Severn Trent
automates VAT
Optimising VAT automation
across 10+ entities.
Company size
9,000+ employees
Headquarters
Coventry, UK
Industry
Utilities (water supply)
Use cases with ARKK
VAT automation
Solution
ARKK created a bespoke, standardised VAT workflow, providing Severn Trent with a user-friendly platform that improved team efficiency and VAT process management.
Outcome
Severn Trent streamlined their VAT process, cutting processing time and improving visibility and control across the team.
70%
reduction in VAT filing time
10+
entities streamlined for VAT compliance
Details
The need for optimisation
Severn Trent, a leading water supplier to over 4.5 million households and businesses, faced challenges with their VAT process due to the complexity of managing 11 entities and a large finance team. According to Mike Bannister, Head of Indirect Tax, “We had a lot of complex processes that roll 11 entities into a group VAT return and a large finance team. We had different team members approaching each entity in a different way. We had no way to keep track of where individuals were in the process.”
Despite efforts to add internal checks, the team still had to manually sift through large amounts of data to make corrections every month. They needed a solution to streamline the VAT process, reduce time spent on manual tasks, and improve consistency across the team.
The ARKK Automation Platform
ARKK's customer-first approach led to a collaborative process with Mike’s team to understand their needs. ARKK provided a unified, bespoke VAT workflow that ensured consistency and eliminated inefficiencies across the team.
“ARKK listened to our requirements and provided a bespoke unified standardised workflow allowing a consistency across the team that has been a step change in the management of VAT risk.”
– Mike Bannister, Head of Indirect Tax, Severn Trent
This bespoke solution allowed Severn Trent to manage their VAT processes more efficiently, with greater visibility and control.
Streamlined VAT process and time savings
Severn Trent quickly saw the benefits of ARKK’s solution. The team was able to reduce their VAT process time from seven days to just two, freeing up time for more value-added work. The increased efficiency allowed Mike’s team to focus on more strategic tasks rather than manual data entry and correction.
“The utilization of the team is so much better – freeing up their time to do real value-add work.”
– Mike Bannister
Severn Trent now has full visibility over the status of each team member’s work and greater control during the approval stage. They also achieved full compliance with Making Tax Digital (MTD), ensuring their VAT returns are automated and aligned with the latest regulatory requirements.
Excellent customer support
ARKK’s exceptional customer support was also a key factor in Severn Trent’s successful implementation. Mike’s team received prompt, effective responses to queries, ensuring smooth ongoing use of the platform.
“The support we received from ARKK is excellent. Our queries are acknowledged immediately and longest wait time to resolution has been 24hrs.”
– Mike Bannister