ECM – A Case Study


A FORTUNE-ate ECM Solution

Executive Summary:
Being #1 is not easy. But, the world's top chemical company by sales and a bellwether for their industry makes every attempt to do it right. But, during a Sarbanes-Oxley audit, this well-known FORTUNE 500 organization was asked to produce all the relevant Sales Tax exemption certificates (ECs) and they couldn’t respond. Situation unknown -- which is never good enough.
They realized it wasn’t just a SoX issue, but a problem that would be exposed in a routine Sales Tax audit. They knew they had to do something – and fast.

Background:
A $37 Billion Global Company with an increasingly visible profile has racked up many prestigious awards, including a FORTUNE’s “Most Admired” in their industry. In the U.S., they have 28,000 active customers in all 50 states. They are profitable and growing, but a recent discovery stunned their Tax Department: All of the Exemption Certificates they believed to be on file were not there. The ramifications were obvious to all – Any Sales Tax audit would result in assessments, penalties and interest which could affect their bottom-line by millions.  Not to mention the additional audits and questions that would ensue. The Tax Manager realized that unless they could somehow capture all the appropriate Exemption Certificates they needed and set up a system for accessing them easily – quickly – that there would be serious consequences.

Finding the Right Solution: The Tax Manager made some calls and set up the vendor presentations. Most of the proposals consisted of software, training and consulting. The time frames for implementing the software-based solutions were: 9 months, 6 months, depending on how much internal resources, outside consulting and $$ could be allocated to the project.  However, the client needed it sooner! Another option was identified by a peer at a similar company in their industry and CertCapture was added to the list for consideration.


ECM Case Study 

The winning solution:
One vendor’s solution stood out – CertCapture -- A Web-based customer database of all the exemption certificate’s images for management and audit purposes that could be accessed easily and had the auditor features they sought. Plus, CertCapture included the collection of all the missing certificates, validating each document, scanning into images, and hosting the whole solution – all for a low flat fee per EC. The clinching factor was that CertCapture could be fully implemented in less than 6-12 weeks, with most of that time needed to send, re-send, and collect the customer documents. References were checked, and the agreement was signed. “The decision was not difficult,” says the Tax Manager, “We knew this was the right direction with time frames we needed – and the cost was the best part of all. It was based on actual numbers of Certificates, with no hidden fees.”

The Result:
Within days, 12 thousand letters with the appropriate pre-populated Exemption Certificates were sent out to all customers. In just 7 weeks, the project was capped off with the delivery of the CertCapture web solution for the first Corporate Entity. It worked as advertised and with minimal client effort.  “CertCapture exceeded our expectations and came through for us in a time crunch.”  They can for you, too.

Summary:
When a Sales Tax Exemption Certificate issue arises there is no time to waste. Why spend months and important resources on something that could be completed in weeks? Why spend valuable IT capital?   ECM is an increasingly common issue that requires a specialist: An outsourced solution with subject-matter expertise, advanced technology and superior customer service. CertCapture brings this combination to you – all at a flat fee —and faster than any other method.