As the Business Began to Scale, Billing Became Unmanageable.
Agility PR Solutions is a PR (Public Relations) SaaS company that provides media monitoring solutions that help public relations and communications professionals connect with journalists, track what is being said about their business, industry, and competitors, and measure the impact of their efforts.
Their customers pay for access to a cloud-based media database, communication monitoring, reporting, and analytics solutions on a subscription basis.
Prior to using Stax Bill, Agility PR Solutions’ billing was done manually using a basic accounting software. This software had limited capabilities and was unable to process credit card payments. As the business began to scale and acquire thousands of new customers within a short period of time, billing became unmanageable and international customers had trouble sending payments via cheque, EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer), direct debit, etc.
Stax Bill simplified the payment collection process by setting up gateways for Agility PR Solutions’ three location-based customer entities—U.S., U.K., and Canada—allowing them to process credit card payments and saving the billing team several hours a week.
Stax Bill also seamlessly integrated with Agility PR Solutions’ CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Salesforce.
By automating and streamlining their billing and invoicing, Agility PR Solutions has been able to manage large volumes of customers more efficiently without manual intervention, allowing them to continue scaling with confidence.
The Customer
Agility PR Solutions gives thousands of public relations and communications professionals the ability to examine media coverage of their brand, industry, and competitors. It also allows these professionals to track images associated with their organization, create PR reports, and connect with media influencers. In addition, Agility PR Solutions offers a turnkey monitoring service that automatically provides their customers with daily briefs and human-curated coverage reports.
The Challenge
As Agility PR Solutions’ client base rapidly grew, their annual invoice volume increased from thousands to tens of thousands. Standard accounting software proved problematic to manage customers, generate invoices, and collect payments.
The business was also unable to process credit card payments due to the limited capabilities of their accounting software, which made it difficult for Agility PR Solutions to set up alternative payment methods and then reconcile these payments to invoices.
The Solution
Stax Bill not only automated and streamlined Agility PR Solutions’ billing and invoicing, but also simplified the payment collections process for both the billing team and customers by setting up payment gateways to accept electronic payments.
By flagging customers that are either in good or poor standing and automatically sending out past due notices and statements, the Stax Bill system enables Agility PR Solutions to stay on top of their customers’ status with ease and manage these efficiently.
Stax Bill also seamlessly integrated with Agility PR Solutions’ CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Salesforce.
The Benefits
By automating and streamlining their billing and invoicing, Agility PR Solutions has been able to manage large volumes of customers more efficiently without manual intervention, allowing them to continue scaling with confidence.
The fact that Agility PR Solutions is now able to accept credit card payments directly through the Stax Bill system has significantly shortened the payment collection period, saving the billing team several hours a week.
The self-service portal that Stax Bill provides also allows customers to see their invoices and make payments without ever having to contact the company for this information. This facilitates a better customer experience while reducing the demands on the staff at Agility PR Solutions.
