How Royal Pacific is streamlining business workflow with e-invoicing

By Mitchell Lim

Whether distributing crucial personal protective equipment (PPE) or ensuring customers receive online orders on time, the logistics sector is at the heart of facilitating and maintaining the flow of goods worldwide—a particularly relevant and challenging role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these companies is Royal Pacific, a Singapore-born company efficiently and reliably fulfilling the logistical needs of the nation.

To stay competitive and meet growing consumer demands and expectations, logistics companies like Royal Pacific can turn to digitalisation. Recently, Royal Pacific took the initiative to embrace and accelerate their digital transformation by adopting InvoiceNow—a nationwide e-invoicing framework and initiative launched by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in Singapore. By utilising new digital tools like e-invoicing and digital payment solutions, Royal Pacific is able to break free of tedious, manual bookkeeping and empower their employees with much-needed space and time for professional growth.

Embracing digital transformation

Founded in 2019, Royal Pacific pride themselves in delivering all-inclusive logistical services that cater to public needs. The company owns a haulier and vessels in Singapore and Batam, with containerised shipments to and from Indonesia being their primary business focus. Their comprehensive sea freight services include full container load door-to-door import and export worldwide, as well as land services involving cargo delivery and pick-up.

Receiving over a thousand invoices each month, Royal Pacific had to dedicate a significant portion of manpower to data entry, which would then often be prone to human errors due to the tedious and time-consuming nature of the job. With various considerations in mind, Royal Pacific made the move to adopt InvoiceNow in August 2020 with the aim to streamline and transform previously laborious invoicing processes.

Making room for professional growth

No stranger to digitalisation, Royal Pacific had already taken the step to shift some of their workflows to the cloud by storing documents online rather than printing them.

Now, with the adoption of InvoiceNow, Royal Pacific has also successfully slashed time allocated to data entry and review as much as 50 per cent. The shift significantly enhanced the efficiency of their accountants and freed up more time to conduct extensive checks to prevent any errors. E-invoicing has also loosened historically tight deadlines when it comes to invoicing, granting employees much needed breathing space to cultivate a more balanced and conducive work environment.

Furthermore, by shifting to e-invoicing, the company managed to streamline and hasten business workflows. For instance, some documents that can only be submitted on the third week of each month are now ready for submission up to seven days earlier, enabling faster turnover. Additionally, the time saved is put to more productive use—employees are now open to more opportunities for professional growth through upskilling programmes. One such programme two employees attended was an accounts training programme that helped Royal Pacific staff learn more about financial reporting and GST returns.

With a fifth of their invoices now automated, Royal Pacific hopes to encourage more companies in Singapore to get onboard with the digitisation of invoicing processes and digital payments.

Since adopting e-invoicing, Royal Pacific has been able to direct important resources such as employee effort and time towards more complex tasks and upskilling. By embracing processes like InvoiceNow, interested companies can reap similar benefits while bringing Singapore’s industries into the digital future and bolstering the nation’s booming digital economy.