Voxel develops solutions for the digitisation of the value chain: from supplier management, stock control, electronic procurement (orders and delivery notes), electronic invoicing and approval flows and expense management, to electronic payments and collections, the dematerialisation of paper and connection with public administrations.

With more than 8 years of experience in the Dominican Republic, Voxel Caribe is the reference network in the country in the exchange of data between customers and suppliers, with more than 14 million transactions carried out in the country between more than 300 leading companies.

Digitization of administrative processes at Casa Rodríguez

Casa Rodríguez is a trading company importing and distributing mass-market products for small, medium and large businesses in the Dominican Republic. The company has a history of over 40 years in the country.

While in full expansion, three of their top clients ask Casa Rodríguez to digitize their communications with them. In other words, they want them to digitize order receipt and invoice issuance.

Faced with this request, Casa Rodríguez decides to analyse its processes. It is then that the company realizes there are several aspects with room for improvement regarding its administrative processes:

• Manual processing of purchase orders brings about errors…
• … with ensuing operational delays.
• Matching codes with customers is an expensive, lengthy, manual process.
• Credit notes to rectify invoice mismatches become more frequent.

After the analysis, Casa Rodríguez decides to seek a technological partner to digitize and automate some of its administrative processes, specifically order receipt and invoice issuance.

The company elects baVel and the companies get to work on the project in 2017.

Four years later, Voxel asked those responsible for the project at Casa Rodríguez about it. The results were so positive that we decided to put together a success story.

What will you find in this success story?

•  Before and after: from analogue to digital processes.
• The baVel tool implementation process.
• The benefits garnered in the administrative department.
• The benefits garnered in the operations department.
• Feedback from employees.
• Feedback from customers.
• Other digitization projects underway.
• And much more!

Read the entire success story here:

Voxel Caribe, the company specialized in electronic invoicing and B2B payments, has become the first provider certified by the DGII to issue electronic tax receipts (e-CF) in the Dominican Republic

Voxel Caribe, which has been advancing this technology in the Dominican Republic for over 8 years, is the first company to meet all the requirements for certification as a Dominican e-CF e-invoice provider:

• A portfolio of at least 5 clients with electronic tax settlement systems in production, namely Nestlé Dominicana, Distribuidora Corripio, Grupo CCN, Dominican Watchman National and “Administración y Atesoramiento”.
• Settling its own tax payments electronically.

In addition, Voxel Caribe is the tech partner that has accompanied most companies in the official certification in the Dominican Republic.

From now on, any business that wishes to settle tax electronically will be able to do so with the help of Voxel Caribe. The benefits of issuing e-CF e-invoices assisted by a technology partner are legion:

• Benefits from a robust technology and certified by the Dominican DGII Internal Revenue Service.
• A secure, functional and robust connection process.
• Quicker deployment processes.

Voxel thus takes one step further in its commitment to digital development and the implementation of electronic invoicing in the Dominican Republic. The firm already has over 300 businesses in its portfolio, and they all now use Voxel’s electronic invoicing and B2B payment solutions.

Solutions for your company’s digital transformation

The Voxel Caribe solutions—baVel and baVelPay by VISA—digitize and automate the entire supply chain of a company. This includes the catalogue, orders, receipt of goods, invoices, credit notes, payments, etc.

baVel is an electronic invoicing platform that optimizes all back-office processes. The technology reduces errors and incidents, improves traceability and document control, and favours dematerialization.

Meanwhile, baVelPay by Visa facilitates electronic payments between companies. There are many benefits for both buyer and seller. First, they enjoy the security and reliability of payment settlement through the Visa network. It also reduces the unit cost of invoice processing. And finally, it reduces collection times, helping enhance a company’s efficiency and improve cash flow.

In the words of Voxel Caribe Vice President Gina Lovatón, “the digitization and automation of back-office processes are especially important in the context of the pandemic we are experiencing. Digitizing these processes contributes to social distancing, helps improve the efficiency of companies and boosts their competitiveness.”

The electronic invoice in the Dominican Republic

The implementation of electronic invoicing is progressing in the Dominican Republic. In 2019, DGII launched an electronic invoicing pilot with the participation of over 10 companies. Following the successful completion of the pilot, the DGII published standard 01-2020 regulating the use of electronic invoicing in the country. Since then, businesses can choose to settle taxes through a certified provider such as Voxel Caribe, or transmit electronic invoices directly to the DGII using their digital signature to send and validate the documents.

