Recharge And Airbase by Paylocity: A Single Solution For Multiple Problems

The Guided Procurement solution

Around this time, Airbase by Paylocity was rolling out its new Guided Procurement Module, and the Airbase team reached out to Erin to share information about the new features. While the Recharge team saw the potential benefits of moving the majority of the procurement process over to Airbase by Paylocity, Recharge had just recently rolled out their new process, and the thought of making another change so quickly was daunting.

As frequent early adopters, the Recharge team was interested in learning more and requested a detailed demo of Guided Procurement. After a deeper dive, the Recharge team saw that Airbase by Paylocity's Guided Procurement would address the major pain points they were still experiencing in their current process, and Erin and Joe shared the proposed solution with the broader Recharge team.

The team agreed that implementing Guided Procurement would “greatly improve efficiency and the overall user experience for our employees.” ​

A straightforward setup process

While the Recharge team knew implementing Guided Procurement was the way to go, after just spending a year rolling out a new procurement process, the thought of another process change project was overwhelming. Erin and her team were surprised, however, with how straightforward it was to add Guided Procurement to their existing Airbase by Paylocity setup. Erin shared feedback that Airbase by Paylocity's customer service team members “were really great at helping us set everything up. I liked that they let me drive the process even though they could have done the setup so much faster. They were very patient.”

Not only was the original setup of Guided Procurement straightforward but the Recharge team is now able to quickly make revisions and additional enhancements to their processes as business needs change.

Feedback from key stakeholders has been very positive now, as Recharge can quickly incorporate suggestions and requests from other teams. Erin noted that she has led other teams in building procurement processes in three different systems, and previously, she’s had difficulty revising the process.

Transparency and efficiency for multiple stakeholders

The challenge of multi-stakeholder approval in the procurement process is one that many companies face. Until Airbase by Paylocity Guided Procurement, there have been limited options for a procurement intake process that integrates with other key stakeholder systems and also allows for simultaneous approvals.

Recharge Controller, Joe Gibbons, pointed out that this new approach saves the company time because approval workflows are no longer sequential. Once manager, budget owner, and finance reviews are complete, other key functional reviewers (Legal, IT, and InfoSec) can review and approve spend requests simultaneously and in their own systems, with integration between those systems and Airbase by Paylocity.

He also noted that more thorough, documented purchase requests provide better visibility and control and help streamline FP&A and cash management activities. Joe explained that once Recharge began using Guided Procurement.

Great UI leads to great UX

Joe appreciates the clean UI and great visibility into where requests stand in the process. Erin echoed the same sentiments about usability.

Greater control with purchase orders

With Guided Procurement, the Recharge team is now leveraging purchase orders, which are simple to generate and match when invoices come through. This enhances the control environment and gives invoice approvers increased confidence that amounts are correct. Erin emphasized how much easier it is to implement controls with POs.

“We generally won’t process invoices where the spend owner has skipped the procurement process. We have increased confidence issuing a payment when the spend request has been approved in Guided Procurement by all key stakeholders and we can match an invoice we receive to a PO.”

Erin explained that when incoming invoices are automatically matched to POs in Airbase by Paylocity, the teams save an enormous amount of time not having to track down approvals and manually review original contract details. The PO process ensures approvals are obtained up front, before a purchase commitment is made, and it reduces the scramble for teams to review and approve something at the last minute. Airbase automatically matches the PO and invoice for a full audit trail.

Improved oversight, safer payments

Having more transparent, streamlined, and user-friendly procurement processes helps Recharge enforce a strong control environment. Joe called out the added protections that Airbase by Paylocity's Risk team provides by monitoring payments moving through the platform. The Airbase by Paylocity team helps monitor certain invoice details and payment activities to help mitigate the risk of fraudulent payments.

After using Guided Procurement for a couple of months, Joe, Erin, and team met with key procurement stakeholders at Recharge to get feedback. Users shared both positive feedback and suggestions for improvements. The ease of making updates to Guided Procurement allowed Erin to turn stakeholder feedback into actionable change, and within a two-week period, she was able to roll out an updated version of the process, addressing most of the suggestions from the team. Once these updates were made, feedback from all stakeholders has continued to be positive, and users are extremely happy with the efficiency, transparency, and control Guided Procurement has given them.

Erin shared a favorite piece of feedback that came from one of the key stakeholders who submitted the second spend request through the new Guided Procurement workflow in Airbase by Paylocity. The spend owner proclaimed,

And that’s when you know you’re heading in the right direction.