Afval Alternatief streamlines invoice matching and margin control with smart AI application
Background
AfvalAlternatief is a Flemish waste management company that helps businesses and SMEs handle their waste streams in a correct and sustainable way. They work with a flexible network of partners and offer tailored services such as container pickups, waste scans and sorting advice. Their approach is personal, circular and efficient.
Challenge
For every completed order, the incoming invoice from subcontractor Ecoson had to be compared manually with the original order in Business Central, AfvalAlternatief’s ERP system. Since Ecoson operates with its own separate system, it wasn’t integrated into AfvalAlternatief’s workflow.
This meant that employees had to constantly switch between screens and tabs to check whether prices, volumes and contract terms matched before the customer invoice could be sent out. A labor-intensive process that consumed a lot of time and left little room for strategic work.
Solution
During the Start AI track with CROPLAND, this 3-way matching challenge quickly became clear. As a result, CROPLAND built a tailored solution on the Azure platform, based on the logic of so-called ‘3-way matching’ — automatically comparing sales invoices, purchase invoices and contract terms.
The results are presented in an Excel dashboard, where discrepancies are clearly highlighted using color codes. This gives the team instant visibility into what needs to be checked, without going through hundreds of lines manually.
In addition, a clear user guide was provided so employees could confidently use the tool on their own.
Benefits
- Time savings: manual invoice comparison is largely eliminated.
- Faster error detection: discrepancies in price or margin are immediately flagged.
- Clear margin insights: every job is automatically analysed for profitability.
- Ease of use: everything happens in a familiar Excel environment.
“Thanks to this solution, we’ve tripled the number of automatically processed orders. It not only saves us time, it brings peace of mind.”
— Bjorn Anthonis, CFO AfvalAlternatief
Results
The application has been in use since spring, and the efficiency gains are clearly visible. In July alone, AfvalAlternatief processed over 750 orders semi-automatically, up from 298 in May.
The AI algorithm is also learning fast. In the first month, around 10% of invoices were matched fully automatically. That figure has now increased to 35%. This already translates to a monthly saving of three to four days of manual work.
The long-term goal is to reach 80% full automation. At stable order volumes, that would free up over 100 days per year from repetitive administrative work — time that can be reinvested in value-added tasks.