In the world of shared services and global finance operations, delayed freight invoice payments are more than just a nuisance — they’re a risk to vendor relationships, compliance, and working capital. Zyra Consulting helped a global freight and logistics company recover from a 5-year backlog of over 8,000 unpaid invoices. Here’s how we did it.
The Problem: The client was experiencing chronic delays in freight payments. SAP wasn’t configured to enforce mandatory fields like carrier codes, which caused silent failures. Outsourced AP operations were fragmented, SOPs were inconsistent, and the backlog kept growing.
Our Approach: Using the Six Sigma DMAIC framework, we:
- Conducted an SAP field and workflow audit
- Made the carrier code mandatory in the ERP
- Rewrote SOPs and trained global AP teams
- Built dashboards for exception tracking
- Coordinated backlog recovery with vendors, clearing over 8,000 invoices
The Result:
- 95% reduction in invoice-related QNs (Quality Notifications)
- CSAT improved from 60% → 95%
- Duplicate and manual payments fully eliminated
- Backlog cleared with no late fee or reputation damage
Why It Matters: This wasn’t just a process fix. It restored vendor trust, improved cash flow visibility, and created a scalable payment SOP now being rolled out across regions.