Do It Best Corp Selects AVOLENT's Self-Service Electronic Billing and Payment Solution
Leading National Hardware Co-op Introduces Electronic Invoicing and Payment to Provide Improved Services to Member Retailers and Increase Operational Efficiences While Decreasing Operational Costs
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. — March 21, 2006 — AVOLENT Inc., the leader in Interactive , Self-Service Electronic Billing and Payment software, announced today that Do it Best Corp. plans to reduce financial and administrative costs while improving services for the company and its 4,100 member stores by implementing BizCast, AVOLENT's flagship electronic invoicing and payment software platform. BizCast is designed to assist Do It Best Corp. in raising the level of customer service it provides while reducing operating costs and improving cash management. BizCast automates costly, manual tasks with an interactive, self-service online application to streamline processes such as invoicing, member maintenance, and reconciliation.
Founded in 1945 with more than $2.95 billion in sales in 2005, Do it Best Corp. is the nation's second largest and fastest growing hardware cooperative, serving 4,100 member-owned stores in the U.S. and 45 countries. Do it Best Corp. has eight national distribution centers that enable its member/owners to offer more than 65,000 hardware and building material products at competitive prices. Well-known for setting the standard in operating efficiency, Do it Best Corp. continues to raise the bar with the introduction of BizCast's online invoice presentment and payment software.
Using AVOLENT's BizCast, Do it Best Corp. member/owners will be able to access current invoices and manage their payments and claims online. This provides significant opportunities to reduce the time and cost involved with printing, processing, reconciling, and paying the hundreds of thousands of invoices that are generated every month. Additionally, BizCast will increase speed of cash and decrease operational costs. As the adoption rate of BizCast among Do It Best's members increases, a savings of millions of dollars will be realized.
"Delivering value to member partners is not just about stocking the shelves efficiently," stated Kay Williams, vice president of information technology, at Do it Best Corp. "Real value is about reducing the back office workload and costs for our members -- providing services that allow them to focus their efforts on serving their customers. We look forward to AVOLENT's electronic invoicing and payment solution to help us serve our members better by providing faster access to information and reducing the cost and time in the invoice to cash process."
In addition to easy online access to invoices, Do it Best Corp. member/owners can now identify disputed line items and route bills for approval and payment. These dynamic invoices will be continually updated to reflect the applicable trade discounts at that moment. In addition, BizCast will enable both Do it Best Corp. and its member/owners to immediately verify ship-to information on the invoices as well as quickly retrieve past invoices to reconcile inventory.
BizCast, the most awarded e-billing software in the industry, continues to raise the bar by bringing new cash flow control capabilities to corporate e-billing platforms. By automating all steps of the invoice-to-cash process, BizCast streamlines financial interactions, provides unprecedented insight into inbound cash flow, and creates the capability to control cash flow to meet corporate goals.
"Do it Best Corp. has been successful because they understand that providing improved member services and efficiencies is a key differentiator in the distribution industry," commented Doug Roberts, CEO of AVOLENT. "We are thrilled to support Do it Best Corp. in their efforts to streamline these processes and provide industry-leading back office financial support to their thousands of member owned stores."
About Do It Best
Based in Fort Wayne, Ind., Do it Best Corp. is the only full-service, full-line, member-owned hardware, lumber and building materials buying cooperative in the U.S. home improvement industry. With annual sales approaching $3 billion, Do it Best Corp. is the second largest co-op in the industry, serving 4,100 member-retailers in the United States and in 45 foreign countries.
About AVOLENT
AVOLENT provides application software for Interactive Electronic Billing for large organizations that want to connect with customers online. AVOLENT's award winning BizCast software product suite streamlines all processes in the invoice-to-cash cycle through real-time electronic invoicing and payment, customer self-service, cash management, forecasting, and enforce and control receivables financial controls for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. AVOLENT's BizCast processes over $44 billion in invoices annually for customers such as AT&T, MasterCard, Highmark, Health Alliance, Office Depot, Xerox Capital Services, Unisys, Wells Fargo, and two of the three largest PC suppliers. Three of the top five Internet businesses use AVOLENT for Interactive eBilling and Payment, according to Internet Retailer Magazine. For more information call (800) 553-5505 or visit www.avolent.com.
Press Contact:
Sharon Kawaguchi
Director, Marketing Programs
AVOLENT
(415) 553-6903
skawaguchi@AVOLENT.com