Automation of purchase order receipts at Álvarez & Sánchez

Álvarez & Sánchez is an import and distribution company trading in the Dominican Republic since 1979. They were at first dedicated to general supplies for their customers. Then, in 1980, the company began to incorporate iconic spirit, wine and champagne brands. The 80s also saw Álvarez & Sánchez begin distribution of cold meats.

Over the years its customer portfolio has grown and diversified, and the products the company imports and distributes reach the consumer via different distribution channels: supermarkets, wholesalers, grocery stores and pharmacies, as well as restaurants, bars, hotels and even bakers.

In 2015, one of their top customers asked Álvarez & Sánchez to digitize the order receipt and invoice issuance process. The company then analysed that entire process. They drew the following conclusions:

• The receipt and processing of orders is a highly manual process.
• They identified errors that could be prevented.
• The order management process could take up to 3 days.
• Deriving from this entire process, the use of credit notes in the billing process was common.

So as to make this process more efficient, the company decided to digitize the receipt and capture of orders with baVel.

After more than 5 years of using baVel technology in its back-office processes, the benefits Álvarez & Sánchez have seen are manifold. And we have collected them in a new success story.

What will you find in this success story?

• What the process of order receipt and invoice issuance was like before digitization.
• What necessary improvements were identified in the initial analysis.
• The baVel implementation process at Álvarez & Sánchez.
• The value that the baVel platform brought to the company.
• The project manager’s opinion of the digitization process.
• The quantitative and qualitative benefits of the digitization project.
• The new projects Álvarez & Sánchez are planning.
• And much more!

Read about the entire success story here:

Last Tuesday, June 16, Voxel Caribe participated in a webinar organized by the Commerce Chamber of Santo Domingo about the benefits of electronic invoicing and the current situation in the country. 

During the online conference, Gina Lovatón, Vicepresident at Voxel Caribe, talked about the role of baVel, the electronic invoicing platform, in the country’s digital transformation and the electronic invoicing pilot of the DGII, the local Tax Authority. On the other hand, Gilberto Calderón, CIO of DGII project at Voxel Caribe, presented the success case of Nestlé, one of the first companies to implement electronic invoicing in the Dominican Republic. 

Electronic invoicing system and digital signature

The country has been working in the implementation of an electronic invoicing system for the taxpayers. In January of this year, the DGII presented a voluntary electronic invoicing system for companies and individuals. 

At the moment, any company or individual can voluntarily adhere to the new electronic invoicing system and start sending electronic tax receipts (e-CF in Spanish) to the local tax authority. During the pilot, 4 out of 11 companies that participated used baVel as the technology partner: Nestlé, Centro Cuesta Nacional (CCN), Distribuidora Corripio and Cervecería Nacional Dominicana.

This way, these companies can issue electronic invoices through baVel, not only to the DGII but also to their electronic clients. It allows them to eliminate manual tasks, mitigate errors and accelerate the collection process. Furthermore, it provides them with extra visibility of their processes, as well as an increase in security and integrity of documents. 

On the other hand, Iván Santana, Digital Solutions at the Commerce Chamber of Santo Domingo, talked about the digital signature, a key element of the electronic invoicing. The Commerce Chamber has been issuing digital signatures and helping companies to integrate the digital signature for more than 10 years. 

Success Case: Nestlé

On this line, Gilberto Abreu, IT Business Relationship Manager at Nestlé, explained the case of the multinational company, one of the first companies to implement electronic invoicing next to the DGII and Voxel Caribe. 

According to Abreu, it has brought them many benefits, such as reducing manual tasks and errors and saving time and paper. However, he pointed out the importance of the technology partner to start the transformation: “One of the key factors was to work with Voxel Caribe, as it made the technical aspect easier”, assured. 

And added, “the sooner more companies start to use the electronic invoicing system, the more benefits we will all obtain”. 

More than 150 people attended the webinar in Zoom and it had more than 100 views in Youtube. You can watch it again here: 

Last Friday, May 29, Gina Lovatón, Vicepresident at Voxel Caribe, participated in the interviews series Tech Talks, an initiative of the magazine Revista Mercado about digital transformation, technology innovation and expectations after the coronavirus crisis. 

During the interview, Gina Lovatón talked about baVel’s role, the electronic invoicing platform of Voxel Group, in digital transformation and the trajectory of the company in the country. 

Opportunities in the new context 

When asked about how digital transformation is going to evolve in the country, Lovatón pointed out the importance of digitalization to make companies more efficient. “Most companies will start because of the crisis, but it has been an urgent and important matter to transform and digitize the processes of the companies”, assured Lovatón. 

