Irvine-based software developer Ephesoft has teamed up with Fortude, a global IT consulting company with domestic headquarters in New York, to help more bill-paying departments automate the handling of the thousands of documents they receive each day.
It’s the latest sign of growth for privately held Ephesoft. For founder and Chief Executive Ike Kavas, there’s one key to the growing push for more efficient accounts payable systems: COVID-19.
“The pandemic caused accounts payable departments to shift their mindset,” Kavas told the Business Journal on Oct. 13. “So, we’re seeing a lot of accounts payable departments automating. I see that trend will continue.”
Ephesoft ranks No. 37 on this year’s Business Journal list of Best Places to Work in Orange County, among medium-size employers (see lists, starting page 30).
In the new arrangement, Ephesoft provides the software, while Fortude provides the consulting and professional services to make it all work as part of what the firms called a “global alliance partnership” in their Sept. 29 announcement.
Fortude has the right to resell Ephesoft products and services.
“Fortude has been living and breathing in that space for a very long time,” Kavas said.
Kavas founded privately held Ephesoft in 2010 and the company has 130 employees worldwide, with offices in Singapore, France, London, Frankfurt, New Delhi, and Boise, Idaho, in addition to Irvine.
It’s one of several local software companies—such as Irvine-based Kofax Inc.—that help speed up the handling of documents and invoices.
Threefold Increase
The price for Ephesoft depends on the volume and speed, with average deals ranging from $30,000 to over $1 million, the company says.
Customers use the Irvine company’s technology to automate any document-based business processes or task, improving accuracy, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
“This year, compared to last year, accounts payable automation for customers using Infor products has grown three times for us, which is why partners like Fortude are important,” Kavas said. Both Ephesoft and Fortude are key partners of Infor, a global business software developer also based in New York.
Security is always of utmost concern to customers and Ephesoft, so the company has many security policies in place and its platform is on AWS (Amazon Web Services), which adheres to strict security procedures and protection.
“We protect our system by utilizing not only internal tests but also outside companies to continually test our system,” said Kavas, who noted that customers also have to keep their own security systems updated.
Benefit
By implementing Ephesoft’s technology, enterprises with a high volume of documents will benefit from intelligent document processing automation, especially for invoices, financial services documents, claims, loans, mailroom, human resources, healthcare and government records and ID extraction.
Using artificial intelligence and patented machine learning technology, Ephesoft’s platform captures data from documents, enriches it with context and amplifies the power of that data, adding intelligence to accelerate the business process and drive what it calls “successful digital transformation.”
The typical bill-paying department is surrounded by paper, with even more flowing in daily. Ephesoft’s system provides companies with a way get the information into a digital, easy-to-manage format.
No Expertise
Kavas said the company’s latest product, Semantik Invoice, can be implemented within a matter of minutes, with no expertise needed.
Semantik Invoice gives “opportunity to any type of company to automate their accounts payable department” with volumes as low as a few hundred invoices.
