Survios & Airbase by Paylocity Case Study
At Survios — a virtual reality company that creates groundbreaking interactive content powered by cutting-edge immersive technology — two highly experienced ex-PWC auditors (Ryan Hermelyn, Assistant Controller, and Mike Ewald, Corporate Controller) are committed to using automation to build efficiencies when and where they can have a meaningful impact on their operations. Now, they’re creating better spend management processes with their virtual cards and better AP processing.
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Before Airbase by Paylocity |
After Airbase by Paylocity |
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Cutting down AP processing time by 75% with Airbase by Paylocity
At Survios, an internal accounting team of three relies on Airbase by Paylocity to support its lean operation. Before Airbase by Paylocity, the team was processing all spend through NetSuite, which often involved redundancies and system switching. Ryan Hermelyn, Assistant Controller, tells us that being able to move everything through the unified Airbase by Paylocity platform has been the “biggest time saver.” Ryan shared that this is cutting his weekly AP processing time by 75% when it comes to releasing and applying payments to open invoices with direct syncing to the GL.
“The automation around day-to-day processing of invoices is where we see the greatest time savings. Approvals happen automatically, and we can see when they are complete so that we can confidently make payments.”
Ryan Hermelyn, Assistant Controller at SurviosConsultants, employees, and plenty of moving parts
Survios operates using a mix of external consultant software engineers in Canada and full-time employees based in the U.S. The game development sector is subject to ongoing turnover of these resources. As a result, Survios requires a flexible payment system that can process invoices and adapt to change quickly and easily. That’s exactly what they’ve found with Airbase by Paylocity, Ryan tells us.
Beyond operations, Ryan also shared that compliance is easily maintained thanks to Airbase by Paylocity's customizable workflows. These workflows allow multiple people to cater to transactional oversight while being flexible enough to adapt as teams change.
Employees love reimbursements
At Survios, employees love the Airbase by Paylocity mobile app, easy UI, and receipt upload for reimbursements. Previously, Survios had been using Expensify to manage reimbursements. The process was similar, which made the transition to Airbase by Paylocity easy, but Ryan highlights the benefits he now feels with all spend and reimbursements living in one consolidated platform.
Ryan shares that even employees without any particular technical knowledge find Airbase by Paylocity reimbursements intuitive and that one group call was enough to train everybody on how to use the platform.
“Overall, the user interface is super friendly for reimbursements. That’s one thing that our employees really like — that they can take a picture of the receipt and then upload it to Airbase on their phone.”
Ryan Hermelyn, Assistant Controller at SurviosVirtual cards supporting approvals
Survios uses our bank partner’s virtual cards via the Airbase by Paylocity platform — an improvement compared to their previous, traditional card program. Transactions on these cards now automatically sync to NetSuite. From an accounting perspective, Ryan finds virtual cards helpful in seeing requests, approvals, and all other spend details grouped together in one place. Ryan labels this consolidation as “super convenient,” as he no longer has to dig through emails to see who approved something or when they did so.
The spend limits and locks have given Ryan and his team “more control over the cash out and reduced risk.” The automated matching of card spend details has been “super helpful” and ensures the GL for virtual card spend is always up to date.
“From my accounting perspective, having that virtual card and seeing someone request spend, spend getting approved, and all of that living in Airbase is super convenient. Before it would mean digging through emails to see who approved it, when they approved it, and so on.”
Ryan Hermelyn, Assistant Controller at SurviosThe benefits of consolidation in spotting unusual spend
Managing and processing vendors and spend in one place is easier and more efficient, and it’s also providing a path to greater efficiency. Beyond consolidation, the automation and OCR capabilities Airbase by Paylocity provide has been helping the Survios accounting team avoid errors and enjoy more efficient data entry.
Survios’ search for “efficiency, consolidation, and modernization” is over
When considering the ROI on spend management solutions, Ryan and Mike were searching for control and efficiency. As self-professed “auditors to the bone,” and with an eye toward building a financial operation that is IPO-ready, establishing the robust internal controls that Airbase by Paylocity facilitates was a key consideration.
Optimizing for cashback benefits was also on Ryan and Mike’s radar as they searched for a spend management solution. They were aware of the cashback benefits of spending with virtual cards. Now, with Airbase by Paylocity, Survios is generating better cash back than before. While Ryan and Mike enjoy the spend benefits of using Airbase by Paylocity, they also reflect on the fact that where issues do arise, Airbase by Paylocity is always there to help, meaning spend management is under control — always.
Both offered an unsolicited compliment to the Airbase by Paylocity Customer Service team. Mike added to our conversation, “They’ve been great by the way. Everyone on the Airbase team has been fantastic.” And Ryan concurred: “Definitely.”
“From a control standpoint, being able to implement upfront controls was an important part to us. Before, we saw upfront approval and spend review being requested after the spend was already completed. Now, approval is required before anyone can actually spend.”
Ryan Hermelyn, Assistant Controller at Survios
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