The current crisis is accelerating the innovation and optimization of processes for many companies. “The digitalization solves inefficiencies and eliminates non-valuable tasks”, she added. 

The DGII and the electronic invoicing 

The project of electronic invoicing of the DGII is one of the greatest examples in digital transformation progress in the country. From January 2020, companies and private individuals can voluntarily adhere to the new electronic invoicing system of the public authority. 

On this matter, Lovatón pointed out the importance of electronic invoicing as part of the digitalization process. According to Lovatón, most companies are renovating their processes to face the current situation more efficiently and reducing administrative costs. 

baVel in The Dominican Republic 

baVel’s platform facilitates the exchange of transactional information between clients and providers, helping them digitize their supply chain and all their invoicing processes. “Our main objective is to digitize 100% the invoicing process of our clients. We provide value to the procurement, invoicing and payment cycle by optimizing the processes and fostering innovation”, explained Lovatón. 

During the interview, they also talked about baVelPay, which allows companies to send online payments to their providers. A tool that has become really important during this crisis as it eliminates the need to manage and physically cash checks. 

To date, baVel has become the reference network in the country to exchange data between clients and providers. The company provide its services to more than 300 Dominican companies and has processed more than 3 million transactions. 

Well-known companies such as Grupo Ramos, Distribuidora Corripio, Nestle or RIU, among others, are using baVel’s platform to exchange transactional information (orders, invoices, credit notes, etc.). 

The crisis as an opportunity

The technology sector will be key to reactive the economy of the country. Most companies are focusing on their internal processes, technology innovation and the digitalization to have a better response capacity in front of the crisis. 

In Lovatón’s words: “This crisis gave us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves”. 

 

You can watch the interview again here: 

Digitization has become a key aspect for retail companies in The Dominican Republic. The current security and social distancing measures are promoting that companies explore new technologies to change the daily processes that required physical contact, such as cashing checks and invoices. 

However, not all companies have the same needs of digital transformation. Especially, small and medium-sized companies that do not have many resources. 

On this matter, and after the success of the last session of the baVel Digital Summit, baVel’s team in Voxel Caribe wanted to prove to small and medium-sized providers that the digital transformation is accessible. Companies will only need a computer and Internet connection to start the digitization transformation. Companies that started this process and are currently using the baVel’s platform explained their experience during a Workshop held last May 12. 

Digitization, from the purchase order to the electronic invoice

The transactions platform baVel allows digitizing the supply chain from purchase orders to invoices, supply reception, claims and credit notes. 

“baVel allows us to receive purchase orders, and digitize and process them into our ERP; saving time and reducing errors to almost 0”, assured Julio Adames, IT Director at Álvarez & Sánchez. A&S was one of the first companies to start the digital transformation with baVel, “the fact of having baVel’s tool made our lives easier”. 

On this matter, they highlighted the adaptability and agility as some of the multiple benefits of having the transactional information on one point. “We eliminate the duplicate work and focus on added-value tasks”, pointed out the CEO at Ditex, Joan Juliá Calac. 

baVelPay, the elimination of checks 

On the other hand, companies also agreed on the importance of having a solution that allows them to pay while keeping social distancing and maintaining the company’s cashflow. 

On this line of work, baVelPay offers electronic payment services and let companies simplify their verification and issuance process and eliminate checks. This allows companies to rapidly adapt during the crisis and follow the security measures of the Dominican Government. “baVelPay eliminates the need to cash checks physically, which allowed us to work remotely and keep the social distancing measures”, highlighted Julio García, Controller at United Brands. 

Furthermore, baVelPay also contributes to cut costs in the administrative department and reduce the average collection period thanks to the automatic reconciliation of invoices. In Paola Hernández’s words, Operations Director at Le Buffet, “With electronic payments we could cut our costs and eliminate processes while saving time”. 

The e-Commerce 

Lastly, e-Commerce is a solution for companies with less technological capacity. In this case, the supplier can digitize the product’s catalogue to make clients order electronically. 

A simple solution to adapt daily processes into the digital world. It also adds some competitive advantages, such as reducing manual errors and increasing visibility and traceability of products. 

The digital transformation of the retail sector 

Once again, we could analyse first-hand how the retail industry is facing the current exceptional situation. Applying technology to the processes of the retail sector will be key to keep moving forward. A transformation that is becoming more accessible to all company sizes. 

If you would like to find out more about baVel and how it can help your company in the digital transformation, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.