Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group - SAP Innovation Awards 2025
Finalist in the AI Excellence category: Cirque du Soleil receives numerous monthly inquiries about invoice statuses from customers and vendors, handled manually by AP Specialists. This manual process is labor-intensive and inefficient. The goal of the project was to implement Generative AI to analyze and determine the root cause of delayed invoice payments, allowing for prompt responses to inquiries. This automation aims to streamline AP workflows, eliminate payment processing delays, and enhance customer and vendor satisfaction. Entry ID#5337 Download the DocumentPUBLIC
Entry Pitch Deck
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
Élodie Bonniard
Sports and Entertainment
Transforming the business with high-flying
invoice assistant powered by SAP Business AI
Entry Pitch Deck
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
Élodie Bonniard
Sports and Entertainment
Transforming the business with high-flying
invoice assistant powered by SAP Business AI
COMPANY NAME:
HEADQUARTERS:
INDUSTRY:
WEBSITE:
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:
Company information
2
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
Montréal, Canada
Sports and Entertainment
www.cirquedusoleil.com
4,000
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group is a world leader in live
entertainment. Building on four decades of pushing the boundaries of the
imagination, the artistic entertainment company brings its creative
approach to a large variety of artistic forms such as live shows,
multimedia productions, long-form content, music, immersive
experiences, and special events. Since its creation in 1984, more than
400 million people have been inspired on 6 continents and 86 countries.
The Canadian company now employs almost 4000 employees, including
1200 artists from more than 80 different nationalities. For more
information about Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, please visit
cirquedusoleil.com.
PUBLIC
HEADQUARTERS:
INDUSTRY:
WEBSITE:
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:
Company information
2
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
Montréal, Canada
Sports and Entertainment
www.cirquedusoleil.com
4,000
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group is a world leader in live
entertainment. Building on four decades of pushing the boundaries of the
imagination, the artistic entertainment company brings its creative
approach to a large variety of artistic forms such as live shows,
multimedia productions, long-form content, music, immersive
experiences, and special events. Since its creation in 1984, more than
400 million people have been inspired on 6 continents and 86 countries.
The Canadian company now employs almost 4000 employees, including
1200 artists from more than 80 different nationalities. For more
information about Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, please visit
cirquedusoleil.com.
PUBLIC
CHALLENGE: SOLUTION: OUTCOME:
Transform the Business with high-flying invoice assistant
3
more than 25% faster response times improvement in handling priority (urgent or
sensitive information) requests
more than 25% reduction in the request
backlog
25%
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
97.92% 25%
Cirque du Soleil processes 70,000 invoices/year.
The Accounts Payable (AP) department is
overwhelmed with invoice inquiries. Around 40% of
these inquiries are asking, “What is the status of my
invoice?” Each inquiry requires an AP Specialist to
manually search for the invoice and then craft a
response. Inquiries are written in French, English
and many other languages requiring AP Specialist to
need translation support to understand the request
and then write a response in French and English.
Cirque du Soleil required intelligent technology that
could automate tasks such as email review,
translation, invoice status investigation and content
creation.
GenAI is used to review email requests received in
a shared inbox, identify nature, urgency and
sentiment of requests and categorize requests
based on these factors. Next, the Invoice Assistant
identifies the invoice number and retrieves the
status information. If multiple invoice numbers are
provided the status of each invoice will be
investigated. The Invoice Assistant delivers the
invoice status information and generates a proposed
email response with the invoice details in French
and English.
Using GenAI decreases response times for urgent
e-mails from 48 hours to 1 hour. Urgent or sensitive
emails are immediately identified and processed
within the hour, avoiding the usual 48-hour delay for
urgency identification, escalation and processing.
Non-priority requests have more than a 25% faster
response time due to GenAI eliminating the tasks for
identifying information requested, retrieving invoice
data from different systems, creating an email
response and translating to working language when
needed. Resulting in a 25% reduction in the request
backlog for the Accounts Payable Specialist.
PUBLIC
Transform the Business with high-flying invoice assistant
3
more than 25% faster response times improvement in handling priority (urgent or
sensitive information) requests
more than 25% reduction in the request
backlog
25%
Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
97.92% 25%
Cirque du Soleil processes 70,000 invoices/year.
The Accounts Payable (AP) department is
overwhelmed with invoice inquiries. Around 40% of
these inquiries are asking, “What is the status of my
invoice?” Each inquiry requires an AP Specialist to
manually search for the invoice and then craft a
response. Inquiries are written in French, English
and many other languages requiring AP Specialist to
need translation support to understand the request
and then write a response in French and English.
Cirque du Soleil required intelligent technology that
could automate tasks such as email review,
translation, invoice status investigation and content
creation.
GenAI is used to review email requests received in
a shared inbox, identify nature, urgency and
sentiment of requests and categorize requests
based on these factors. Next, the Invoice Assistant
identifies the invoice number and retrieves the
status information. If multiple invoice numbers are
provided the status of each invoice will be
investigated. The Invoice Assistant delivers the
invoice status information and generates a proposed
email response with the invoice details in French
and English.
Using GenAI decreases response times for urgent
e-mails from 48 hours to 1 hour. Urgent or sensitive
emails are immediately identified and processed
within the hour, avoiding the usual 48-hour delay for
urgency identification, escalation and processing.
Non-priority requests have more than a 25% faster
response time due to GenAI eliminating the tasks for
identifying information requested, retrieving invoice
data from different systems, creating an email
response and translating to working language when
needed. Resulting in a 25% reduction in the request
backlog for the Accounts Payable Specialist.
