Global Real Estate Firm Achieves Streamlined Payables Automation

Customer Challenges

To better serve their markets, it was critical that the organization support local operations. However, this created a natural by-product of decentralized Accounts Payable and Treasury functions with each location using disparate systems to process and manage invoices and payments. Processing was done manually which became unmanageable as the company grew, and centralized visibility into their obligations was difficult and time-consuming.

An attempt to eliminate paper checks revealed that in order to support ACH payments, the organization’s ERP system would require costly customizations that would place a heavy burden on already strained IT, treasury and finance resources.

The real estate firm knew that achieving more streamlined, cost-effective processes and accurate visibility to payment obligations, cash positions and exposure would require a new solution. This solution would need to integrate with its ERP system, automate invoice and payments processing, provide centralized visibility, and reduce the manual burden on its staff.

Solution

The firm initially partnered with Bottomline to improve its invoice processing with Transform AP. This solution allowed them to capture invoices centrally and review and approve them from remote locations. Following that program’s success, it engaged Bottomline to deploy an end-to-end AP automation software for real estate.

Adding Bottomline’s WebSeries application allowed it to integrate with their ERP system to centralize the management, review, approval, execution of, and reporting on all payments throughout the organization. Off-cycle checks and check printing at remote locations—wherever and whenever necessary—were other key capabilities WebSeries provided. Finally, to achieve goals around converting costly paper checks to more efficient ACH payments, the real estate firm joined Bottomline’s Paymode-X network. Paymode-X could take payment data directly from WebSeries and deliver ACH payments and detailed electronic remittance information directly to the organization’s Vendors. Leveraging the Paymode-X network and its included services also meant that the real estate firm would not have the burden of gathering and maintaining Vendor bank account information, as this would be handled by Paymode-X staff.