Quadient Accounts Payable Automation

Pros

Friendly and accessible customer service

Cons

Inability to lock a date from being input; after the close, we do not want billing dates for the closed quarter to be input, and Beanworks does not offer an option for this. Also, sync errors are difficult to find and no alerts for such as given.

Pros

Quadient is the most efficient software we have at the country club. The ease of use for day-to-day AP for both the accounting team and department managers has always been a feature loved by all. For audit purposes you cannot beat the software for how much time is saved in pulling back-up, etc.

Cons

The import Vendor feature as a result of our ERP file has created multiple duplicate vendors which never leave the system from a visual perspective. No one ever gets on the phone to troubleshoot issues which creates emails upon emails vs. a succinct conversation to air issues/collaborate. The export file into ERP needs to be monitored very carefully as the file does not always come over correctly.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Quadient Accounts Payable Automation

Pros

Platform is easy to use, and integrates with Quickbooks desktop for all three of our companies. We use PO's, invoices, and payments modules.

Cons

Support is limited or takes a while to get an answer if there is a problem with the system syncing with our Quickbooks.

Pros

Purchase Order module is functional, approvals can be efficient

Cons

As a finance professional, I feel compelled to warn others about our disastrous experience with Quadient's AP automation system. What began as a promising solution turned into a nightmare of wasted time, broken promises, and potential financial risk.

From the outset, Quadient's sales team employed deceptive tactics to secure our contract. They assured us of seamless integration with Sage 50, boasting about their OCR capabilities and automatic tax calculations. However, the reality couldn't be further from their claims.

The most egregious issue? Their "automated" system requires users to manually select tax codes and MANUALLY calculate tax amounts for each line of every invoice. Let that sink in. In 2024, they're selling a system that adds manual work and introduces significant room for error in tax calculations. This is not just a step backward; it's a leap into the dark ages of accounting.

When confronted, Quadient claimed this was a "known Sage 50 limitation." This is patently false. Other vendors provide this functionality without issue, and Sage's own marketplace offers solutions that handle this seamlessly. More importantly, if this truly was a known limitation, why wasn't it mentioned during the numerous demos where they explicitly confirmed tax code capture and automatic calculations?

The OCR functionality, a key selling point, is the weakest I've seen in the market. Test invoices took over 12 hours to process, likely because they rely on manual data entry behind the scenes. This explains their per-invoice pricing model, which is among the most expensive in the market.

Any finance professional should immediately recognise the risks this system introduces to a business. A supplier willing to lie to sell a product, exposing clients to such financial and compliance risks, demonstrates a complete lack of integrity.

We've had a lucky escape, discovering these issues before full implementation. Even when confronted, senior individuals at Quadient failed to acknowledge their mistakes or provide any assurance.

To anyone considering Quadient, especially those using Sage 50:

1. DON'T. Just don't.

2. If you must, insist on a demo using your own invoices.

3. Demand at least a 3-month break clause in any contract.

4. Request end-to-end demo with a Sage 50 , most vendors should have a license

There are reputable vendors on the Sage Marketplace (like Agilico Verify, PaperLess, and Compleat) who demonstrate integrity, transparency about their systems' limitations, and a willingness to build solutions around those limitations. In contrast, Quadient seems intent on hiding their shortcomings for as long as possible until you've signed a contract and wasted hours and days on presales.

Pros

Quick and painless! Makes accounting simple.

Cons

Not enough people use this software, if they did we would have a much better correspondence!

Pros

The classic Quadient is a great product. Easy to use for reports, looking up vendors and activity.

Cons

The update for Quadient was horrible, slow performance and features were changed and some taken out that used to be helpful. Ease of use was not good. Received multiple calls from my co workers not being able to enter invoices. Put our accounts payable behind.

Pros

The integration with our accounting software, the electronic storage of documents, the ability to have invoices authorized electronically.

Cons

The search feature has more steps than I would like, but it does work well.

Pros

I am the farthest thing from an "Accounting Person", and the software is super straightforward and easy to use. It makes approving expenses a breeze.

Cons

There isn't anything that comes to mind as a con of the product. I mainly use the software for expense approvals, and it gets the job done.

