Nordvest Nett Modernizes Its Invoicing with Ropo

The Norwegian grid company Nordvest Nett cleaned up and modernized its entire invoicing flow. As a result, they achieved automated and streamlined invoicing processes that led to faster payments, better visibility, and freed up capacity in the customer service team.

Nordvest Nett is a regional grid company in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal with approximately 16,500 customers and revenue of around 170 million NOK. With just over 40 employees, the company handles the operation and maintenance of the electricity grid in the municipalities of Vestnes and Haram and the areas of Skodje, Ørskog, and Stordal, alongside administrative functions such as invoicing, customer dialogue, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

“We are a small team with a broad and societally critical responsibility. That’s why we depend on efficient and modern systems that give us control and minimize friction in our daily work,” says Kristin Bergheim, Head of Customer Service at Nordvest Nett.

Cleaned up legacy systems and routines

Just a few years ago, several of Nordvest Nett’s core processes still relied on manual follow-up. Field technicians worked with paper forms, and the customer service team handled tasks such as disconnection lists by hand.

“A lot of it was legacy work. We had several processes that were essentially paper-based,” says Bergheim.

The need for modernization led to a comprehensive digitalization project across both operations and finance.

For invoicing in particular, the system landscape was fragmented. Different suppliers handled invoice delivery, e-invoicing, and collection processes, and much of the follow-up required manual coordination. On top of that, a significant share of invoices was still being sent on paper rather than digitally.

“We wanted better visibility, less manual work, and more robust day-to-day routines. It was as much about control as it was about efficiency,” Bergheim says.

Bringing everything together with one partner

To establish one end-to-end solution from invoice to payment, Nordvest Nett entered into a partnership with Ropo in 2022, adopting Ropo One® and the Unify service module.

The service brought all invoicing-related processes – invoice delivery, payment monitoring, reminder processes, collection, and analytics – together on a single platform, with Ropo One® tightly integrated with Nordvest Nett’s customer information system, Hansen.

“The main reason we chose Ropo was the ability to bring multiple services together with one partner. Integrated sales ledger mirroring and the option to outsource parts of the customer contact were also very important and useful for us,” Bergheim says.

Measurable results across the financial flow

The changes have also had a clear impact on key figures. Nordvest Nett has strengthened its cash flow and, since the beginning of 2024, reduced its average Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) by 1.8 days.

Customer payment delays have been minimal since implementation, and the share of invoices proceeding to reminder and collection has steadily declined over the past two years. At the same time, the resolution rate remains very close to 100%, and a growing share of invoices is now sent digitally. On top of all this comes significant time savings for the Nordvest Nett team.

“We now have a better flow throughout the entire process, which means we receive payments faster, have better visibility, and spend less time on follow-up. Not having to deal with manual routines and time-consuming individual tasks frees up time and resources for other, more value-creating activities,” says Bergheim.

Clearer roles and reduced load on customer service

As Head of Customer Service, Bergheim has seen several benefits from the collaboration and from outsourcing invoice-related customer service. With Nordvest Nett’s strong local presence, customer dialogue has also been an important part of the change.

“As a rather small community, we know many of our customers quite well. That can make it challenging to handle cases related to payments and disconnections,” she says.

With Ropo handling a large part of this dialogue, Nordvest Nett has achieved clearer role allocation.

“It makes it easier to handle cases professionally while also relieving the burden on our internal team,” she says.

At the same time, the grid company has faced increased regulatory requirements, which have raised both the internal workload and the number of customer inquiries.

“We receive more inquiries than before, for example related to electricity support schemes and Norgespris. This places higher demands on both systems and capacity, so having a clear and well-functioning division of responsibilities between us and Ropo has been a major strength.”

Where automation meets human judgment

One of the biggest improvements has been the automation and digitization of the customer follow-up process.

“Now everything runs automatically, which has made the work significantly easier. We also used to send a lot of paper invoices, whereas now our digital share is at a solid and continuously increasing level,” explains Bergheim.

At the same time, strict requirements remain for individual case handling, especially in disconnection processes due to non-payment.

“We cannot automate everything. Every case must be assessed individually before disconnection. That is an important responsibility we have and will always require manual control. But the path leading up to human assessment has become very seamless.”

“We are a small team with a broad and societally critical responsibility. That’s why we depend on efficient and modern systems that give us control and as little friction as possible in our daily work.”

Greater insight and control with built-in analytics

With all invoice and payment data flowing into the Ropo One® platform, the built-in analytics module Ropo OneView® makes data analysis straightforward for both strategic and operational needs.

As part of the Ropo One® Unify solution, Nordvest Nett actively uses Ropo OneView® to monitor developments in key metrics and customer payment behavior. The tool provides continuous visibility and visual dashboards of metrics such as DSO, incoming payments, resolution rates, customer service KPIs, and payment history.

“The analytics tool allows us to easily track developments and maintain control over various key figures. It gives us better insight and makes it easier to identify where we can continue to improve,” says Bergheim.

Help close at hand

Nordvest Nett was Ropo’s first energy sector client in Norway, and the partnership has evolved alongside both the company’s needs and the available solutions.

“It has been a development journey where we have found solutions together along the way. Today, the partnership is well structured, with clear follow-up and easy access to support when we need it,” says Bergheim.

She especially highlights Client Success Manager Mads Hvorup as an important day-to-day contact.

“Mads is very accessible and solution-oriented, and supports us closely in our daily operations. That gives confidence and strengthens the partnership,” she says.

Nordvest Nett is a regional grid company owned by the municipalities of Vestnes, Ålesund, and Fjord. It is responsible for the electricity grid in the municipalities of Vestnes and Haram, as well as the former municipalities of Skodje, Ørskog, and Stordal in the Sunnmøre region. Beyond grid responsibility, Nordvest Nett works on the planning, development, operation, and maintenance of critical power supply infrastructure. Learn more about Nordvest Nett (in Norwegian).

Ropo is the Nordic market leader and pioneer in invoicing technology, transforming the invoicing flow end-to-end. We help companies unify and streamline all invoicing processes to create a seamless workflow, providing full visibility, elevated customer experience, and improved control with a single overview. Committed to exceptional service and our one-platform strategy, we proudly support over 10,000 clients across Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Learn more about Ropo at ropo.com.

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