Premium is the hallmark of the original Norwegian outdoor clothing brand Norrøna. That focus on quality is reflected in the ambitions of the company's CFO, who is using artificial intelligence to create better working days and free up at least 1.5 FTEs.
Birgitte Gran Fjellstad has worked her way up through Norrøna's finance department. She started as a controller in 2013, and today she leads what she aims to make the best finance department in its segment.
"We've had several years of strong growth and a lot of innovation, which has made the company considerably more complex. At the same time, the finance department has fallen somewhat behind. We still have traditional financial systems that aren't cloud-based, as well as many manual processes, all of which leave room for human error," she says.
Birgitte Gran Fjellstad
- CFO, Norrøna
“By automating the accounts payable process with Rydoo Accounts Payable, we can free up at least 1.5 FTEs to focus more on value creation within the organisation.”
On the threshold of a digital revolution
Fjellstad can't wait to bring the finance department out of what she describes as the Stone Age.
"We're on the threshold of a digital revolution. For a long time, our product development, production and customer-facing departments have been very innovative. Now it's the finance department's turn. We're done with being frustrated by slow processes."
The department has made it easy to test and adopt new technology such as artificial intelligence.
Alongside Rydoo Accounts Payable, Norrøna is introducing a new cloud-based ERP system, which integrates easily with Rydoo Accounts Payable through open APIs.
"There's a lot of exciting technology on the market. When we choose solutions, we apply the same philosophy we use for our products: Loaded Minimalism. We need features that provide real value, not lots of extras that are costly and make things more complicated," she says.
"When we choose solutions, we apply the same philosophy we use for our products: Loaded Minimalism. We need features that provide real value."
— Birgitte Gran Fjellstad, CFO, Norrøna
More exciting work for everyone
There are currently eight people in the finance department, and the goal is for everyone to have more inspiring work. The sense of quality that customers expect from Norrøna must also run through every tool the team uses.
"We aim to lead the way, and it would be great if others came to us for inspiration."
New solutions are also important for supporting growth in other markets.
"Norway is our largest market, and there's a limit to how much we can grow here at home."
Market share must therefore be won abroad, she points out, which places new demands on financial management.
"Our business model is also constantly evolving. Our in-house loyalty programme is a result of our increased innovation and focus on the end consumer. All of this adds complexity, which affects our financial systems."
Freeing up 1.5 FTEs from invoice handling
Invoice handling has been a particular headache for Fjellstad. "We're still using PDFs 100 per cent of the time. We're way behind where we should be."
That's why Norrøna is replacing its outdated invoicing system with Rydoo Accounts Payable, which will automate the entire accounts payable process.
Onboarding takes place over six weeks. The gradual transition to automation will start in Q1 2022, with everything fully up and running from Q2 onwards. The goal is 100% automation.
"Rydoo Accounts Payable will move us into the future, and we're looking forward to having more automated processes. Right now, we have one person who spends most of his time just handling incoming invoices. By automating the accounts payable process with Rydoo Accounts Payable, we can free up at least 1.5 FTEs to focus more on value creation within the organisation." says Fjellstad.
"By automating the accounts payable process with Rydoo Accounts Payable, we can free up at least 1.5 FTEs to focus more on value creation within the organisation."
— Birgitte Gran Fjellstad, CFO, Norrøna
"We need this to support growth and relieve the pressure on a department that has been working very hard for a long time. Now we can focus on building the expertise we'll need in the future."
Small investment, large return
Fjellstad expects to recoup the investment in Rydoo Accounts Payable in not much more than one quarter. She also has high expectations for the insights the team will gain from analysing each invoice.
"We gain insights from the entire invoice, down to line level, that we can share across the organisation. This empowers all our colleagues to make better-informed decisions."
The value this brings could transform what's expected of the finance department.
"By getting information from every invoice line, we can extract insights at a level that wasn't possible before and work in a much more agile way. This in turn can lead to significant cost savings, while allowing us to work smarter and have more exciting working days," she concludes.