Saudi Telecom Company Automatically Processes Payments for Thousands of Communications Tower Leases through Payables Solution
 
 

Saudi Telecom Company Automatically Processes Payments for Thousands of Communications Tower Leases through Payables Solution

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Saudi Telecom Company (STC), a leading telecommunications service provider in the Middle East and North Africa region, is ranked number 25 globally, serving more than 100 million subscribers in ten countries. In addition to traditional mobile and fixed services, STC offers a broad portfolio of services, including voice over IP (VoIP), internet access, IP data services, and broadband transport.

STC leases thousands of mobile communications towers from hundreds of providers to ensure top-quality wireless coverage for its subscribers. These agreements required STC to process thousands of purchase orders per month  manually, which increased manpower costs and strained accounting.

To automate many payable processes, STC imported information pertaining to the lease of communication towers from Oracle Property Manager and integrated that data into Oracle E-Business Suite. With the implementation, STC eliminated all monthly purchase orders for leasing communication towers and acquired the capability to automatically enter and approve communication tower lease invoices. In addition, the implementation enabled STC to issue electronic funds transfers (EFTs) to automatically authorize and make lease invoice payments.

By leveraging Oracle solutions, STC significantly reduced employee costs, streamlined financial processes, and reduced lease processing errors by approximately 99%.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Saudi Telecom Company

  • “Oracle Property Manager, and its integration with Oracle Purchasing and Oracle Payables, enabled us to efficiently manage leases for thousands of communications towers, which are owned by hundreds of providers, maintaining unique contractual obligations.” – Abdulaziz Ahmed Abanumey, SCM Section Manager, Saudi Telecom Company

  • Minimize manual creation and monitoring for thousands of purchase orders per month, which are necessary to lease mobile communications towers in Saudi Arabia owned by hundreds of providers
  • Abstract and manage critical lease information, agreements, and other contractual obligations—including payments—without straining human resources
  • Automate invoice approval as opposed to manually entering and matching lease invoices from communications tower providers
  • Pay communications tower providers via electronic transfer instead of printing several hundred bank checks each month

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Integrated information pertaining to the lease of communications towers in Oracle E-Business Suite by importing the relevant property data directly from Oracle Property Manager—including automatic notification of lease milestones and other event triggers—to manage the entire lifecycle for each communication tower lease with optimal  efficiency
  • Eliminated all monthly purchase orders for leasing communications towers, since the new workflow no longer requires a purchase order as contractual proof of leasing, which also reduces the need for four full-time employees
  • Leveraged Oracle Payables to automatically enter and approve communications tower lease invoices from hundreds of providers to eliminate the need for employees to match up thousands of purchase orders and invoices every month
  • Utilized Oracle Payables to issue EFTs to automatically authorize and pay lease invoice payments, as opposed to printing bank checks, to streamline the company’s financial operations and enhance cost-effectiveness
  • Reduced lease process errors by approximately 99% and mitigated the company’s contractual and financial risks