Government Brands

BACKGROUND

Government Brands is a privately owned SAAS software and online solution. Supporting thousands of customers in 50 states, Government Brands offers solutions for all sizes of governments – municipalities, counties, states, and Federal agencies. They have a finance team of 25 based in Alpharetta, GA, headed by Jim Montano, CPA, VP Finance and Corporate Controller and transaction team lead, Doris Sotomayor, CPA, Senior Accountant.

In 2019, Government Brands purchased 16 companies, acquiring a new company almost every quarter. While implementing NetSuite across newly acquired entities previously on Quickbooks, they evaluated many departments and identified their laborious payment processes. They were managing 19 checking accounts manually. From cutting checks, changing check stocks in printers, to observing duplicate payments, this process was no longer sustainable.

“The manual check process was very time consuming. We used to spend a day printing and mailing out checks for 16 of our subsidiaries,” said Doris Sotomayor, Government Brands’ Senior Accountant.

SOLUTION

Government Brands researched various solutions and selected Edenred Pay largely due to their partnership and integration with the NetSuite ERP. Edenred Pay’s Payment Automation Platform is a Built for NetSuite AP Automation and Payments Provider within Suiteapps. The partnership enabled them to easily and efficiently pay their vendors using virtual cards, ACH, and checks.

Edenred Pay designed an implementation plan for Government Brands that met the needs of their current operation. They decided to roll out automation for 16 of their subsidiaries. In the first week, the setup and testing were successfully completed for one subsidiary, and the remaining 15 subsidiaries were rolled out the following week. From the first implementation to the first payment processing, it only took 3 weeks.

RESULTS

Edenred Pay, integrated with NetSuite, has successfully streamlined AP payments for 16 Government Brands subsidiaries and is now in the process of implementing 6 more. Check processing has decreased significantly, enabling the AP team to focus on more important tasks. While the rebate earned from virtual card spend is paying for all check processing.

Government Brands was initially excited about earning money from the monthly rebates. And they were even more pleased to be able to submit check payments to their small local court systems who didn’t accept virtual cards or electronic payments. Using Edenred Pay and NetSuite, Government Brands has online visibility into the details of checks that are approved and mailed.

“Working with Edenred Pay has been a true partnership,” said Jim Montano, CPA, VP Finance/Controller. “Their customer service team is top-notch, always responding immediately if there is an issue. They are always able to think through a problem with us, understand the business case, and adapt accordingly. And for that, I am very appreciative.”