When Hyper-Growth Strains Invoice Processing and Payment Capacity
This case study focuses on what RadiusPoint did to avoid the straining of the invoice processing and payment functions of a retail chain in hyper-growth mode. The chain operates in the optometry and eye glass specialty.
For the management of any retail organization, increasing sales location numbers quickly is exciting from a business standpoint. As a BPO specialist however, RadiusPoint has observed that hyper-growth will inevitably put a significant strain on the Accounts Payable department as their workload increases significantly. As a result, newly opened or acquired locations may not be set up properly in accounting, and the invoice processing and payment function can suffer serious consequences.
Challenge
Our client, an optometry and eye glass chain with 170 locations nationwide, experienced phenomenal growth. Their expansion program boosted the footprint of the organization from 170 to 1,200+ sales locations in the space of a few short years. There are well-known side effects to growing so fast, and RadiusPoint was tasked with ensuring such growth could be pursued without overrunning the invoice processing and payment capacity of the Accounts Payable department.
The partnership with RadiusPoint started when the retail chain still had only 170 locations across the nation. Some of the locations were large corporate-type locations, but most were retail shops in strip mall settings.
Here are some of the challenges that accompanied each acquisition or new opening during the ramp-up period:
- RadiusPoint had to contend with an increase in the number of utility invoices (electric, gas, water and waste management) to complete Transfer of Liability documents for all acquired locations
- During responsibility transfer and set up, RadiusPoint needed to identify deposits being held on each account, and their release date
- RadiusPoint had to identify and collect existing contracts and, when applicable, obtain hard copies of these contracts
- RadiusPoint also had to ensure that the address change was on file for each vendor, to ensure utility invoices were correctly routed for processing and payment
- For the new locations, utility services were set up with each vendor, and RadiusPoint captured contract rates and deposit information from contract inception
Solution
The service provided by RadiusPoint consisted in augmenting the Accounts Payable team of our client, so that management would not have to hire new AP staff with each acquisition. Our Utility Expense Management services covered the full lifecycle of the utility invoices (electric, gas, water and waste management). RadiusPoint ensured that such invoices were received on time, audited for accuracy, allocated to the correct cost center, paid to vendors on time, and digitalized for future needs.
In our ExpenseLogic SaaS platform, we created reports detailing utility consumption (kWh and therms) to enable management to monitor usage in granular detail. With such detailed reporting in hand, it became easy for the retail chain to create and maintain a sustainability program.
Results
Our partnership allowed the retail chain to add locations without hiring new Accounts Payable staff in order to cope with an extremely fast growth rate. However, keeping the headcount at a minimum was only one of the positive results of a relationship that is now a decade old.
Among the significant benefits of our partnership, let’s mention:
- Invoices are paid on time, thereby eliminating late fees and service disconnections
- Invoices were set up correctly the first time, and managed from receipt to payment
- Any missing invoice is tracked with the Missing Bill research capability of ExpenseLogic
- Deposits are managed yearly to ensure release dates are adhered to by Vendors
- New locations are set up correctly from inception, with contracts enacted and deposit information captured
- Reports are readily available for all locations and each type of utility service (electric, gas, water and waste management)
- The chain’s Energy Sustainability Program is easy to monitor and reported upon monthly
Why BPO invoice processing and payment
Overrunning the invoice processing and payment capacity of an Accounts Payable department always results in cost increases due to vendors’ billing errors and omissions. Typically, utility and telecom vendors will omit to apply contract rates on new lines and services, applying instead much higher non-negotiated rates. These errors are not tracked in time, and it is often too late to claim credits when they are discovered. When utility invoices are not properly audited, waste in usage (consumption) fails to be detected. This is a hard cost that can’t be recouped.
Likewise, when invoice processing and payment are delayed, late fees and penalties assessed by vendors will generate unrecouped extra costs. Telecom vendors can mis-state overages, padding up their invoices. Unaudited telecom invoices may hide misuse. This is very typical of service lines taken over as part of an acquisition: when usage is not audited, the acquirer may find itself paying for unused lines and numbers. Over time, these wasteful expenses add up to thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.
RadiusPoint has published numerous case studies on situations we helped normalize in the course of the past 30 years.