GAIL (India) Limited has taken a major step towards complete digitization, centralization and automation of its payment processes with the inauguration of its first state-of-the-art Centre for Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) - Shared Service Centre (SSC) by partnering with IBM Consulting.

Titled 'SARATHI', the Centre is a modern facility that will serve as a pan-India hub for processing and managing vendor invoices. The GAIL Centre went live with SAP-OpenText's Vendor Invoice Management.

It is a step forward for GAIL's ongoing efforts to streamline, digitize, automate, and bring further efficiencies in its accounts payable processes. With the central theme of improving vendor experiences, the developed centralized VIM by GAIL aims to provide prompt payments, better experiences, enhanced efficiencies, and transparency to end users.

Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, GAIL said, "The company is playing a pivotal role in developing the Indian economy and is positioning itself to remain competitive and succeed in today's digital world. We are leveraging the latest technologies with the Shared Service Centre to optimize our operations, gain agility and improve ease of doing business. We believe this transformational program will · bring significant benefits to our business and its related stakeholders."

R. K. Jain, Director (Finance), GAIL said, "The Shared Service Center - 'SARATHI', Supplier Portal - 'SPARSH' and 'ASHA' are key initiatives for us to consolidate operations from across GAIL. This will enable us to operate on one standardized platform while driving efficiencies across the Finance operations and enhancing vendor experiences."

The program has been implemented in a record timeframe which is a testament to the close collaboration between GAIL and its partners such as OpenText, SAP and IBM added Jain.

Lula Mohanty, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting APAC said, "SARATHI is a terrific example of initiatives by large public sector organizations across Asia Pacific for maldng the most of technology such as automation, to transform operations and services for business value. Our engagement with GAIL brings together IBM Consulting's deep knowledge & expertise in the energy sector, and our industry-leading technology & business process operations capabilities. This combination is truly a differentiator for clients seeking to deliver outcomes quickly from their transformation efforts."