For an incredibly long nine-and-a-half years, Matador Networks did accounting and finance "the best way [we] knew how" - manually, and in the hands of a trusted bookkeeper.
Matt Maupin, President, reveals, it wasn't until their bookkeeper resigned, when he unveiled Pandora's box -
Even with a full-time, in-house bookkeeper and a contracted CPA firm (that bills by the hour), Matador Networks were facing "a big mess," everywhere from their profit and loss (P&L) statement and balance sheet, to their overall general ledger.
With the hours formerly spent managing their finances versus the time now taken to fix this "manual disaster," Matt shares, "the time add[ed] up into pretty real dollars." This was the turning point that led Matt to pursue what he identified as the ultimate solution: Financial automation.
In a strong-willed pursuit to get his Technical Service Provider (TSP) back on track, Matt joined his first peer group, where upon discussion, he realised, "my numbers were either extremely difficult to find or I had no idea where they were." And so, the heavy lifting began -
Shortly after Matt commenced outsourced bookkeeping, it became apparent that their Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and expense entries were not in alignment - here, the move to QuickBooks Online (from QuickBooks Desktop) was now an imperative.
"The road to QuickBooks Online (QBO) led me to an Accounting Partner at ConnectWise, where we needed to work out how to get my invoices and procurement synced," where Matt was then led to Wise-Sync (the Payments team at ConnectWise).
Matt worked in close collaboration with the Payments team to execute the "complete overhaul" of their GL mapping, invoicing, inventory, procurement modules, and payment processes using Wise-Sync and WisePay - this comprehensive transformation led to significant improvements in their overall financial management.
After a decade of contractual work spent mostly with smaller community banks and healthcare providers, Matt Maupin launched his first Technical Service Provider (TSP), Matador Networks, in 2012 -
Maintaining community banking and healthcare sectors as the foundation for their customer base, while expanding their reach across various industries, everywhere from manufacturing, and oil and gas energy, to housing dealers and more.
Headquartered in McKinney, Texas, Matador Networks is an ever-growing TSP specialized in network infrastructure, data integrity, network security, cybersecurity, and providing only exceptional cloud services.
With a strong customer-centric approach, Matt's efforts were heavily focussed on their deliverance of only quality work. What this meant for Matt, is that like most business owners, he trusted his full-time bookkeeper to take care of the financial side of things.
Prior to implementing Wise-Sync and WisePay, Matador Networks had contracted a CPA (Certified Practising Accountant) firm for bookkeeping support to work alongside their full-time Bookkeeper/Business Manager.
Bookkeeping was performed within QuickBooks Desktop, with customers billed and payments processed manually, while entries were hand input.
With all of these paid resources, no one would anticipate the hefty "math problem" that ensued, a realization that only came with the resignation of their trusted bookkeeper nine-and-a-half years later.
"It was being done the best way we knew how, and only when our Bookkeeper moved onto something else, I was left to start sorting things out, essentially on my own, and that's when I was directly exposed -
I unearthed this manual process that I was never involved with because I had someone else doing it the whole time.
That's when I discovered we had problems with our PNL and general ledger; the balance sheet was a mess (if not, a big mess) and I knew I had to pursue automation -
Because in the end, there's a math problem there between having full-time staff acting as a bookkeeper, and keeping up with the CPA firm that bills by the hour.
You have these invoices each month that you get from the CPA firm because they're working with your in-house bookkeeper -
And of course, the time adds up into pretty real dollars."
After facing "a heavy lift month after month," Matt joined his first ever peer group (TruPeer) in need of support. And there it was. The opening of Pandora's box...
"It was a manual disaster!
We have about 35 financial metrics that we analyze in our peer group each month, and as business owners, we want to pay attention to all of them.
When I started with my peer group - my numbers were extremely difficult to find or I had no idea where they were."
And so, together with the ConnectWise team, the "complete overhaul" of Matador Networks' general ledger began; "a journey" that led Matt to discover Wise-Sync.
During the first two months, Matt worked with both the ConnectWise and Wise-Sync (Payments) team to refine Matador Networks' overall GL structure; to configure tables and account mappings, all the way through to sorting inventory and procurement modules -
It was there, amid "all that mess," that Matt stumbled upon another missing puzzle piece: The Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and expense entries didn't align with their income entries.
After implementing Wise-Sync and WisePay, Matt experienced a "borderline emotional" sigh of relief as the numbers became sorted, clearer (and in real-time) within days, while payments were being automated, and subsequently, business was finally operating like a well-oiled machine.
