Overview
The ACH Network is now one of the largest, safest and most reliable payment systems in the USA, creating value and enabling innovation for all participants.
All types of businesses serving any industry can benefit from adding ACH to their payment options, as it eliminates the need of using paper invoices or checks and wasted time with trips to the bank and post office (for stamps).
If you are debating whether to add ACH as an option, read on and learn how adding ACH helped ExaVault save time and resources.
Background
ExaVault is an Oakland based business file-sharing platform with an emphasis on small to mid-sized B2B companies. They are the largest dedicated S/FTP provider in the world, combining secure business file transfer with a powerful FTP/SFTP platform, allowing businesses to use the same system for both modern and legacy file transfer workflows. They currently have over a million users in more than 100 countries and pride themselves on their reputation of superior customer support and consultation.
ExaVault was looking for a solution to efficiently process ACH payments, which could integrate with their existing payment and customer management software. Previously, customers had only been able to pay via credit card, and clients had been asking for the ability to pay their invoices via direct bank transfer (ACH) for well over a year.
The goal was to find a partner who could handle everything and in particular ease the process of working with business clients who cannot pay with credit cards. This also required finding a company to work with who shares their values in terms of putting the customer first.
"Qualpay's API based ACH solution has eliminated the manual work associated with processing payments for customers not paying with credit cards and has allowed us to provide a more advanced and efficient service to our clients."
David Ordal, CEO
Challenges
ExaVault works with a variety of customers across different industries, meaning they all have a unique way of running their businesses. Some were incapable of or chose not to pay with credit cards which posed a challenge to ExaVault in how to process payments uniformly and efficiently.
Before Qualpay, the only two options available for customers not paying with a credit card were paper checks or wire transfers – both options creating unnecessary, time-consuming work. With these systems, ExaVault staff had to manually track when a customer paid, and if the check or transfer bounced, they had to go through a further manual reconciliation process. There was also the issue of tracking down physical checks which periodically would get misdelivered or returned to sender. As a primarily virtual team, ExaVault had to rely on the limited staff at it's Oakland headquarters to check the office mail and communicate received check status to their billing team. All of which added time to the process.
To streamline this process and save time and money, ExaVault began looking for a partner who could provide an effective and easy-to-use solution, including credit card and ACH processing. Beyond a straightforward payment option of being able to accept ACH bank transfer payments, ExaVault wanted to have the flexibility to keep information locally and no longer be the man in the middle having to track down checks and open support tickets to resolve any late payment issues.
Solution
Once ExaVault scoped the challenges and defined what was most important in a solution, Qualpay came out as the clear winner both from the technical perspective and business model perspective. Qualpay offers a comprehensive ACH payments solution that is API based and connects ExaVault's software with Qualpay's platform, so ACH payments are 100% automated. Qualpay's system tracks the payment and notifies ExaVault when the money has been transferred, settled, and paid out. If the payment does not go through, ExaVault is automatically emailed.
ExaVault no longer needs to manually keep track of the payments occurring across its customer base. Working with Qualpay to implement ACH as a payment option allows employee time and resources to be reallocated to more pressing business demands. Not only that, the ACH payments fee structure differs from credit card processing and will be a net positive for ExaVault in the long run, keeping the cost of their service down, and saving money all around. This easy-to-use, tailored approach perfectly aligned with the core beliefs of the company and allowed them to continue to offer their customers a supportive, individualized experience.
"The Qualpay tech platform is solid with a great web interface that makes it easy to look up transactions."
Amy Langill, Analytics & Integrations Engineer
The integration was done with a little over two weeks of concerted effort on ExaVault's side. Their analytics and integrations engineer, Amy, worked on getting the Qualpay ACH solution set up to function properly with their internal systems. She found the process to be smooth because Qualpay had responsive developer support to assist when needed. When she sent the Qualpay team an email, they always got back to her right away. This allowed her to effectively complete the ACH setup while working on other business tasks necessary to keep the overall workflow on target.
Benefits
Solution-based:
- API based solution that is more advanced than most on the market
- Ease of automation connecting with current payment system
- Tailored, supportive approach with fast replies to implementation questions
- Feature a comprehensive platform
Business-based::
- Meeting the needs of today's business clients
- Reduction of support hours needed to track down checks
- Automated billing processes
- New customers switching to ACH payments each month
About Qualpay
Qualpay is a fully-integrated payments platform that utilizes the most up to date technology to reduce costs and streamline back-office operations. Its comprehensive system addresses and resolves the payment challenges businesses face, ensuring a stronger, more robust infrastructure that allows companies to focus on growing their business. Qualpay's reporting intelligence and data analytics allow customers to quickly and efficiently manage their payment finances, saving them both time and money. Simply put, Qualpay provides a better way to manage payments. For more information, please visit www.qualpay.com.
