ReadSoft

ReadSoft

Type	Public (OMX Stockholm: [1])
Founded	Helsingborg, SWE (1991)
Headquarters	Helsingborg, Sweden, SWE
Key people	Göran E Larsson, Chairman Jan Bertilsson, CFO
Products	Applications for business process automation, on-premises, in the cloud, mobile, and hybrid
Revenue	SEK 663 million (2011)
Net income	SEK 74.5 million (2011)
Number of employees	Over 600 (2014)
Website	www.readsoft.com

ReadSoft is a global provider of applications for automating business processes. ReadSoft was founded by two university students in Linköping, Sweden, in 1991, both of which were still actively involved in the management of the company until the point of sale to Lexmark. The company is headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden and its share is traded on the NASDAQ OMX - Stockholm Small Cap list. ReadSoft has operations in 17 countries and a partner network in an additional 70 nations.^[2]

Company operations

ReadSoft’s specialties include accounts payable automation, accounts receivable automation, sales order processing, and digital mailroom solutions. According to the company, ReadSoft’s on-premises and cloud solutions for document process automation enable some of the world’s largest corporations as well as small and medium businesses to compete and thrive in today’s environment by improving customer and supplier satisfaction, increasing operating efficiency, and providing greater visibility into business processes.

ReadSoft has been regarded as an "AP invoice specialist" - AP is a common abbreviation of Accounts Payable - by Gartner, an independent information technology research and advisory company. Specialist software is designed to integrate with the AP software from ERP systems, such as Oracle and SAP. For example, ERP integration may take advantage of single-sign-on processes, eliminating the need for employees to juggle multiple logons and systems.^[3]

With more than 12,000 customers,^[2] ReadSoft claims to be the market leader of the Document Process Automation segment - a term first coined by ReadSoft itself to cover the technology that automates the processing of business documents. It involves data capture and extraction (optical character recognition) from paper and electronic documents, integration with company's existing ERP system and routing to company agents for approvals and problem resolution via workflow.

ReadSoft maintains SAP and Oracle competency/development centers which provide integrated solutions for companies with SAP or Oracle, respectively. Market analyst firm Harvey Spencer Associates reports ReadSoft with a 13% market share.^[4]

ReadSoft: Business simplified

“Business simplified” is the theme of the approach that ReadSoft takes in delivering value to its customers and partners. ReadSoft's concept notes that businesses are expected to continually increase value while lowering operational costs. But this can be difficult when the business-critical information flowing through an organization is not handled efficiently or effectively. In order to succeed, organizations of all sizes must simplify to thrive, states the company's Business Simplified concept.^[5]

ReadSoft says that optimizing business processes can improve service levels, increase customer retention, and help companies quickly adapt to growth opportunities. Business agility and continuous innovation are keys to success. By automating the labor-intensive, manual procedures that slow business processes, ReadSoft empowers organizations to focus on the higher value work that impacts bottom-line profitability and generates repeat business. ReadSoft’s business process automation applications handle most document types - whether it’s an invoice, an order, a claim, or any other paper or electronic form - enabling businesses to fully control the processing of business-critical document data from a single platform.

Lexmark acquires ReadSoft

In May 2014, US Company Lexmark International, Inc announced a bid to buy out all remaining shares in ReadSoft.^[6] The deal was completed in late 2014 and ReadSoft now operates as part of Lexmark's Enterprise Software (formerly Perceptive Software) division.

References