Integrate AP Software and Skip the Mailbox Completely
Everyone has been talking about challenges the United States Postal Service may soon have in fulfilling its motto of untroubled delivery. But even in the best of times, paper checks sent in the mail might be the least efficient way to pay your bills. Bank of America has estimated that, in total, it costs between $4 and $20 for a business to produce a single mailed check.
If your organization is looking for a faster and more secure way to process, track, and deliver payments to vendors, Sage Intacct’s Marketplace for AP integrations has an incredible range of cloud software integration options. Sage Intacct vets software integrations with the highest standards to ensure that their Marketplace partners are truly “best-in-class.”
I spoke with Cheryl Montoya, the chief financial officer for The Collins Foundation, an Oregon grantmaker, about how their AP process has improved after switching to work-from-home during the pandemic, thanks to a timely adoption of cloud AP software Bill.com. Keep reading to learn how this foundation discovered that the Sage Intacct AP partner Bill.com is a more efficient and reliable way to pay – and for payees to receive payments – than the paper route.
Deliver payments confidently through the cloud
The Collins Foundation had not been using Bill.com for long before they started to work from home.
The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the adoption of a paperless AP solution to address the very real problems of who would have to go to the office to sign and mail the checks, and who was in the office to receive them at the other end?
Montoya had to ease the foundation into using the AP software. Some foundation leaders were apprehensive they might lose some control of the process. There was concern that grantees would have less privacy in this new cloud-based AP process. But as soon as many people were sheltering in place, this move proved to be a smart one.
“A lot of grantees wanted to do this,” Montoya said, “rather than chase the mail.”
Payments fly through the cloud with Bill.com
“I counted the number of touches to get a check out pre-COVID,” Montoya said. “It took seven touches (including people and times in the office) to get a check out.”
Does the foundation’s old AP process sound familiar? Pull a report for payables, key in vendors or grantees, tie out, print checks, match checks to the grant documents, get two signatures, make copies of the check and letter, print envelopes, stuff them, and—finally!—mail the checks.
Last year, The Collins Foundation paid out a total of $11.2 million to 360+ organizations, many providing essential services to communities across Oregon. Those payments had to be delivered exactly when and where they were most needed.
As Montoya put it, “We are a funder, and our work is to get checks out.”
Checks land in accounts ready to be used
The Collins Foundation’s first e-payment to grantees went out on April 1, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.
“A couple of not-for-profits (NFPs) had to leave their space early on in COVID,” Montoya said. Bill.com’s “ePay meant peace of mind that they would get their checks.”
What’s not to like about looking online for a payment even as you see a notification email that you’ve been paid?
Revolutionize your AP process for good
The Collins Foundation is committed to helping its grantees improve lives, and their payments to grantees are more important than ever because of the economic, social, and psychological toll of the pandemic.
With change all around us, some are overwhelmed at the idea of one more shift, even if it promises to help. Montoya shared an ingenious tip to motivate and encourage staff who aren’t the most comfortable with new technology:
Engage them in the testing as the software is rolled out and use their feedback to inform the process. It makes them an important part of the revolution rather than forcing them to change.
Because of the success of their e-payment rollout, Montoya is excited about what Bill.com could mean for other AP areas like the expense reimbursement process and the frequency of pay streams needed during extenuating circumstances and for multi-year payments. Best of all, no one has to go into the office to get a check out anymore.
“We are asking, ‘How do we change our business processes to use Bill.com to its fullest?’”
What’s ahead for paperless payments at The Collins Foundation?
After three months of using Bill.com, a third of the foundation’s payments were electronic, and that is just the beginning. The foundation has seen what cloud-based AP software Bill.com can do:
Increase internal controls of the AP process.
Bring grantees (payees, vendors, employees) peace of mind.
Make it easier to do business with the foundation.
Enable the foundation to be more proactive.
Montoya shared that she is looking forward to utilizing end-to-end approvals and streamlining other transactional work that in turn will free up staff to carry out their work with NFPs.
“The Collins family are so generous and want to improve the lives of Oregonians and their focus on this with COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement and equality. We are seeing that we will pay out far more than what we budgeted.”
The foundation is looking forward to realizing the ROI of paperless payments.
Why Revolution Accounting recommends Sage Intacct AP partner Bill.com
Bill.com is great for less complex organizations or those just beginning with cloud-based AP software.
We recommend (and use!) Bill.com, integrated with Sage Intacct because:
It lets vendors accept e-payments easily.
It is quick and easy to set up and integrate with Sage Intacct.
It is an end-to-end financial workflow – with document management and approvals – that cuts down on mistakes and administrative time.
Bill.com is only one of many cloud AP solutions in the Sage Intacct Marketplace and each has its own strengths for different types of organizations and industries. For example, more complex organizations might also consider the award-winning AP integration Yooz. Yooz is the only AP integration for Sage Intacct ERP that syncs both invoice data and document images to Intacct in real time.
If you’re looking for a trusted brand and a familiar user experience, Sage Intacct customers can take advantage of three American Express® payment services without leaving the Intacct AP module: American Express® ACH Payment Service, American Express® Card Payment Service, and Sage Intacct Check Delivery Service can all be used directly from Sage Intacct’s “Pay Bills” workflow.
As always, do your research and don’t hesitate contact Revolution Accounting for advice and insight on selecting the best cloud AP integration for your organization to launch paperless payments, gain timely insights into your payables, and achieve greater efficiency.