EPIC4 Cuts Dental Procurement Time by 50% While Driving Compliance
How EPIC4 automated their procurement workflows and optimized accounts payable processes to facilitate a more efficient team with Order.co
EPIC4 at a Glance
Reduction on time spent on procurement
Vendors managed on one platform
Products loaded on Order.co
Locations' purchasing workflows streamlined
Sam Jenio, Director of Procurement & Business Development at EPIC4, boasts a 25+ year career spearheading supply chain management and procurement processes for businesses in the healthcare industry. Today, in his role at EPIC4, Sam oversees the company’s vendor relationships and maintains their dental offices’ direct and indirect procurement needs.
The Challenge
Fragmented purchasing process: Multiple offices with disparate procurement workflows
Vendor management complexity: Frustration handling 70+ suppliers with unreliable pricing
Time-consuming invoice processing: High volume of invoices in various formats
Before partnering with Order.co, each of EPIC4’s 55 orthodontic and pediatric dental offices managed its own ordering. The team purchased supplies by phone, email, and supplier websites with inconsistent pricing across vendors. Sam explained that, being in a “cottage industry” like dentistry, their overall ordering processes were archaic. “[The orthodontists] are used to ordering through their reps, who come and visit [the office], go through the catalog, make sure that they've got everything, and check their stock.”
From brackets to wires to software, each team preferred different products for their orthodontic and pediatric and dentistry practices. Without an approved supplies list, every office independently managed over 70 suppliers and variable pricing. Doing so was time-consuming, inconsistent, and left room for human errors that could negatively impact the patient experience.
With each office purchasing different products from various vendors, EPIC4’s system generated a high volume of both electronic and paper invoices that Sam had to track. Managing payments and returns across their locations was tedious, leading to stress amongst the team. “If you take 55 locations across dozens of suppliers, you're talking about hundreds of invoices, purchase orders, invoices, exceptions, and returns,” Sam shared.
The Procurement Strategy Playbook for Modern Businesses
The Solution: One platform for procurement and vendor management
After struggling with procurement processes as a new and rapidly growing organization, EPIC4 implemented Order.co in February 2023 to streamline their workflows across all 55 locations. One of the key ways they achieved this was by adding products they typically purchased from multiple vendors to the platform in easily accessible, pre-approved lists. “We have 26,000 products loaded on the platform,” Sam said. “Everything is there that you need. Every order that you place through the platform flies through seamlessly, and you don't have to touch it anymore.”
Sam highlighted that he’s utilized various procurement tools in previous roles, such as Coupa, GEP, JAGGAER, Dentira, and Ariba. What separates Order.co the most is “the second P in the Procure to Pay, and that's the invoicing engine,” Sam said. Order.co pays vendors immediately when users make a purchase, and then bills EPIC4 separately in one invoice that accounts for all orders placed on a monthly basis.
Order.co’s platform automated the full P2P cycle and significantly reduced manual workload for both the central procurement team and individual practices – especially with recurring orders. “You can create lists and schedules so that you can make reordering easy. We have a couple of practices that are ordering gloves and brackets once a month. Set it and forget it. Don't have to touch it again.”
The Outcome
50% decrease in time spent on procurement processes
As a direct result of integrating Order.co into their workflows, office managers report a 50% reduction in time spent on procurement activities. Since the EPIC4 team’s time is no longer overwhelmed with purchasing tasks, they’re enjoying better work-life balance and can focus more on company culture. “Given everything else that [office managers] have got going on, they can spend time now with the staff, working on culture, working the patient schedule, and manning the phones.”
Streamlined vendor management and favorable terms
Since Order.co’s consolidated invoice capabilities eliminate the need to hunt down and pay each invoice for multiple suppliers, EPIC4 can maintain a smaller team without sacrificing productivity. “We don't have to have four or five accounts payable people chasing invoices and managing that process manually. It's offloaded the office people as well. They know that any order they process through the platform is completely taken care of.”
Centralized purchasing even enables EPIC4 to leverage its growing spend to negotiate better terms with suppliers. As the EPIC4 team continues to increase spend on the Order.co platform while paying vendors on time, they’re seeing improved cash flow and favorable payment terms that would have been unattainable otherwise. “The ability to pay the suppliers immediately and then for us to be able to pay weekly in batch with net terms is huge for us for cash flow.”
Improved purchasing compliance and greater cost savings
Compliance is also improving ever since the EPIC4 team realized Order.co’s cost-saving capabilities. As they continue ordering through the platform, Sam can negotiate lower costs for future vendor agreements. “We've been able to do a good job in driving compliance to the tool really because that's the best way that we can ensure that our pricing is upheld through the contracts that we've created with those suppliers.”
Ensuring that all purchases flow through Order.co empowers EPIC4 to significantly reduce the administrative burden and manual work required by their previous platform. As a result, their team is focused on other operational improvements knowing that their procurement process is more efficient, cohesive, and cost-effective.