Quadient Accounts Payable Automation

Pros

Everything is electronic. Subs/Vendors can email their invoices directly to our Beanworks, which cuts down on incoming mail. Approvers can be located in various locations and still access and approve even via mobile. The search features to find an invoice are exceptional.

Cons

Since their recent update the PDF files are much smaller outside of Beanworks which is NOT great.

Pros

This Accounts Payable solution has brought our business into the 21st century and we could not be happier with the result. All of our invoices and corresponding payment information is now available with a few clicks of a mouse. We no longer need to store mountains of banker boxes filled with obsolete records to maintain our data archive for historical record audit -- saving us valuable internal space and saving money as we no longer need to call a professional shredding company to purge old records. Our approval workflow was customized to our business and we now have a complete audit log noting each person's approval and processing of every invoice. All of the corresponding invoice data syncs seamlessly with our ERP software so there is minimal data entry which has saved our AP personnel a significant amount of time on a previously tedious clerical task.

Cons

Originally when we signed up with Beanworks, the company was unable to print our account number on the physical checks mailed to our vendors. This meant that bills for credit cards or utilities were still paid manually so we could include the information. As of 2018, we can now print our account number on vendor checks so this problem has been alleviated. One note is that you will still need to print your own check should you need to include any paperwork with the physical check as the check printing service is a third-party provider so only the check itself is mailed to the vendor.

Pros

The product is easy to implement, configure and put to use.

Cons

Recently implemented the tool faced the following challenges -
- Customer support sucks, no SLA adhered. Subscribed for 2 hours of support to realize there are no timelines called 2 hours.
- Not able to process any USD Invoices as claimed by the product team. Needs to be processed and entered manually outside Beanworks.
- A single report can handle only 80 invoices in it. But if want to select more than 80, which is normal for any large organization, need to report a separate report each time, which sucks and defeats the entire purpose of automation.
- The line description on the HST line doesn't get posted in GP Ledger from Beanworks and again we need to manually copy and paste the description before the Invoices get posted in ERP.
- The expense Module doesn't have the OCR Capabilities and requires manual entry by the users of all the receipts, which is not the case with some other AP Automation tools.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Quadient Accounts Payable Automation

Pros

Beanworks is a true AP Workflow application that seems to cover all aspects of the Accounts Payable process. From invoice electronic capture, invoice coding, invoice approval, payment selection, payment approval, payment authorization and cheque issuance, it is an all encompassing piece of software. Bottom line, it works as advertised!!

Cons

If there is something I can say I like the least about the software, it would have to be the per transaction cost. Although I can appreciate everything the software offers and so I understand and can justify the need for the per transactional cost, one must keep in mind that as volumes increase, so can your monthly fees. As a result, no matter how good it works, the cost may not make it appropriate for everyone. For us however, well worth the investment!!

Pros

Beanworks is easy to use and manage. I like that we can upload the invoices, code, and have them reviewed by different departments. It's also amazing how it links to Jonas with updated information. It keeps everything organized and if I need to view anything in particular, the search options are very helpful. They are just one click away. It is also nice to write in comments to communicate with other departments. I like how I can create customized reports for payments and invoices as well.

Cons

There are some instances where I have to do manual checks in Jonas, but I am not able to mark those invoices as paid in Beanworks, only having the option to mark the invoice as "do not pay."