"From just a day-to-day, month-to-month perspective, Wise-Sync got me to a place where I started to see not just accuracy in our PNL, but I started to actually see the automation -
Where day to day, I could start to see those revenue entries coming in as invoices were being sent out and processed by WisePay. I now have customers that have really adopted the payment portal -
I initially rolled WisePay out as a pilot program, and then as more and more customers latched on within days of receiving their 'Welcome' email; I started getting notes from people that they were so thrilled to have access to this payment portal. Because now, they could see their invoices, payment history, and were able to choose to pay via ACH or credit card -
And the Payments team showed and explained to me how the convenience fees are automatically calculated and added to the customers' invoice -
Whereas before, I was burdening those convenience fees because of our manual process for processing merchants.
It has been a transformation!"
While relatively new to WisePay, Matt's already "starting to see the overlap between WisePay, the automation, and the outsourced bookkeeper (i.e. the CPA firm)." What used to be an-hour long meeting with subsequent action items and deliverables each week, is now cut down to "a quick 30-minute meeting" with close to no follow-up work.
Now, with WisePay, customers are fast adopting the quick 'Pay Now' button, which instantly marks that invoice as paid within QuickBooks Online, so "neither [Matt] nor the outsourced bookkeeper has to research how payment's been received."
Pre-automation, Matt would have to draft transactions, most of which, required confirmation from each customer before processing - and when finalized, these transactions were predominantly processed by Matt alone.
"With WisePay, the bookkeeping firm sees these "uncategorized revenue / income" that they don't have a match for yet; it's hitting my operating account from Global Payments Integrated (GPI) -
We're able to match what the bookkeeping firm has identified as "uncategorised," and I can actually translate these dollar amounts to a batch coming out of WisePay through GPI, and then easily align that with an invoice that was sent to a customer.
The change in efficiency, has just been that fast, I can only imagine what it'll be like just as our proficiency improves using the Wise-Sync platform.
And it's not just the salary that we were paying that employee, it's also the amount of time that was being spent with the CPA firm to fight through reconciliation and trying to figure out where these payments and credits were being applied.
There's a lot to be said for going into your business' online banking and being able to see the dollars strictly associated with those invoices that you've sent - and now, they're just automatically appearing in your operating account."
Since implementing Wise-Pay, Matador Networks has seen a 50% reduction in paper check volume within two months. The 'Click here to securely pay' button on invoices has even convinced some customers who previously only paid by paper check to switch to online payments.
As Matt emphatically asserts, implementing WisePay has been one of the most impactful tools for Matador Networks; empowering customers with a secure payment portal and giving them flexibility to use various payment methods.
With tight integration between payment and revenue entry sync, business owners have a chance to generate accurate numbers in a shorter time, enabling them to make greater business decisions based on financial reviews -
With WisePay and its financial automation, Matt also has valuable business insights that were not possible before. Revenue and expense items are automatically posted and categorized in real-time, so Matt can easily access them on their PNL. Prior to Wise-Sync, Matt had to wait up to two months to see these numbers.
"As far as WisePay goes, where you really start to see the difference, is that now, I have valuable insights into my business that I wasn't able to access before -
Because of this automation.
For years, years, years, if I sat with someone who wanted to talk about my business standing, I didn't have the business acumen to be able to answer questions about my PNL because I'd never dug into the general ledger -
Through my education, especially from my peer group, where we really identified those revenue and expense items that were not only important to me, but for the future of this business, and through the magic of Wise-Sync -
An invoice goes out, I have a revenue entry being made, and most importantly, I have a COGS entry being made, and dare I say - it's instantaneous.
You can go to your PNL, and if you have a specific category of revenue that you need to ensure is performing the way that you think it is; you have your revenue and expense items just there because Wise-Sync's automatically posting those transactions and categorizing those expenses -
Whereas prior to Wise-Sync, I might wait a month or two before I would see those numbers, and now they're there everyday - and essentially, in real-time."
In a heartfelt admission, Matt stresses the transformative impact automation has had on both his business and personal life. He explains that streamlining processes, improving accuracy, and ultimately increasing revenue has allowed him to better provide for his family. Matt is thrilled to discuss the positive changes that automation has brought to his life and business.
If you're ready to put your manual accounting tasks on autopilot and take back control of your finances, WisePay's here to make it happen: Get in touch with our friendly team today.
