GuocoLand, OCBC Bank and fintech firm Doxa have signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic partnership to develop and pilot the built environment industry’s first end-to-end digital workflow solution to streamline the procurement and payments workflow processes for development projects.
Dubbed “Doxa Connex for Developers,” the platform connects property developers and other parties – banks, contractors, suppliers and consultants – in the built environment value chain.
This solution will be ready in October 2021 and its first use will be supporting Meyer Mansion, GuocoLand’s luxury freehold condominium project by year-end. OCBC Bank is the sole lender for the Meyer Mansion project and one of GuocoLand’s principal banks.
Procurement and payments workflow processes for development projects are still paper-based and thus labour-intensive. A single development project could involve more than a thousand invoices, from the main construction contractor’s invoices to invoices for the development’s consultants, marketing costs, show flat expenses or legal fees.
Doxa Connex for Developers resolves this pain point by digitalising the entire process end-to-end. Using the platform, contractors can create and send e-invoices to developers; architects and external consultants can carry out the required certification via an e-certification process; and developers can send both the e-invoices and e-certifications to their banks to trigger payment.
With workflow automation, Doxa Connex for Developers keeps track of large amounts of data to provide clearer project visibility, as well as full transparency in the procurement and payments workflow processes.
“Piloting Doxa Connex for Developers for Meyer Mansion will automate workflow processes and pave the way for a more efficient, transparent platform for future developments,” said Andrew Chew, CFO of GuocoLand Singapore.
“This digital innovation, developed in collaboration with OCBC and Doxa, will prove to be a game-changer and also future-proof the parties in the value chain from disruptive events such as the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Chew.
Elaine Lam, head of global corporate banking at OCBC Bank, said this collaboration is aligned with their longer term sustainability goals.
“While our initial supplier payment solution helped to digitalise the procurement process from main contractors to sub-contractors and their suppliers, we saw an opportunity to move upstream and connect developers seamlessly to this process as well,” ,” said Edmund Ng, co-founder and managing director of Doxa.
Ng said the success of this pilot will see exponential cost and time savings, and an increase in visibility and productivity across all stakeholders, as they will be all digitally connected in a single space.