PUBLIC
4
The time-consuming research required
to identify the payment status of an
invoice, and its reason was
overwhelming. We were looking for a
more efficient way to handle this, and
SAP Business AI provided us with a
simply stunning answer.
Philippe Lalumière
Vice President of Information Technology, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
PUBLIC
The time-consuming research required
to identify the payment status of an
invoice, and its reason was
overwhelming. We were looking for a
more efficient way to handle this, and
SAP Business AI provided us with a
simply stunning answer.
Philippe Lalumière
Vice President of Information Technology, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
PUBLIC
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Challenges
BUSINESS CHALLENGES
The ongoing supply chain crisis has disrupted industries globally.
These challenges are leading to rising costs for consumers, delays
in product availability, and increased awareness of supply chain
resilience.
At the same time, the rise of AI and automation is transforming the
workforce, but raising concerns about efficiency, job security, and
business resilience. A global challenge facing every human today is
the ability to understand, use, and safeguard Artificial Intelligence in
a way that contributes to societal and economic development
without endangering personal data or human safety.
Cirque trusted its long-term partner to guide and lead this AI-
powered innovation in a compliant and efficient manner, to
streamline processes for Cirque's employees, vendors and
business processes.
Cirque du Soleil’s Accounts Payable department frequently
encountered challenges with managing the high volume of inquiries
from vendors regarding the status of their invoices. Due to the
organization’s global operations, the number of local suppliers was
both extensive and constantly changing. A key challenge was
efficiently processing these invoices while ensuring timely
responses to vendors and adhering to payment schedules as
stipulated in contractual agreements.
The company sought to reduce human errors by obtaining accurate
invoice details and desired a more robust audit trail to improve
transparency and facilitate easier tracking of invoice statuses.
A significant pain point for Cirque was the lack of visibility in the
invoicing and payment processes, which often led to delays. As a
result, Cirque required a technological solution capable of
automating these tasks, ultimately reducing the time and effort
expended by the Accounts Payable team.
Challenges
BUSINESS CHALLENGES
The ongoing supply chain crisis has disrupted industries globally.
These challenges are leading to rising costs for consumers, delays
in product availability, and increased awareness of supply chain
resilience.
At the same time, the rise of AI and automation is transforming the
workforce, but raising concerns about efficiency, job security, and
business resilience. A global challenge facing every human today is
the ability to understand, use, and safeguard Artificial Intelligence in
a way that contributes to societal and economic development
without endangering personal data or human safety.
Cirque trusted its long-term partner to guide and lead this AI-
powered innovation in a compliant and efficient manner, to
streamline processes for Cirque's employees, vendors and
business processes.
Cirque du Soleil’s Accounts Payable department frequently
encountered challenges with managing the high volume of inquiries
from vendors regarding the status of their invoices. Due to the
organization’s global operations, the number of local suppliers was
both extensive and constantly changing. A key challenge was
efficiently processing these invoices while ensuring timely
responses to vendors and adhering to payment schedules as
stipulated in contractual agreements.
The company sought to reduce human errors by obtaining accurate
invoice details and desired a more robust audit trail to improve
transparency and facilitate easier tracking of invoice statuses.
A significant pain point for Cirque was the lack of visibility in the
invoicing and payment processes, which often led to delays. As a
result, Cirque required a technological solution capable of
automating these tasks, ultimately reducing the time and effort
expended by the Accounts Payable team.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES WHY SAP
Objectives
6
▪ Cirque du Soleil is a longstanding SAP co-innovation partner.
▪ SAP offers proven IT solutions to monitor and manage
businesses’ operations.
▪ SAP Business Technology Platform as the integrated foundation
for solution extensions.
▪ Leverage existing SAP BTP and enterprise agreement
investments to address business challenges and meet objectives
▪ SAP-certified built with SAP Business Aif or quick and easy
custom-developed AI applications
▪ SAP AI Core to leverage the power of artificial intelligence in
business processes
Objectives of the Invoice Assistant were to:
▪ Reduce manual effort in reviewing and responding to invoice
inquiries to streamline processes, enabling faster responses
and corrective actions for improved productivity and
customer satisfaction.
▪ Improve invoice status visibility to quickly identify issues and
resolve them proactively, minimizing payment delays.
▪ Immediately identify urgent requests needing processing
avoiding escalations.
▪ Optimize its invoice system to manage the global supplier
base and adapt to the challenges of frequently changing
local suppliers.
▪ Leverage AI or machine learning help streamline invoice
reconciliation, reduce errors, and ensure accurate and
consistent invoice details.
PUBLIC
Objectives
6
▪ Cirque du Soleil is a longstanding SAP co-innovation partner.
▪ SAP offers proven IT solutions to monitor and manage
businesses’ operations.
▪ SAP Business Technology Platform as the integrated foundation
for solution extensions.
▪ Leverage existing SAP BTP and enterprise agreement
investments to address business challenges and meet objectives
▪ SAP-certified built with SAP Business Aif or quick and easy
custom-developed AI applications
▪ SAP AI Core to leverage the power of artificial intelligence in
business processes
Objectives of the Invoice Assistant were to:
▪ Reduce manual effort in reviewing and responding to invoice
inquiries to streamline processes, enabling faster responses
and corrective actions for improved productivity and
customer satisfaction.
▪ Improve invoice status visibility to quickly identify issues and
resolve them proactively, minimizing payment delays.
▪ Immediately identify urgent requests needing processing
avoiding escalations.
▪ Optimize its invoice system to manage the global supplier
base and adapt to the challenges of frequently changing
local suppliers.
▪ Leverage AI or machine learning help streamline invoice
reconciliation, reduce errors, and ensure accurate and
consistent invoice details.
PUBLIC