Company: IBM, Armonk, NY
Company Description: IBM is a values-based enterprise of individuals who create & apply technology to make the world work better. Today, more than 400,000 IBM employees around the world invent and integrate hardware, software and services to help forward-thinking enterprises, institutions and people succeed on a smarter planet.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in the Digital Transformation of Sales Operations
 Nomination Title: Re-imagining a Legacy Process with Billing & Invoicing Application in APAC
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the nominated achievement since July 1, 2020, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated organization or individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 199 words used.
IBM Quote-to-Cash (Q2C) Operations provides services to clients, sellers, partners and stakeholders – with a digitalized and modern data-driven operation leveraging IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI. IBM Q2C Transformation leads IBM’s global transformation for the enterprise-wide Q2C workflow, through Intelligent Workflows’ (IW) modern cognitive user interface which upgraded the user experience, with embedded analytics to visually manage and prioritize billings based on the Application’s recommendation. Users can now release their invoices without hand-offs, reducing cycle time for invoice creation and delivery to client, resulting in improved DSO. The platform is customizable allowing to add enhanced features and better align to the critical end-to-end functions within the Q2C support.
In 2020, the team worked with stakeholders across the Billing process, to re-imagine and automate one of IBM’s legacy processes — Billing and Invoicing. The result: the Billing & Invoicing (B&I) Application, an integrated, all-in-one solution for managing, communicating, and performing Billing and Invoicing activities.
The web-based application was launched in Q2C North America in February 2020, over the IW platform. The first B&I Application Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was released in April 2021 to Pilot Project Managers in APAC. The B&I Application was subsequently scaled to APAC countries and markets.
- Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 241 words used.
The team worked with stakeholders across the Billing process, engaging and involving the sponsor users in co-tailoring the IW B&I Application.
The team held several discovery sessions in 3rd and 4th Quarters of 2020, bringing together people across the organization, comprising Sales Excellence and Q2C Operations Leaders, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and technical teams, with emphasis on the main user — Project Managers. This collaboration ensured the solution was centered on the user’s needs, and every stakeholder was onboarded and shared the same end-goal.
The team discovered that across the Billing and Invoicing process, systems were siloed, requiring manual processing of sensitive billing data that involved multiple people handling and validating the request at every step. This created a business risk of issuing an incorrect invoice to the client, and excessive time taken to complete invoicing — all of which negatively impacted the organization’s ability to collect revenue.
Seeing challenges through the stakeholders’ eyes, the team co-created and reimagined new user experiences through the B&I Application. In this phase, the team designed the operating model and the platform and prioritized the user requirements uncovered previously.
Once requirements were prioritized, development and testing was done to deploy the MVP to users in 4th Quarter 2020 to 1st Quarter 2021. The first B&I Application MVP was released in April 2021 to Pilot Project Managers in APAC who have since used the application in processing their Billings, providing feedback for enhancements in subsequent releases.
- Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 248 words used.
The B&I Application re-imagines and automates a legacy process, transforming a slow, antiquated, highly manual process into an integrated, efficient self-service model. Now, Project Managers in IBM Q2C Operations enjoy a simplified end-to-end experience, using historical and real time data to augment decision-making and show powerful insights in real time.
The application has been scaled to APAC countries and markets and is available in ISA, ANZ, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea with an estimated 1,000 users, allowing more Project Managers to manage Billing and Invoicing activities in a self-service model, demonstrating how the team leads IBM’s global transformation in Q2C.
Extensive Benefits
Benefits realized:
- 90% Reduction in Cycle Time. No additional hand-offs to release straightforward billings.
- 80% of Billing Support Function Activities Automated. Support only for exceptional handling cases.
- 24,000 Hours Saved. Manual data re-entry eliminated, data validation reduced through embedded controls.
- Easily scalable. Components for future enhancements built within platform.
- Efficiency Throughout Entire Process. Hand-offs, wait time effectively eliminated.
- Employee Empowerment. Eliminating Project Managers’ dependency on other functions.
- Enhanced Customer Experience. Transforming and streamlining the process significantly improved user experience for IBMers and our clients.
Enhanced Customer Experience
The team always kept the focus on the customer, putting themselves in the customers’ shoes, identifying crucial requirements, addressing pain points and gathering feedback from users, to co-create and continuously improve user experience.
Through the B&I Application, we have created and will continue to create signature experiences not only for IBMers but for our clients as well.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
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