A. Ahlström optimises financial operations with process mining

A. Ahlström, one of Finland's oldest family-owned companies, focuses on long-term investment strategies and the development of sustainable industrial and real estate projects. The company uses Greenstep's BI Book, a BI reporting and analytics tool, along with its process mining capabilities, to identify areas for improvement and enhance operations through data and analytics.

“Responsibility and ambition are core values at Ahlström, which means we are committed to continuous learning and business development. Using Greenstep’s process mining tool, we started to improve our purchase invoice process. Our goal was to map the current state of the process and find ways to simplify invoice handling,” says Markus Laine, Business Controller at Ahlström.

Process mining unveils operational bottlenecks

For a long time, A. Ahlström’s finance team aimed to optimize the purchase invoice process, but there was no clear understanding of the level of automation or the amount of manual work. Greenstep’s process mining tool brought much-needed transparency, highlighting critical bottlenecks and areas for improvement.

“The tool was tailored to our needs, and we established KPI metrics to guide the process improvement efforts. It was eye-opening to see the costs associated with each process step and to uncover opportunities to reduce manual tasks. As a result of the process mining project, the level of automation has increased and invoice prosessing has become much more efficient,” Markus summarizes.

Real-time data and analytics drive better decisions

The project also included BI Book, which Markus describes as a quick and seamless implementation. The finance team now has access to real-time data, which allows them to accurately analyse trends in purchasing and sales.

“With process mining, we can track the progress of automation in real time. The project has paid for itself many times over, delivering significant benefits such as increased automation and more efficient contract invoicing. Most importantly, we now spend much less time processing invoices,” Markus notes.

Growth driven by a team of experts

Markus praises the Greenstep team for their expertise and practical advice, as well as a comprehensive final report that provided a clear roadmap for future improvements.

"The Greenstep team is highly qualified. They have provided us with valuable insights and helped us to solve critical process challenges. I wholeheartedly recommend Greenstep to anyone looking to improve their purchase invoice processes. The project was compact and efficient, and the tailored tool provides long-term value,” concludes Markus.