TF1 Publicité optimizes invoice-to-cash cycle with SAP and IBM
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- Europe
Country
- France
Product
- SAP for Media
- SAP ERP
- Optipub
- Gaspar
- Trafic
Tech Stack
- SAP
- EDI
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Cost Savings
- Customer Satisfaction
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Inventory Management Systems
Applicable Functions
- Sales & Marketing
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Supply Chain Visibility
- Inventory Management
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
About The Customer
TF1 Publicité is the advertising sales division of TF1, France’s largest free-to-air broadcaster in terms of audience share. In addition to selling ad space on behalf of TF1 Group companies, TF1 Publicité acts as a broker for external clients, such as other television broadcasters, radio broadcasters, and web publishers. Ad sales make up more than 90 percent of TF1 Group’s revenues, and TF1 Publicité’s role is critical to the success of the business as a whole. The company works in a fast-moving environment and must ensure the timely booking and placement of 150,000 ads monthly across numerous TV, radio, and web channels. In addition to traditional ad spots, the company also manages brand sponsorship of TV programs, further increasing complexity.
The Challenge
TF1 Publicité, the advertising sales division of TF1, France’s largest free-to-air broadcaster, was facing challenges with its invoicing processes. The company had to handle client billing in multiple systems, which led to delays, inflexibility, and inefficiency. This prevented the agency from meeting client expectations for automated electronic invoicing. Without a single, standardized process for invoicing clients, TF1 Publicité could not optimize billing processes or meet client expectations around automation and the introduction of electronic billing. To maintain its position in the French market, the company needed to rationalize and simplify the invoice-to-cash cycle, automate its processes, and enable greater flexibility and granularity in invoicing.
The Solution
TF1 Publicité engaged IBM Global Business Services and SAP to deploy a consolidated billing, revenue recognition, and debt recovery system based on the SAP for Media solution. Over the course of a two-year project, the combined team developed a sophisticated solution that integrates complex multi-channel advertising order data from three major operational systems and automates both invoicing and recovery. The deployment of SAP for Media (project Gamma) began during the rollout of the core SAP ERP solution across all Group companies. Project Gamma covers order-to-cash flows, revenue recognition, and sales agent settlement, making it TF1 Publicité’s sole invoicing system. The project lasted two years and involved both business and technical specialists from IBM, SAP, TF1 Publicité, and the broader TF1 Group.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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