Have You Outgrown Your Current Accounts Payable Software?

For some companies, simple Accounts Payable technology is enough—their business doesn’t need the robust capabilities of a mature solution. But if you’re steadily scaling, adequate means to pay supplier bills and lightweight bookkeeping capabilities aren’t going to cut it. You need an Accounts Payable process that is going to grow with you.

5 Signs It’s Time for an AP Upgrade

1. Increasing Payment Volume

The larger an organization becomes, the more bills it needs to pay. But it’s not just the invoice process that growing companies need to contend with—the entire supplier engagement process is impacted, including onboarding, tax identity collection, invoice management, and payments.

2. Weakening Financial Controls

As a company grows, more people will be involved in the day-to-day payables processes, and they’ll be accessing critical systems. Increased financial controls are crucial to securing payables data and processes.

3. Tedious Reconciliation Processes

Any standard bank account will have issues with float because of paper checks. And, if your business is paying via wire transfers, PayPal, or eCheck, your current solution might not provide proper control or visibility.

4. Supplier Churn

If you value what your suppliers bring to your business, then supplier payables have an increasing impact on the overall daily operations of the company. It’s imperative to everyone’s success that global suppliers get paid electronically and on time. 

5. Going Global

Global suppliers have unique needs, and if your business is going to rely on cross-border providers, it must be ready to address all the added complexities of international payments.

The AP Software Checklist for Growing Businesses 

If the five signs above resonate with you, it’s time to move to an AP automation technology that’s modern, easy to use, and designed to scale with you. These are the capabilities you should be looking for in an upgraded solution:

• Global Payments, pay suppliers in multiple countries and currencies, without any caps on individual payments.
• Multi-Entity Support, manage AP across global and domestic subsidiaries and entities through a single platform.
• Financial Controls, employ strong financial controls, granular role permissions, and regulatory screening before all outbound payments.
• Tax & Regulatory Compliance, utilizes a KPMG-certified compliant tax module that automates tax identity collection and validation for IRS and VAT compliance.
• Supplier Management, implement a white-labeled self-service portal that offloads data collection and payment options to suppliers. 
• Accelerated Payments, remove the challenge of extending supplier payment terms and offer early payments.
• World-Class Support, get fast, expert responses from a dedicated team that’s focused on your continued success. 

The Proof is in the Numbers

For these three companies, moving to a more robust AP solution transformed their financial operations. 

GoDigital Media Group

Based in Marina Del Ray, CA, GoDigital Media Group, an Entertainment company, scaled its multi-subsidiary, global financial operations and achieved these results:

• 4-week time-to-value implementation across multiple subsidiaries and global payees
• Reduced AP workload by 20 days annually
• Automated operations for both mass global royalties payouts and invoice-backed payables

“We were doing a lot of international bank transactions, and those foreign-transaction fees were hitting us hard in the pocketbook. Since we are a Latin music label, when our previous AP solution informed us that they no longer could service Puerto Rican banks, we needed a better payment technology.” —Hunter Paletsas, CFO, GoDigital Media Group

Skillshare

Based in New York, NY, Skillshare, an Online Services company, saved time, scaled its financial operations, and achieved these results:

• Automated invoice processing
• Increased efficiency with international payments
• Implemented a seamless integration with accounting software, QuickBooks Online

“In our old AP system, it was difficult to create all of our payments. We work with a lot of international social influencers, and we needed to pay these people in different markets. If we can’t pay them effectively, it limits our reach.” —Leslie Pesante, Head of Finance, Skillshare

Zola

Based in New York, NY, Zola, an eCommerce company, scaled its payment operations and invoice processing and achieved these results:

• Automated bill processing and payments for 600,000+ invoices annually
• Accelerated monthly close without hiring additional AP staff
• Future-proofed financial operations for managing millions of invoices and payments on a global scale

“Our invoice volume was rapidly increasing, and we had to keep up with the workload without adding headcount—we needed to build a scalable infrastructure, and we couldn’t do that with our previous AP solution limits our reach.” —Shayon Donaldson, Accounts Payable Manager, Zola