ERA Group
Intelligent Automation for High-Volume Logistics Invoice Processing
Manual invoice processing created bottlenecks, billing inaccuracies, and reporting delays across ERA's freight billing operations. Valenta implemented an intelligent automation and analytics framework that streamlined invoice processing, improved billing accuracy, and provided clients with real-time visibility into freight costs and optimization opportunities.
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At a Glance
Industry
Global Freight & Logistics
Location
West Malling United Kingdom
Solution
Intelligent Automation & Analytics Framework
Challenge
Manual invoice processing, billing validation, and reporting created inefficiencies, delayed client reporting, and increased operational workload
Outcome
- • 80% reduction in manual processing
- • 99.2% billing accuracy
- • 25% increase in client cost visibility
What We Delivered
- Intelligent Invoice Processing Automation
- Azure Function App Integration
- SQL-Based Charge Automation
- Dynamic Rate Card & Surcharge Management
- Customized Client Web Portal
- Power BI Dashboard Enhancements
- Automated Carbon Reporting
- New Project Onboarding Framework
- Ongoing Managed Service & Platform Optimization
Process Scope
Automated invoice ingestion, billing validation, surcharge calculations, rate management, client reporting, dashboard analytics, project onboarding, carrier performance monitoring, and operational reporting across multiple freight and logistics accounts.
About ERA Group
ERA supports freight and logistics organizations by managing high-volume invoice processing, billing validation, and reporting across multiple carriers and projects. As invoice volumes increased, manual processing became increasingly complex and time-consuming, creating challenges around billing accuracy, reporting efficiency, and client visibility. To support continued growth, ERA required a scalable automation framework capable of improving operational efficiency while delivering better insights for both internal teams and clients.
The Challenge
Processing thousands of freight invoices every month required extensive manual effort. Invoice information arrived from multiple carriers using different formats and systems, requiring manual uploads into spreadsheets and billing systems before charges could be validated.
Each invoice requires line-by-line verification of surcharge rates, fuel and energy benchmark comparisons, billing calculations, and manual report preparation for clients.
These repetitive processes created processing delays, increased the risk of billing inaccuracies and disputed charges, and limited clients' visibility into freight costs, billing accuracy, and optimization opportunities.
1000s of Invoices
freight invoices processed monthly
Multiple Carriers
different formats requiring manual uploads
Line-by-Line
verification of surcharges and benchmarks
Limited Visibility
into freight costs and billing accuracy
Our Approach
Workflow Assessment & Automation Design
Assessed ERA's invoice process and designed an Azure-based automation framework to streamline invoice capture, validation, and processing.
Billing Automation & Reporting
Automated billing calculations, surcharge validation, and exception handling while implementing the Customized Client Web Portal and Power BI dashboards for real-time reporting and insights.
Managed Services & Continuous Improvement
Delivered ongoing platform optimization, project onboarding, reporting enhancements, and continuous support to improve operational performance.
Our Solution
Valenta implemented an intelligent automation and analytics framework that transformed manual invoice processing into an efficient, scalable workflow.
Automated Invoice Processing
Automatically captures invoice details from incoming emails, extracts header and line-item data, and loads information into a staging database.
Intelligent Billing, Rate Card & Surcharge Management
Calculates charges, validates benchmark rates, applies fuel and energy surcharge rules, manages centralized rate cards, and flags billing exceptions to ensure consistent billing accuracy as benchmark values change.
Client Portal & Business Intelligence
Provides real-time billing visibility with advanced filtering, drill-down reporting, benchmark comparisons, export functionality, and Power BI dashboards to monitor processing health, identify billing anomalies, track savings, and deliver operational insights.
Automated Carbon Reporting
Supports automated carbon reporting, helping clients monitor environmental metrics alongside operational performance.
Project Onboarding
Standardizes onboarding for new projects using reusable automation components and validation processes to accelerate deployment.
Managed Service & Continuous Improvement
Provides ongoing platform optimization, reporting enhancements, operational improvements, and support to continuously improve performance as client requirements evolve.
Business Impact
By implementing an intelligent automation and analytics framework, ERA reduced manual processing by 80%, achieved 99.2% billing accuracy, improved client cost visibility by 25%, and saved approximately 32 hours every week.
Reduced Manual Processing
Reduced invoice processing from over 40 hours to fewer than 8 hours each week, freeing the team to focus on higher-value activities.
Improved Billing Accuracy
Automated validation and charge calculations reduced manual effort while improving billing consistency and accuracy.
Greater Client Visibility
Real-time dashboards and the Customized Client Web Portal provide clients with better visibility into billing performance and cost optimization opportunities.
Scalable Managed Service
The automation framework supports ongoing optimization, faster project onboarding, and continuous platform improvements.
Why This Matters For Your Business
Billing accuracy prevents overpayment.
Real-time visibility enables proactive cost negotiation with carriers.
Automation eliminates the invoice backlog, frees operations teams for strategic work, and reduces process errors.
Self-service analytics reduce support requests and empower clients to track and optimize their own spend.
Unlocks margin through process efficiency. Working with Valenta, logistics companies position themselves as data-driven partners, rather than transactional providers.
Ready To Optimize Your
Logistics Operations?
Valenta's Intelligent Automation solutions help logistics organizations eliminate manual processes, improve billing accuracy, enhance operational visibility, and build scalable workflows that support long-term growth.
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