Case study Β· Finance / Accounts Payable

The digital colleague that clears Louwman's invoice mountain

Sylvester sorts, reads and enriches invoices for automotive group Louwman across Retail, Holding and Wholesale. It works the creditor and invoice inboxes and turns their PDFs into clean data in ISP Next, so the finance teams spend their time on the exceptions.

5.9
FTE delivered
16,800+
cases & conversations / month
99.3%
STP rate
8
AP inboxes managed
Sylvester
Financial assistant
EmployerLouwman Group
ChannelMailboxes & ISP Next
MarketNetherlands
Live since2025
Live
For LouwmanLive since 2025

Finance / Accounts Payable

Meet Sylvester

The digital employee in Louwman's finance teams. It sorts invoice email across the group and reads every PDF into ISP Next.

5.9
FTE delivered
16,800+
cases & conversations / month
99.3%
STP rate
8
AP inboxes managed
Industry
Automotive
Department
Finance / AP
Channel
Mailboxes & ISP Next
Market
Netherlands
Live since
2025
Status
Live

Curriculum Vitae

How Sylvester earned its place at Louwman

From sorting the creditor and invoice inboxes to reading and enriching every PDF. This is the track record of Louwman's finance digital employee.

2025Appointment

Sylvester takes over the invoice inbox

Sorting the creditor and invoice inboxes
Pain
Louwman's finance teams juggled 8 shared creditor and invoice inboxes across Holding and Retail, with high volumes of invoices, reminders and other mail landing in the same place. Someone had to route every message before processing could even start.
Solution
Sylvester sorts every incoming email across the group's 8 creditor and invoice inboxes, classifying invoices, reminders and other mail and directing each PDF to the right place in ISP Next.
Result
With over 90% accuracy at high volume, around 7,000 invoices a month in Retail, 3,000 in Wholesale and 1,500 in Holding, the right documents reach ISP Next automatically.
Mailbox ManagementDocument ExtractionExtract & Validate DataAction Fulfilment
2026Promotion

From sorting to processing

Reading and enriching every invoice
Pain
Even after sorting, half of Retail invoices needed manual fixes, up to 20 minutes each, to correct VAT, add missing header data and prepare them for approval.
Solution
Sylvester now reads each PDF invoice, extracts the line-item data and enriches ISP Next: correcting VAT rates, adding Vastgoed addresses for Holding and license plates for Retail.
Result
Routine invoice work is automated, so the teams focus on the complex cases instead of retyping data, against targets of 90% recognition and 95% data accuracy.
Extract & Validate Data
2026Promotion

Delivering finance capacity at scale

A measured, group-wide finance colleague
Pain
To be trusted across three divisions, Sylvester's impact had to be reliable and measurable, not just fast.
Solution
Sylvester's recognition and accuracy are monitored on a dashboard, with reminders and suggested approval flows keeping invoices moving toward SAP.
Result
Sylvester now delivers 5.9 FTE of finance capacity a month across 16,800+ cases and conversations, at a 99.3% STP rate.
Action FulfilmentMailbox Management
NextNext role

What's next for Sylvester

More automation, more teams
Pain
Today only PDF invoices are processed and supplier follow-up is still manual. Non-PDF formats and other divisions fall outside the current scope.
Solution
On the roadmap: automated supplier communication on rejected invoices, due-date flagging, and extending processing to more formats and teams across the group.
Result
The aim is a finance colleague that handles the full invoice lifecycle, from inbox to approval, across all of Louwman.
Action FulfilmentExtract & Validate Data

Skills

What Sylvester does at Louwman

Four finance capabilities working across the invoice flow.

Skill 01

Mailbox Management

Classifies each incoming email as invoice, reminder or other and routes it to the right place.

At Louwman
Sorts 8 creditor and invoice inboxes across Retail and Holding with 90%+ accuracy.
Skill 02

Document Extraction

Reads structured, line-item data from PDF invoices.

At Louwman
Extracts supplier, amount, VAT, IBAN, KVK, invoice number and date.
Skill 03

Extract & Validate Data

Validates and corrects extracted data before it enters ISP Next.

At Louwman
Fixes VAT rates and adds Vastgoed addresses (Holding) and license plates (Retail).
Skill 04

Action Fulfilment

Completes the follow-through: enriching ISP Next, suggesting approval flows and sending reminders.

At Louwman
Pushes clean data into ISP Next and chases approvers.

Performance

How Sylvester keeps score.

Volume shows the workload Sylvester carries across the group; quality and impact show how cleanly and reliably that work is delivered.

Cases & conversations / month
16,800+
Handled across the group
Retail invoices / month
7,000
Highest-volume division
AP inboxes managed
8
Creditor & invoice mailboxes
Divisions served
3
Retail, Holding & Wholesale
STP rate
99.3%
Processed straight through, no human
Workload delivered
5.9 FTE
Full-time-equivalent capacity
Invoice recognition
90%
Target recognition rate
Data accuracy
95%
Target extraction accuracy
Figures are measured across Retail, Holding and Wholesale, with recognition and accuracy targets tracked on a shared dashboard.

Connected systems

It works the tools Louwman already runs.

No re-platforming. Sylvester reads from and writes to the mailboxes, ISP Next and SAP the finance teams already use every day.

ISP Next
Invoice processing
SAP
ERP & master data
Outlook
Invoice mailboxes
Freeday portal
Monitoring & dashboards

Automotive

Finance automation for multi-brand automotive groups

Large automotive groups run finance across many entities, brands and mailboxes, each with its own quirks. A digital employee plugs into the existing stack (mailboxes, ISP Next and SAP) to sort, read and enrich invoices without changing how the teams work.
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