Merchant e-Solutions simplifies payment acceptance for businesses everywhere. Its online platform enables merchants to quickly and efficiently accept debit and credit card payments in person, online and via mobile devices.
Until it implemented BILL, Merchant e-Solutions lacked an automated accounts payable system. “In 2016, we moved from California to Atlanta and, when we did, we reevaluated all our systems,” says Lori Brown, SVP and corporate controller at Merchant e-Solutions. “We found that as precise and formal as our process for funding customers’ transactions was, our process for paying vendors was not as effective.”
The company receives more than 400 invoices a month and it had no automated system in place to track and manage them. Some went to accounts payable, and others went directly to executives. Additionally, there was a need for a formal process to improve the approval flow.
Without an automated system in place, invoices could be overlooked and go unpaid. “There were times we were behind on paying a particular invoice simply because we didn’t have a practical tracking tool in place,” Brown says.
BILL brought order to the process. Since implementing BILL, Merchant e-Solutions handles all its payments rapidly and seamlessly. It processes and pays its invoices with efficiency, and saves itself time, trouble and money.
BILL brought order to the process at Merchant e-Solutions in a matter of hours—two hours, to be exact. That’s all it took for the company to implement BILL and deploy it across the organization. BILL connected instantly and easily with Merchant e-Solutions’ existing accounting software, NetSuite—and absolutely no IT experts were required.
“I used to work at a very large organization and we had to get IT involved every time we needed something,” Brown says. “I was blown away when I started using BILL. It’s so simple and intuitive. You don’t need to be tech-savvy at all to understand the navigation.”
Brown can access the system anytime to view P&L statements and monitor expenses. Because BILL constantly feeds data to the general ledger, every executive who has a view of monthly reporting can track expenses and ensure that they agree with budget and forecast.
“This really helps us run efficiently,” Brown says.
BILL Artificial Intelligence handles many of the manual tasks once assigned to human assistants. Vendors send their invoices directly to the email address of the Merchant e-Solutions AP department, where BILL Artificial Intelligence automatically processes and codes the invoices in the system with vendor name, invoice number, amount and due date.
After the invoice is input, it’s fed into a workflow hierarchy for the three approvals that Merchant e-Solutions requires before a payment is made. Invoices are always routed to the right place for the necessary approvals, which saves time and increases efficiency.
“BILL also has a beautiful dashboard that allows me to instantly see the status of each invoice,” Brown says. “I can see whose queue an invoice is sitting in and who is holding up approval. I can ping anyone at anytime to make sure the payment process stays on track. I look at that dashboard every day.”
BILL has brought significant savings to Merchant e-Solutions. In a company of 270 people, not having to hire extra people just to keep track of bills and payments results in significant savings. With BILL’s automated scheduling and approval features, Merchant e-Solutions now runs with just one part-time assistant to keep track of bills and payments. “We are saving at least one or two full time salaries every year,” Brown says.
Employees are also much happier. “Employees are empowered by the process and spend less time tracking down status of payments and approvals,” Brown says. “When we implemented BILL, everyone was immediately more confident that they could be more effective in their jobs.”
BILL has even improved management of cross-border vendor relationships. Merchant e-Solutions has several vendors located in Canada and previously, there was a unique manual process to facilitate those payments. Now, because BILL is set up to handle international transactions, Merchant e-Solutions can pay those vendors online, quickly and efficiently.
The BILL mobile app enables Merchant e-Solutions executives to approve invoices even when they’re traveling, which they often are. This means Brown and her staff don’t have to wait extended periods of time for an executive to check in with an approval when a payment deadline is imminent—or to frantically search for an alternative approval if an executive does not check in.
“BILL has made our payment process pain free,” Brown says. “We now pay our bills in a timely manner and that’s improved our cash flow and enhanced our reputation with our vendors. At this point, I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
Payment solutions
Atlanta, GA
Oracle NetSuite
