Digital Transformation with the Newest VIM Upgrade by OpenText and SAP
A major goal of any digital transformation effort is to eliminate the need for traditional paper documents and time-consuming manual processes. OpenText™ Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) for SAP helps deliver this by allowing enterprises to automate and streamline invoicing, payment processing tasks, and additional document workflows outside the finance department.
With traditional systems, accounts payable requires a large amount manual work, causing your valuable internal team to spend an excessive amount on time on repetitive, low-value tasks. Effective VIM solutions – when configured and optimized by an experienced SAP VIM upgrade consultant like Optima – automate low-value tasks allowing your team to focus their effort on essential, high-value assignments.
Read through our guide for essential VIM upgrades for SAP below to learn:
- Why OpenText VIM Is a Best-in-Class Solution for SAP Invoice Management
- Why the Current Version of OpenText VIM Matters
- How Moving to S/4HANA Will Affect OpenText VIM
- 3 Ways Your Enterprise Can Get More Value from OpenText VIM
Why VIM Is a Best-in-Class Solution for SAP Invoice Management
OpenText Vendor Invoice Management for SAP® Solutions is an intelligent, automated solution for enterprises to streamline accounts payable (AP), procurement, and invoice management. This solution allows you to:
- Manage and process invoices;
- Enjoy pre-configured roles, rules and actions to automate invoice posting; and
- Share order confirmations, delivery notes, remittances, and more automatically.
OpenText VIM automatically embeds into your SAP solution, helping you optimize end-to-end data processing within one platform and control your SAP data for more secure, streamlined workflows.
Industry Experience and Trust
VIM is built on years of experience in the industry, with a focus on the future. It continually updates and integrates with modern software to keep enterprises on the cutting edge of technology. In addition to continual updates that enhance existing capabilities, enterprises trust OpenText VIM thanks to:
- Its advanced machine learning and AI capabilities: Continually improve the accuracy of actions linked to invoice approvals and data entry with VIM’s new AI tools.
- Its cost-effective approach: Free up staff resources and reduce the number of FTEs required to operate smoothly.
- Enhanced compliance: Comply with regulatory requirements and best practices out-of-the-box with VIM’s pre-configured rules.
VIM is a best-in-class solution that streamlines AP from invoice creation to routing. With an OpenText VIM upgrade consultant like Optima, your enterprise can maximize the benefits of this innovative solution.
The Current Version of OpenText VIM and Why It Matters
The most recent released versions of VIM are 7.6 SPS2 for ECC, and 21.4 for S/4HANA. Pay attention to your your platform, licensing structure, and long-term strategy because they will make a difference in which version is right for you. Many older versions of VIM have support timelines that are expiring soon, so it’s critical to upgrade your OpenText VIM solution as soon as possible. Each new release provides significant technical and functional improvements designed to help you achieve your business goals and realize additional benefits from your digital transformation investment.
Recent Release Features and Benefits
Overall, you can expect to see plenty of improvements in each new release. Here is a summary of some of the most recent.
VIM 7.6 SPS2 / 21.4
This update takes advantage of SAP Fiori tiles to provide substantial improvements to multiple AP workflows. It also eliminates the need for bulky, external client applications by consolidating several VIM workflows into organized, simplified tiles. Learn more details in this post, What’s New with VIM 21.4.
VIM 7.6 / 20.4
In this release, OpenText made changes to its licensing structure and added new features such as VIM Beyond Finance, robot process automation, analytics and more.
See what’s new in this upgrade summary post, or watch the overview of VIM 7.6 / 20.4 in Optima’s webinar, Essential VIM Upgrades for 2021.
Moving to S/4HANA and VIM
If your enterprise currently uses SAP ECC and plans to migrate to SAP S/4HANA as part of your digital transformation journey, it will affect OpenText VIM. Specifically, it will impact which version you use as well as the features and integrations that come with it. SAP S/4HANNA is the future of SAP, and your enterprise will likely need to migrate eventually, but the specific details can be tailored to your own needs and digital transformation plans.
Migration is a challenge for any enterprise. It’s critical to make a plan to ensure the most seamless migration possible. Make the most of your move with proven SAP S/4HANNA migration strategies. For hands-on guidance and best results, partner with an experienced VIM upgrade consultant like Optima. We’ve completed the most VIM projects in North America, and have a 96% success rate in over 400+ engagements.
3 Ways to Amplify the Value of Your VIM Upgrade
Every investment in your enterprise needs to generate a return. Maximize the return on your investment in your OpenText VIM solution by effectively planning to leverage the capability of the platform. Follow these three best practices to amplify the ROI of your VIM solution.
1. Know Your Current State and Roadmap
Digital transformation is only possible when you understand your enterprise as it is today, and where you want to go. After all, it’s much easier to build a path to the finish line when you know where your business is right now.
Self-evaluation is a great place to start. Review this quick survey with your team to see if your enterprise is getting the most ROI out of your VIM solution – especially concerning how you optimize departments beyond AP and finance. Once you understand where you are today, your team can create a more customized roadmap for how you get the most benefit from OpenText VIM.
For a more in-depth review, check out Optima’s VIM Health Check. Our team will evaluate your VIM implementation, offer a comprehensive report on current risks and potential benefits, and help you prioritize your needs, timeline, and budget.
2. VIM Beyond Finance
OpenText VIM is designed to reduce manual tasks and minimize paper-based document workflows so your team can deliver more value with their time. Although OpenText VIM was originally designed for AP and financial tasks, VIM Beyond Finance expands the capability of the VIM platform to additional business documents such as:
- Order confirmations
- Sales notices
- HR documents
- Certifications
- Vendor onboarding
- Delivery notes
This new functionality comes as part of the 7.6/20.4 upgrade for OpenText VIM, and allows you to leverage powerful digital content processing to fully automate your enterprise. Learn more about VIM Beyond Finance here.
3. Use a Custom Accelerator From Optima
OpenText VIM is powerful out of the box, but it may not accomplish everything your enterprise needs. That’s why we developed custom Optima Accelerators™ with powerful, time-saving functions that aren’t included in the base VIM solution.
These integrations and connections give you more value out of your VIM solution. With more automations and even fewer manual touches in your processes, you can accelerate your digital transformation and enjoy more ROI from OpenText VIM.
Ask a Trusted SAP VIM Upgrade Consultant
Streamline, accelerate and consolidate your enterprise processes with the latest VIM upgrade for your SAP environment. As an always-improving, best-in-class solution for invoice management, it’s essential that enterprises get the full advantages of VIM’s current version, understand how it can affect migrating to SAP S4/HANA, and strategize how they can get more value out of their VIM licenses.
But your enterprise doesn’t have to do this alone. Optima is an SAP Gold Partner with a team of VIM upgrade experts dedicated to the platform. We’ve worked on the most successful VIM projects in North America and have a proven track record of helping enterprises maximize their VIM solution.
Get started and see where you stand right now. Sign up for our proprietary VIM Health Check package to:
- Evaluate your VIM implementation and overall health.
- Comprehensively understand your risks, maintenance and opportunities for ROI.
- Prioritize your needs, establish timelines and create a budget to align OpenText VIM with your business goals.
Learn more here, and start your digital transformation on the right path.
