Fast-Growing Centerfield Scales Across 28 Countries

The Challenge

A Finance Team Under M&A Pressure

The company’s previous AP system could handle invoices, but not payments. For a business built around influencers, content creators, and fast-moving partner relationships, payment speed mattered. ERP syncs occurred only a few times a day, stretching processing into a two-week cycle. Expense management ran through Concur, the tool Horton was eager to replace. These challenges weren’t just operational issues. They were growth blockers that could potentially undermine having positive business relationships.

With roughly 300 vendors identified as eligible to accept virtual card payments for invoices, the company wanted to explore using its payment infrastructure to improve efficiency and generate incremental financial returns.

The Solution

AP to a Connected Payments Ecosystem

Tipalti integrated AP automation with Sage Intacct, and that first step gave the team a single workflow for invoice processing and payments across entities and payment methods.

Previously, checks, ACH, PayPal, and wire had to be managed separately, with ERP syncs triggered manually throughout the day. With Tipalti, those workflows came together in one system with real-time integration. Invoices received on a Friday are now processed early the following week and paid within that same window, thanks to the AI-powered invoice management process. This cut the bill-to-payment cycle from more than two weeks to less than one.

That speed mattered internally, but it also notably improved the external user experience. For the company’s network of influencers and partners, fast, consistent payments fostered smoother relationships and built trust.

Once AP was running efficiently, Centerfield expanded into Tipalti Expenses, replacing Concur. The rollout was strikingly simple. Employees adopted the system without formal onboarding, support burden stayed low, and the finance team avoided the drag that usually comes with introducing a new process across a global workforce.

The company then incorporated Tipalti Card, adding both corporate cards and the ability to pay invoices with virtual cards. Tipalti Card now supports employee spending, with the program rolling out globally, including Centerfield’s UK entity, Savoo.

The Result

Compounding Gains Across Finance

Tipalti helped Centerfield do much more than streamline AP processes. It gave the finance team a scalable operating layer for a business growing quickly through acquisition.

The company eliminated 20 weeks of AP work per year and cut its monthly close from 20 days to 8.

One AP specialist now supports accounts payable across 28+ countries, and two acquisitions were absorbed in the past 12 months without adding headcount. 

Replacing Concur introduced an expense experience that employees could use immediately, without training. By shifting eligible vendor payments from ACH and checks to virtual card, Centerfield turned a routine payment workflow into a new source of return, generating $20.5K in cashback revenue to date.  

That’s impressive, but the bigger story is how those gains connect. AP automation created the foundation. Expenses simplified employee spend. Cards extended control and visibility, while adding revenue. Combined, those capabilities helped Centerfield Media build a finance operation that can absorb growth, support global complexity, and make each new acquisition easier to integrate than the last.