Enhancing AP Efficiency at WEL Companies with Mekorma Payment Hub

Overview

WEL Companies, a leader in transportation and warehousing, has built a reputation for providing reliable and efficient logistics solutions across the nation. The company manages a vast network of trucks and warehouses, ensuring timely deliveries and seamless supply chain operations. Despite their operational success, they faced significant challenges with their accounts payable (AP) processes.

The manual nature of printing checks and sending out ACH payments was time-consuming and inefficient. Seeking a solution to streamline their AP operations, they turned to Mekorma for their payment outsourcing program for Microsoft Dynamics GP, Remote Payment Services. This case study explores their journey, the implementation process, and the tangible benefits they've experienced.

Challenges

Before implementing Mekorma Remote Payment Services, WEL Companies' AP process was highly labor-intensive for their 2-person AP team. Joshua Gretzinger describes their process as highly manual, involving significant time and effort each week to print checks and send out ACH payments. This inefficiency was a major obstacle in a competitive industry, where time and resource optimization are crucial.

"In the previous state, we were focused on manually printing checks and sending out ACH payments. The process was very manual and took a lot of time on both a weekly and day-to-day basis."

Gretzinger had approached their bank for a solution, but they would have had to build a program from the ground up. WEL needed relief quickly and from a trusted vendor.

Goals

WEL Companies wanted to reduce the manual workload associated with processing invoices and issuing payments, increase efficiency, and capture financial rebates – an impossible task without a virtual card program.

"Our goals were to reduce just the manual nature of processing invoices and issuing payments. We needed to get better. When our partner brought Mekorma to us, it really met all of our expectations."

Solution

WEL Companies' IT partner stepped in to recommend Mekorma Remote Payment Services. This program allowed WEL’s team to continue to work in familiar ways within their ERP system, with n embedded integration to a world-class payment provider.

Mekorma provided a comprehensive solution that addressed WEL’s goals. The implementation process was straightforward and required minimal effort from WEL Companies' IT and AP teams.

"Implementation was really easy for us. Most of the heavy lifting was done on the Mekorma side, and we weren't asked to spend weeks or even days on it. It was an easy implementation."

Benefits

 Efficiency and Time Savings

The most immediate benefit was a significant reduction in manual processing time. WEL Companies estimated savings of six to eight hours per week, a critical number for a small AP team.

"We estimate the efficiency savings at about six to eight hours per week. We’re able to say, hey, instead of stuffing checks, you can back up one of the other people within our team. It helps create a more fulfilling job and the company wins because of the improved bench strength."

 Improved Process Configuration

The new system allowed WEL Companies to reconfigure their AP setup, enabling staff to take on more fulfilling roles.

"Mekorma’s solution has allowed us to reconfigure our setup within our accounts payable group, creating more bench strength within our team. We have one person who primarily processes the invoices, and another person who reviews the coding from our internal business partners. We’ve been able to shift - we used to be set up by company, now it's by process within the AP group.”

 Vendor Management and Fraud Prevention

With Remote Payment Services, the solution handles the management of payment instructions and vendor updates. This significantly reduces the risk of fraud, providing additional layers of security.

"Mekorma’s solution is responsible for managing the payment instructions and ensuring payments are made to the correct vendor, which is crucial in this world full of fraud."

 Financial Rebates

WEL Companies began capturing credit card rebates they were previously missing out on. This not only provided a direct financial benefit but also justified the cost of implementing the new system.

"We continue to see more of our AP spend pushed to card so we can capture that rebate. I have a check on my desk for just shy of a thousand dollars, and it's been growing every month. I would anticipate that it will continue to grow in dollars. Mekorma has been an easy sell because it pays for itself."

 Adoption and Training

The intuitive design of the Mekorma system made it easy for the AP staff to learn and adopt. A brief training session was sufficient for them to become proficient with the new tools.

"The AP staff caught on quickly because the system is very intuitive. It’s maybe a 15–20-minute training, and you understand how the process works.”

  Vendor Feedback

WEL Companies' vendors have responded positively to being onboarded with the new system. Although there were some initial questions about the process, the transition was smooth and well-received.

"Our vendors have been very supportive of it. It's been simple for them, and we don't field many questions or calls. Our vendorscontrol how they receive payment - if they want to get it by check, they just say so. If they want it by ACH, they can just flip and say they want it by ACH. It's a good process – and we maintain the ability to print checks internally as we need.”

Future Goals

WEL Companies aims to expand their rebate program further, maximizing the financial benefits from their AP operations.

"To continue to expand the rebate program is really where my focus is - how large can Mekorma make the benefit for us?”

Conclusion

Mekorma Remote Payment Services has been transformative for WEL Companies. The ease of implementation, significant time savings, and improved process efficiency have all contributed to a more effective AP operation. Joshua Gretzinger's only regret is not having implemented such a solution earlier in his career.

"If I had to do it over again, I would have implemented something similar earlier in my career versus waiting 20 years... It was one of the easiest implementations that I've had in my career. And once the implementation was completed, I'm actually seeing what was promised upfront. We're capturing the benefits we were promised.”

WEL Companies continues to look forward to a productive partnership with Mekorma, with ongoing improvements and benefits anticipated in the future.