GeoLOGIC Systems collaborated with Quadient AP and The Answer Company to migrate to Sage Intacct and create scalable processes that allowed them to grow in size and geographic footprint without adding headcount to manage accounts payable.
geoLOGIC Systems is a leading information services company driven by a mission to provide premium-quality data, software, analytics, news and actionable insights to the energy industry. The solutions they deliver empower their clients to make vital decisions that drive growth and efficiency, as well as reduce risk and maximize returns.
Founded in 1983, geoLOGIC built its business around people: the clients they serve, the people they employ, and the communities in which they live and work. They have retained a laser-like focus on the customer experience as they’ve grown.
The Challenge
Before deploying their current tech stack, the accounting team at geoLOGIC’s process was paper-heavy and manual. They would have to print out invoices, stamp the receipt date and manually code it. Then, invoices were brought to various departments for signature and approval. Then they needed to be manually entered into Sage 300. This process would normally take at least a few days, with a lot of follow-up and reminders.
They regularly experienced delays and invoices being lost or buried on someone’s desk. They often saw data entry errors where info entered into Sage 300 was different from the invoice, such as a vendor selected incorrectly, typo errors with amounts and account codes, etc.
Document storage also was costly. Each year, they sent many boxes of invoices and related backup documents to an offsite Archive, where they would sit for 7 years (as per CRA retention period).
Providing copies of invoices and backup documents for Audit was challenging and took significant time.
The Challenge
While Sage 300 served its purpose well for many years, the on-premise solution held barriers to growth. The team knew that in order to grow their business, they needed to change their process and systems as they were no longer sustainable. Primarily, multi-entity management was difficult as each entity needed to be logged in separately and controlled on its own.
The team wanted to be able to apply a standard of operations across all entities, which was not possible given the way Sage 300 interacted with other systems they were using.
Due to a lack of integration between Sage 300 and Salesforce, the CRM of record, Contracts had to be managed in manual and error-prone spreadsheets.
That’s where Sage Intacct, with Quadient APA, came in.
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40%
Reduction in Invoice Processing Time
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$1000s
Saved on Paper, Printing and Storage Costs
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99%
Reduction in Time to Monthly Close
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4
New Businesses Acquired Since Deployment
The Solution
A Streamlined Invoice Process
First, with the processes handled in the cloud, GeoLogic staff are always able to tell where an invoice is in the process. Invoice approvers receive automatic notifications about invoices in their queue. They can approve/reject invoices from anywhere with just an internet connection. These features help reduce invoice-processing time significantly and allow efficient communication between accounting and other departments.
Second, data accuracy is also improved. Approvers can review and approve invoices right on the system. This eliminates data entry errors.
Providing invoices and support documents to auditors is no longer a time-consuming task. We simply give auditor access to Quadient APA and they can pull the info themselves. This removes the labor hour infusion Han’s team would normally need to invest at audit time.
With Quadient APA and Sage Intacct, they save about 40% on invoice processing time. The improved communication, data quality and more efficient and effective processes are just as important to the impact on end-user.
As far as costs are concerned, they save on stacks of paper and printing, and storage costs – especially numerous hours of managers signing invoices, AP persons handling paper invoices, chasing approvals, and meeting audit requirements. When converted to a dollar amount, that adds up significantly!
Not only has AP automation sped up geoLOGIC’s processing time, but it has also reduced anxiety by creating greater data accuracy. The finance team is no longer returning to find and fix manual errors. Their team is confident in matching data to documents, as everything is digitized and easily accessible.
Best-in-Class Financial Management
The team is delighted with Sage Intacct.
Intacct is a very user-friendly, flexible system with a powerful reporting capability. Login Access is now easy, with just one login to access multiple entities. The reporting is easy to use; you can create reports with various dimensions (by customers, vendors, Class, etc.).
The seamless connection with Salesforce and the Sage Intacct dedicated Contracts module meant time and tedium savings in managing these complex agreements. It is all handled by the tech stack without manually moving the data around.
Multi-entity management is also much simpler in Intacct, allowing Han and her team to add a single chart of accounts automatically across all entities at the top level, with the ability to drill down for easier management and full visibility. Han notes that she especially likes the general ledger module.
Monthly close, which used to take a full day, now happens instantly, with the click of a button, thanks to Sage Intacct’s industry-leading financials module.
Despite only using Sage Intacct for just over a year ago, they have realized significant improvements in their operations and continue to uncover new ways to automate workflows in a meaningful way, allowing them to continue growing into the future.
The Right Collaboration
In terms of change management – a key consideration when deploying any new software – Han notes it was an easy process, as the team was instantly able to recognize the impact – less tedious work and a simpler process to achieve their goals.
The system was up and running in a short amount of time, due to The Answer Company’s solid migration path between Sage 300 and Sage Intacct.
Collaboration with The Answer Company’s consultants has been smooth for Han and her team. Multi-disciplinary teams mean deep expertise in areas like Accounting, as well as the systems being implemented.
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The Results
Instant Invoice Traceability
With Quadient APA with Sage Intacct, they now have full journey visibility on every invoice. They can tell the status of an invoice at any point in the process and, specifically, they can identify where bottlenecks are happening. Cloud deployment means that there are no holdups while an approver is away from the office or working from home.
Integration and Interoperability
Their solution, built of Sage Intacct’s API architecture, is now able to integrate with their Salesforce CRM & Quadient AP Automation; the open API is something that they will continue to take advantage of to increase their integration points and add on additional applications to their best-of-breed solution.
Improved Team Communication & Future-Proofing
More efficient and accurate communication between team members across departments. Sage Intacct’s Chatter feature allows users to make notes directly on records so that those observations and notes are tied to the record, transaction or invoice.
With Sage Intacct, the team has a reliable Business continuity plan, and they were up and running right away because everything is in the cloud. geoLOGIC will continue expanding into the future and making sure that all entities will use the Sage Intacct platform as the backbone for their accounting.