Airbase by Paylocity and Pilot Fiber: Smoother Processes, Better Control
Employees were top of mind when Pilot Fiber began looking for a new solution to handle its AP. Taka Tanahashi, Director of Finance and Accounting, and Sean Brolly, Accounting Manager, felt their current setup of separate systems for bills, reimbursements, and corporate cards created a disjointed employee experience and serious inefficiencies for the finance team.
Key Takeaways
- Seamless Sage Intacct integration helps shorten monthly close.
- Move to Airbase by Paylocity supported more efficient processes across the organization.
- Automated payment processing saves hours every month.
“Just as much as we focus on the experience for our customers and partners, we strive to create a valuable experience for our own employees. Prior to Airbase, payment and procurement processes were extremely disparate, reaching across multiple systems which created a burden for our people. We were trying to simplify that and really consolidate things down,” says Taka. “Airbase’s user adoption, along with the consolidation of functions, was really the driver: better adoption of the platform and spend controls within our own platform.”
|
The problem |
The solution |
The results |
| An often chaotic end-user experience for employees who had to jump from one platform to another. | Airbase by Paylocity's consolidated, automated platform. | Teams can use one system — even with a lot of on-the-ground purchasing. |
| Long monthly closes. | A real-time sync with Sage Intacct. | The month-end close is at least a week shorter. |
| A high volume of bills managed manually with spreadsheets. | Airbase by Paylocity automated payment processing. | Easily saves at least a day a month in processing time. |
Onboarding: An opportunity to reevaluate
Taka points out that the implementation of Airbase by Paylocity provided a great opportunity to step back and reexamine the whole process.
That led to conversations with key stakeholders, primarily in marketing and construction.
Purchasing and payments reimagined
One of the central changes brought about by Airbase by Paylocity was the increased use of corporate cards, which improved the user experience while also providing better control, a full audit trail, and easier payment processing.
In addition to streamlining the process, moving more payments onto corporate cards generates additional cash back for Pilot Fiber. The team also appreciates the strategic insights into subscriptions and preferred payment methods Airbase by Paylocity provides.
“It’s helped spur an initiative to move toward annual billing or even multiyear billing with some of our vendors to help save some money,” says Taka, who notes they once saved $1,500 from a single purchase simply by moving to card payments.
Another change is more compliance with the processes around purchase orders.
Efficiencies gained
Taka notes a significant improvement in efficiency, particularly when it comes to bill payments.
He provides an example of greater efficiency when it comes to managing their partners.
The end result is saving at least a day every month in processing bill payments and a shorter close.
“In 2021, our average close time was somewhere between the 16th and 18th calendar day of the month. And now in the last six months, the average is around 10 or 11 days,” says Taka.
“We pay many different channel partners for bringing in referrals. In the past, a lot of the work to create those bills was manual. We had spreadsheets and made the payments from the bank. When we look at some of the outcomes of moving to Airbase, one of the great things is that we were able to automate and establish a process with consistently documented payment records.”
Taka Tanahashi, Director of Finance & AccountingA seamless integration with Sage Intacct
Sean and Taka both praise Airbase by Paylocity's Sage Intacct integration. Sean notes the ease of setup and the improved visibility into spend. The integration has been particularly helpful with regard to their corporate structure.
The automated amortization feature with the Sage Intacct integration also makes the team’s life easier.
High employee adoption
The transition to Airbase by Paylocity has been widely praised by employees, who single out the ease of use and simplicity.
Sean appreciates that whenever anyone has a question, he can easily find an article in the Airbase by Paylocity Help Center.
Both Sean and Taka also enjoy Airbase by Paylocity's monthly product updates.
Pilot Fiber said they’re excited about upcoming releases and look forward to continuing with Airbase by Paylocity.
“Every time I see the Airbase product update email come out, I’m always looking at it intently to see what they are releasing for us to potentially use in the future. It’s really great to see all the updates being made and that Airbase isn’t just resting on its laurels.”
Taka Tanahashi, Director of Finance & Accounting
Streamline Expenses for Peace of Mind
Are piles of receipts and reimbursement requests taking up too much of your time? Get your day back by using our expense management solution. Process expenses without the paperwork and rest easy knowing they're accurate. With faster pay-out times, simplified approvals, and fewer errors, your employees will love it, too!
?$Hero-Card$)
