Autonomous Accounts Payable in Fashion & Retail

From 30% to 80% STP for a global fashion retailer

Key Takeaways

Challenge: Processing 800k invoices 
annually across 15 countries, causing 
approval delays of up to 4 weeks, high
operational costs, and compliance risks.

Transactions footprint: invoices, credit
notes, receipts, e-invoices, other AP 
documents.

ERP System: SAP ECC, OpenText VIM
Workflow, as well as Vertex for US Sales 
Tax Database Validation.

Solution:  AI-powered IDP integrated with
our client’s existing systems in place,
automating 95% of invoice ingestion across
7 languages and multiple formats, ensuring
compliance and faster approvals.

Impact: 40% reduction in manual effort,
80% straight-through processing rate,
and invoice cycle times reduced from 
4 weeks to 5 days.

Rollout: 6 months.

Our client

A top fashion retailer with footprint in 70 countries

One of the world’s largest fashion retailers, operating in over 70 countries with annual revenues exceeding $20 billion, faced significant inefficiencies in its accounts payable (AP) process. With a highly complex, global operation processing around 800,000 invoices annually, manual effort and fragmented workflows led to compliance risks and operational bottlenecks. Hypatos partnered with them to transform their AP process, driving automation, efficiency, and compliance improvements at scale.

Challenge

Fragmentation, Low Capturing Automation, Multi-Region Tax Complexity

Prior to implementing Hypatos, the customer's invoice management across 70+ markets had only 20–50% capture automation and limited downstream process automation. Several factors triggered the transformation of their AP process:

Penalty Payments & Tax Compliance

Prior to implementing Hypatos, the customer's invoice management across 70+ markets had only 20–50% capture automation and limited downstream process automation. Several factors triggered the transformation of their AP process:

Limited Data Extraction Automation

Global Inconsistencies

Challenge

Hypatos + SAP ECC: Intelligent AP Without Workflow Disruption

Hypatos implemented a comprehensive AI-powered AP automation solution, integrating seamlessly with the customer’s SAP ECC and OpenText VIM. The rollout was structured in five key phases:

Wave 1 (Pilot): Focused on select markets to test and refine the solution.

Wave 2 (EMEA): Expanded automation across key European countries.

Wave 3 (Americas): Integrated advanced tax compliance for US operations.

Wave 4 (APAC): Addressed multi-language invoice complexities.

Wave 5 (Rest of World): Final consolidation and handover for full client ownership.

Key capabilities included:

Autonomous Accounts Payable in Fashion & Retail

Global Standardization & Efficiency at Scale

50% increase in straight-through processing

40% reduction in manual effort for invoice handling

Faster processing times, improving overall vendor relationships

Improved compliance, reducing tax penalties and errors

Standardized AP processes globally, enabling scalable automation

Solutions

Reach AP excellence with AI agents

Unleash the potential of your people and business

Dial up results for any team with autonomous transaction processing