How Pedlex saved 20+ finance team hours per week and reduced their aging balance
Pedlex, a Montreal-based industrial storage company, faced challenges managing their accounts receivable (AR) process within NetSuite. While they enjoyed strong client relationships, collecting payments often involved manual tasks and chasing down lost invoices.
Francis Poirier
President
20 hours
saved per week, equivalent to $38,400 (CAD) in the last 12 months
$3M
(CAD) cashed in a single month through Upflow (January 2024)
14%
reduction in invoices overdue by 31+ days
Mission statement
Pedlex offers customized, turnkey solutions for storage and handling systems. They provide consultation, design, installation, and certification services, with over 40 years of experience in the industry.
FTEs
50
Industry
Storage Solutions
Offices
Montréal, Canada
Stack integrated with Upflow:
Netsuite
Inefficiencies in Accounts Receivables were giving Pedlex headaches
Pedlex's accounts receivable process was lacking efficiency. Manually following up on invoices meant dedicating valuable staff time to repetitive tasks like sending emails and making phone calls to follow up on late invoices. This not only ate into productivity but also offered little guarantee of success. Lost invoices or simple forgetfulness on the client's end could easily lead to delays in collecting payments.
Visibility into their accounts receivable was another hurdle for Pedlex. The finance team lacked a clear picture of their AR aging. This made it difficult to identify overdue invoices or prioritize collection efforts.
Pedlex had come to realize the limitations of their existing accounting software, NetSuite, when it came to managing their AR process. While NetSuite offered core functionalities, it lacked the specific features Pedlex needed to automate tasks and gain deeper insights. This meant relying on manual workarounds and struggling to optimize their collections process.
Francis Poirier, President of Pedlex, and his team, knew it was time they made a significant change.
One of the challenges we had was customers telling us, "oh, we lost the invoice" or "we couldn't find the invoice".
Solution: Pedlex Chooses Upflow for AR Optimization
Pedlex saw Upflow as the key to unlocking a more efficient and automated accounts receivable process. "Upflow saved us half of an employee in equivalent time spent on manual actions. These were not value-add tasks," notes Francis Poirier.
Taking this time-saving estimation, we can confidently say Pedlex has saved $800 (CAD) per week, which equates to $3,200 (CAD) per month and a total of $38,400 (CAD) in the last 12 months.
That represents a 125% ROI on time saved alone!
For the team at Pedlex, this efficiency came down to the automated workflows that can be set up inside Upflow, enabling them to say goodbye to the tedious task of manually sending out reminder emails for late invoices. Upflow takes care of that, freeing up staff time and effort for more strategic tasks.
This efficiency has also led to concrete business results. When it comes to cash in the bank, Pedlex has collected a total of $27,8M (CAD) since they started using Upflow just under a year ago, with close to $3M (CAD) cashed in January 2024 (representing their top month).
Pedlex’s aging balance has also improved, meaning they are now struggling less with significanly late payments and invoices unpaid for 30 days or more. In fact, Pedlex’s 31+ days invoice bucket has gone from 36% of their total aging balance at their go-live in April 2023, to 22% in March 2024.
Upflow saved us half of an employee in equivalent time spent on manual actions.
Upflow’s Analytics and UI Make Cash Collection Easy
The analytics available within Upflow has also been a game changer for Pedlex. "You can see the picture in real-time and you know which client paid, who are not paying, who's late and who's really late,” said Francis. Knowing where you stand is often the first step to improving. For Francis and the team the customizable dashboards in Upflow quickly answered their biggest AR questions, while presenting information is an easy and digestible format.
Pedlex also recognized the value of Upflow's intuitive interface. Upflow is designed to be user-friendly, allowing staff to become comfortable with the system quickly. As Francis puts it “We just give our team a login to Upflow and after an hour or two, they figure it out by themselves." This minimizes downtime and ensures everyone can leverage Upflow's features effectively.
You can see the picture in real-time and you know which client paid, who are not paying, who's late and who's really late.
Trusted data thanks to native Netsuite integration
Another major advantage for Pedlex was Upflow's seamless NetSuite integration. This meant no more wrestling with data transfer headaches between their existing accounting software and a new AR solution.
Upflow integrates smoothly with NetSuite, ensuring all the necessary information flows effortlessly between the two systems. For Francis, the benefits of this are two-fold: time saved and risks of errors caused by manual data entry eliminated.
In Summary: Upflow's Impact on Pedlex's Business
Upflow has transformed Pedlex's AR process, resulting in significant improvements:
Reduced Costs: Upflow has enabled the finance team to save 20 hours per week, equivalent to a monetary saving of $38,400 (CAD) in the last 12 months.
Increased Productivity: Staff can focus on higher-value activities thanks to automation.
Improved Cash Flow: Faster invoice collection times lead to improved cash flow. Pedlex have collected a total of $27,8M (CAD) since they started using Upflow, with close to $3M (CAD) cashed in in January 2024.
Enhanced Client Relationships: A user-friendly client portal streamlines communication and simplifies payments, making Pedlex “easy to do business with” as Francis Poirier (President of Pedlex) put it.
By automating workflows, providing real-time visibility, and improving customer service, Upflow has become an essential tool for Pedlex's continued success.
Finance Teams
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