How HoneyBook Upgraded Vendor Payments and Improved Internal Financial Processes with PayEm

Overview

Challenges

Before implementing PayEm, HoneyBook grappled with several challenges related to financial operations, approvals, and reimbursements. Their approval workflows were primarily conducted through emails, a channel that many employees found easy to overlook or ignore due to the inundation of other correspondence. This resulted in delayed responses, slower processing of financial operations, and follow-up inconsistencies.

According to HoneyBook’s Accounting Manager, Omer Selman, "We faced substantial challenges, including unrecorded transactions, inaccurate payments, duplicate accounting entries, and the complexities of managing credit cards. These issues posed a significant obstacle to maintaining financial order and precision within the company."

The process of reimbursements was another major hurdle for HoneyBook. Employees found it difficult to categorize their personal expenses for work-related needs, leading to confusion and delays. Furthermore, there was a need for employees to manually reach out to the accounting team to request a favor, a process that was both time-consuming and lacked transparency.

The absence of a centralized, automated system meant that financial processes were laborious and prone to errors. Managers had limited visibility over funds allocation during the approval process, making ensuring alignment with available funds challenging.

HoneyBook's existing system lacked advanced features for automatic data capture and extraction, leading to inefficiencies and potential inaccuracies in data entry. This was further compounded by the absence of integration with other tools like Slack and NetSuite, limiting their ability to streamline and automate financial operations. These challenges inhibited HoneyBook's ability to carry out smooth and efficient financial operations.

Solutions

With PayEm's implementation, HoneyBook experienced a dramatic shift in its financial operations, approvals, and reimbursements. As expressed by Selman: “Now we have order, organization, and visibility. PayEm shows you all the transaction ins and outs, making it easier to know what's up without going on a digging spree. We're trading time lost in spreadsheets and bank statements for getting real stuff done. It's about turning chaos into order and making sense of the numbers."

Integrating popular tools like Slack and NetSuite is particularly beneficial, enabling employees to process requests seamlessly and in real time. The features such as OCR capabilities for automatic data capture and extraction significantly improved data accuracy and efficiency, eliminating the potential errors and inefficiencies inherent in manual data entry.

PayEm transformed HoneyBook's approval workflows from a cumbersome email-based process to a streamlined, efficient system that reduced delays and improved response times. Now, employees creating the requests and the approvers have greater visibility into the status of the requests. On the reimbursements front, PayEm simplified the process for employees, eliminating confusion and providing a clear, organized channel for submitting personal expenses for work-related needs.

One of the most significant impacts on HoneyBook’s day-to-day is having the entire accounts payable workflow managed through one platform: from processing the invoice to approving invoices with relevant stakeholders up to payment.

After implementing the platform, the Customer Success team conducted a company-wide presentation to roll out the system for all HoneyBook employees. Selman says that employee feedback was “overwhelmingly positive…Even though it's challenging to excite employees about something financial or accounting-related, they were genuinely happy and felt supported throughout the implementation. They felt like someone was guiding them, providing assistance from all directions, and addressing any concerns they had in a previously problematic sector.”

Overall, the transformation brought by PayEm stands as a testament to its capabilities in streamlining and automating financial operations, offering significant benefits for growing organizations like HoneyBook.

Outcomes

Implementing PayEm at HoneyBook resulted in numerous positive outcomes, providing solutions to several challenges they previously faced. Here are some of the most significant benefits:

• Increased Transparency and Control: PayEm's system allows HoneyBook to understand its financial transactions better, increasing visibility and control over its spend. This clarity extends to individual employees, as they can now understand their personal expenses and status of requests.
• Improved Efficiency: The shift from a cumbersome, email-based approval process to a streamlined workflow significantly improves efficiency. PayEm's fast synchronization with tools like NetSuite means that updates happen in seconds, not hours, dramatically speeding up operations.
• Reduced Workload: PayEm helps reduce the bookkeeping and financial management workload.
• Simplified Reimbursements: PayEm simplifies the reimbursement process, reducing employee confusion and allowing them to submit personal expenses more easily. Tracking requests manually and relying on the finance team was eliminated, making the process more efficient for all stakeholders.
• Confidence in Financial Decisions: Selman expressed newfound confidence in answering financial queries since the implementation of PayEm, knowing the decisions were backed by accurate data and the dedicated support of the PayEm team.
• Accuracy in Data Processing: PayEm's OCR capabilities significantly improved data accuracy, minimizing the potential for human errors in data entry.

About HoneyBook

HoneyBook is the leading clientflow management platform that makes it easy for independent business owners to sell and deliver their services online. Offering powerful tools for communication, contracts, invoicing, payments, and more, the platform puts independent professionals in control of their process and client experience. HoneyBook is trusted by over 100,000 service-based businesses in the United States and Canada that have booked more than $10 billion in business on the platform. The company has offices in San Francisco and Tel Aviv, with remote staff worldwide. Learn more at www.HoneyBook.com.

HoneyBook investors include Tiger Global Management, Norwest Venture Partners, Aleph, Hillsven Capital, OurCrowd, Durable Capital Partners LP, Vintage Investment Partners, Battery Ventures, Citi Ventures, Zeev Ventures, and 01 Advisors.