With construction businesses working on margins as tight as 2.5%, every dollar counts, so managing cashflow and maximising productivity is vital. A simple e-commerce system for the industry aims to change the invoicing and supplier payment processes, at up to 10 times less than the cost of traditional e-commerce solutions.

“Adaptris ECX is a third generation e-trading hub designed to deliver the benefits of electronic trading to the construction industry,” says Adaptris in Australia managing director Glen Andrews.

“With ECX, contractors can easily manage purchase orders and confirmations, shipping notices and goods received notes, invoices, credit notes and remittance advices.

“ECX works by automatically extracting relevant details from trade partner documents. For example, if a supplier sends through an invoice, the system will automatically strip out the necessary information and update the user’s back end system, no matter what software they use.”

Glen says ECX can deliver dramatic cost savings by automating several steps in the invoicing process on both sides of the transaction.

“Manual processing of invoices and supplier payments consumes untold hours in the construction sector,” Glen says.

“The construction sector accounts for a very significant proportion of Australia’s GDP, but with probably 80% of contractors manually entering invoices, there’s huge potential to improve productivity and generate cost savings.

“Apart from the potential savings, ECX simply makes things easier for contractors. Receipting goods on building sites is notoriously difficult but with this system, the challenge disappears.

“Apart from the potential savings around invoice processing, ECX makes things simpler on the building site too. Receipting goods on building sites, and then reconciling this with orders and invoices, is notoriously difficult – a challenge that ECX helps to eliminate”

To use the system, the supplier sends their invoice to a dedicated email address. ECX’s cloud-based invoice service then automatically extracts relevant data and converts it to an e-invoice structure. The validated invoice is then entered automatically into the contractor’s system with no need for re-keying or formatting. It’s that simple.

“Suppliers can be live in ECX within two business days, often much less, and it’s extremely simple for them,” Glen says.

“They don’t have to use special forms or learn any new systems. They just send their regular invoice to a dedicated email address and ECX does the rest. ECX can be used by trading partners no matter how big their operation, what software they use or where they’re located.”

Invoices are entered into trade partners’ back end systems in real time, which is excellent for cash flow and business administration.

“The ability to get the system up and running quickly is a big advantage over other e-commerce products,” Glen says.

“There are software solutions known as electronic data interchange (EDI) systems on the market, but they are extremely expensive and take months to set up, so they’re just not feasible for many construction industry businesses.”

As well as automatically completing business transactions, ECX validates data and content and has a range of email and text message notification services to help with business administration.

“The system was introduced in the UK last year and has proven very successful there. We think there’s a real gap in the Australian market for a product like this that will help contractors and suppliers do business more easily. Using ECX, contractors can make the most of technology including cloud computing and mobile devices to ensure their invoicing and payments are managed in real time.”

Glen says ECX users can be confident the system is secure and well supported.

“Adaptris transacts $3 billion dollars annually in sectors ranging from transportation to agriculture and pharmaceuticals as well as the construction industry. We are e-commerce experts and with Australian staff on the ground we can ensure a high level of confidence and support,” he says.

“With so many infrastructure projects underway or coming up in the Australian market, this is an excellent time for businesses to streamline their supplier management processes so they can be more productive and more profitable.”