Portland Country Club

BACKGROUND

The Portland Country Club was founded as a private club in 1895 by local golf enthusiasts. It is the oldest organized golf club in Southern Maine. The Club celebrates a commitment to the game of golf and fosters a deep tradition of member service. Located in Falmouth, Maine, members and their guests enjoy the stunning seaside views of Casco Bay and the Portland skyline. Donald Ross designed the timeless and nationally renowned 18- hole course in 1921. The Club also features swimming, tennis – paddle and platform, pickleball, year-round dining, social activities, and special events.

Like many businesses with manual payment processes, the Portland Country Club paid their vendors by paper checks. And like many businesses, their payments were delayed due to slow delivery times by USPS. Assistant Controller Denise Hamilton stated, “I was always frustrated with how long it would take checks to reach our vendors via USPS.” Along with slow delivery times, there is the risk that payments could get lost in the mail. Lost checks could lead to check fraud, which is increasing, with stolen checks appearing for sale on the dark web.

SOLUTION

In 2016, Hamilton attended a user group meeting where she learned about Edenred Pay and their accounts payable automation and payment solutions. Even though the majority of Portland Country Club’s vendors understood there was very little they could do about the speed and reliability of USPS delivery, Hamilton wanted a way to avoid late payments.

Hamilton was interested in automating Portland Country Club’s payment process with virtual cards to reduce the number of labor-intensive checks that she had to send out. While at the user group meeting, she spoke with an Edenred Pay representative. “It was just a very smooth transition.” Portland Country Club signed on with Edenred Pay and found that the implementation process and the integration with ClubSelect was easy and “works seamlessly.”

Not only was the integration a smooth process, but Hamilton did not have to personally convince her vendors to take virtual cards. She provided a list of active vendors to Edenred Pay. Then, Edenred Pay’s vendor enrollment team took over. They contacted Portland Country Club’s vendors and enrolled them in virtual card payments. Some vendors were already accepting virtual cards from payments by other Clubs.

RESULTS

Hamilton found the entire process, including the Edenred Pay’s Payment Automation Platform training, to be very easy. Their small accounting department is enjoying the benefits of greater efficiency and reduced manual processes. “I’m not printing checks or stuffing envelopes and running them through the postage meter. I don’t have to worry as much about our checks not reaching our vendors.”

The move from paper check payments to Edenred Pay’s Payment Automation Platform proved beneficial in other ways. The revenue earned from rebates is allowing the Club to make improvements. “We don’t keep high credit limit credit cards in-house, so virtual card payments is a great solution.” Reducing paper use also contributes to Portland Country Club’s commitment to environmental quality.

Over the years, since automating their vendor payments with Edenred Pay’s Payment Automation Platform, the Portland Country Club has experienced an above-average vendor acceptance rate of 71%. Their total revenue from earned rebates of virtual card transactions since June 2016 is $38,674.

Denise’s suggestion to businesses contemplating using Edenred Pay’s Payment Automation Platform is, “DO IT…where else can you make money by saving time and labor costs?!”