus Support are very approachable! Claire Gathu, France Finance Manager – Beeline

A tool to leave manual processing behind

Claire GATHU became France Finance Manager in 2019. One of her first tasks was to deal with expense report management, which involved the manual processing of paper and Excel documents at the time. “Each employee sent all their receipts by post each month – in total around 250 paper expense reports each month – plus an Excel file for processing by the Finance department via an import in SAP. We also handled around thirty credit cards: a paper statement was sent to employees who returned their credit card receipts. Input for this was also manual, with no Excel file import, which doubled the processing time.”

Streamlining time-consuming expense report processing

Internally, the employee sent information for approval to their manager who centralised then sent back two expense reports per region which was a time-consuming process lasting fifteen days. Expense reports were closed out on the 15th of the month, for settlement at the end of the month. There could be letters lost, postal problems, not to mention concerns about reliability. Employees would sometimes send the same receipt twice in a row. From this observation, the Beeline Finance department identified the need for a dedicated solution.

In 2017, no more room for paper expense reports!

An office move accelerated the discussion about paper processing: the lack of space meant that it was no longer possible to store as many expense reports. Dematerialisation therefore made perfect sense at Beeline. Only Finance was concerned by the project’s implementation because expense reports were not managed by the payroll department.

“We had a company policy, but no particular specifications were drafted concerning the solution’s deployment. Our organisation is quite simple and the process was quite quick” acknowledges Claire GATHU.

A gradual deployment starting with credit cards

The Notilus teams provided their expertise to implement the most suitable solution for Beeline employees. Internally, communication was made to two company committees about the change of method. Once validated by the social and economic committee, managers passed down information relating to the implementation of the new tool.

“Deployment was gradual, dealing with credit card users first of all, which was simpler in terms of volume. At the outset, it only concerned around fifty people, then we deployed the solution with all the outlet employees in January 2021. We therefore increase to 250 users,” continues Claire GATHU.

Remote training

“I gave training to credit card users before covid. The aim was to show how the solution worked on computers and mobiles which was very beneficial. I was able to show everything I had learnt from the Notilus teams. The managers then gave remote training.”

At the same time, Claire Gathu published a process book dedicated to the creation of expense reports via iPhone, presenting all the important steps and the types of expense to use.

Notilus deployment in less than a month

Only a month went past after receipt of the sales proposal and internal validation, between the decision for implementation, production and deployment. According to Claire GATHU, “the sales teams listened very carefully and provided quality assistance. Support was also very responsive, which enabled us to move forward smoothly and envisage future developments.”

The choice of a simple and comprehensive tool

The Finance department had benchmarked service providers on the Internet. Notilus appeared to be the most comprehensive one and the presentations convinced us.

“One of our employees was able to test the solution for a week, which enabled us to put into practice what we had seen on the Notilus website. It was very simple to use the tool. Personally, I mainly use the solution on computers for the expense report checking functions. IT novices can easily get to grips with it.”

Zero paper is a reality via a system that is open to all

The dematerialisation of receipts was implemented at the very beginning of the project. As employees do their expense reports via their smartphones or on the computer, paper has become obsolete.

“Dematerialisation means zero paper – a significant space saving – and an appreciable solution in terms of comfort: for viewing and processing, the procedure is must faster. We no longer have expense report folders at the headquarters. If there are any questions, m anagement control can check the inform ation about certain types of expense, if necessary. It’s open to everyone.” Claire is delighted to say.

Saved time and space and better performance

She adds:

“The time spent processing expense reports within the department has been virtually divided by three. In financial terms, we are also winners because our employees no longer print or send their receipts. The process is therefore beneficial to both users and administrators. Before, there could be certain information missing on expense reports in the Excel file. Now, the information is given every day. Managers who approve expense reports have also considerably reduced the time they spend checking. After two months of use, we only had positive feedback from the teams!”

Adoption is therefore comprehensive: 250 users use the tool for expense reports. “We tr ust your system and intend to deploy it with our subsidiaries, in particular in Spain,” concludes Claire GATHU.