Pros

It's very helpful for volume invoices. Very easy to use and user friendly

Cons

Smartsync sometimes there's error in syncing to Sage 300

Pros

Quadiant AP automation transformed our manual AP process into an efficient, easy to use portal.Implementation and training was excellent. The ability to quickly search for and see historical invoices is especially helpful.

Cons

One feature that is missing is the ability to direct invoices to the correct post month rather than rely on the invoice date.

Pros

We love how easy it was to transition to and how it integrates with Sage 300. Love being able to see the invoice PDFs quickly and easily, no more paper!

Cons

Wish it was easier to process our credit card through Quadient and wish PO approvals could happen in the app.

Pros

Nothing - this is a terrible company and the worst thing we ever did as an institution was buy in.

Cons

Every single time you try to sign in, you receive the same error message. Quadient has done absolutely nothing to remedy the issue. Their support is unhelpful at best.

Pros

Ease of use. This program makes a difference in my day to day work load. I'd be lost without it. Never want to go back to doing AP any other way!

Cons

On some days there are glitches with errors and it needs to reload

Pros

The product is very easy to use, and easy to adapt for new users.

Cons

Less features available, such as you cannot edit the comment and PO.

Pros

ability to allocate to items and jobs on one screen

Cons

Over a year now and I get a 3K and a 2K invoice twice a month. I have sent all proof that I do not owe the money but they won't quit sending invoices

Pros

A great tool for automating a lot of accounting work, such as payroll, invoices, vacations, expenses, and payments. Cost savings, especially for small and medium-sized companies. Easy to integrate with other accounting software.

Cons

There are no major negatives that prevent the program from working successfully, but it may need to add some features to increase work efficiency. Also, please reduce the price a little.

Pros

The implementation process was the easiest I have ever experienced.

Cons

No negative aspects so far. We would only wish for the Purchase Order Module to be a bit more robust.

Pros

Document Flow, Sync with SAGE 300, Audit trail for approvals

Cons

Payment feature through a 3rd party. Nvoicepay is not always in sync with SAGE APA or SAGE 300. The change in Customer Support was not an improvement. Still waiting for minor fixes.

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

Easy to use, easy to set up, customer-friendly software. Very fast and responsive. Excellent customer service department as well.

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

Support has been fantastic. I love the exporting to excel

Cons

It does not provide a receiving function. Especially with Po's that have multiple lines. This creates a lot more time to create a PO for each service on Projects.

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."

Pros

It is good at reading handwritten words. More than I would have expected.

Cons

There is room for improvement in the area of integration. There are instances of duplicate entries on rare occasions.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Quadient Accounts Payable Automation

Pros

I like the smart code functionality the most. It takes the most recently approved invoice's expense coding and applies it to the same vendor with a simple tap of the button. The approval process is also simple and easy for other departments to pick up. And my absolute favorite thing about Beanworks is their customer service. You will always get a response and more often than not, it will help address the issue you're having.

Cons

There are times that the invoice number was inputted incorrectly so it is unable to pick up a duplicate invoice. This happens rarely and can be prevented by reviewing Beanworks' work on the backend.

Pros

Very easy to use, logically designed and very intuitive to pick up. Amazing, extremely helpful customer service - issues are dealt with immediately and resolved well. Good at picking up our internal general ledger coding categories. Great for our organization, where we have a lot of remote/travelling staff who are able to approve invoices/payments from anywhere.

Cons

As of yet, we aren't able to send wire transfers to the US because we are a Canadian not-for-profit, so this is done outside of BeanworksAP. In the case of a vendor with multiple locations who has non-centralized accounting (so each location has it's own finance team), the system sometimes gets confused on which vendor address to select (because all locations have the same name but different addresses).

Pros

That it feeds to Sage 100. Less papers to handle

Cons

The errors from the Beanwork typers. Wrong Vendor numbers and Invoice Numbers. Have hand written some on the invoice and they still type it wrong.
Using date as Invoice number which them makes it appear to be duplicate when it is not.
Also issues with Channels for Approvals, have been challenging to fit our needs.

Pros

ease of use, practical, keeps a record of all invoices for easy lookup, approval channel so authorized approvers can see and approve invoices in timely manner

Cons

little bugs once in a while but they are quickly remedied. inability to change approval channels. this may be more company specific and attached to function vs actual software limitation.

Pros

features, simplicity, user friendly, customer service,

Cons

all my cons have been already improved in the software.

Pros

I find BeanworksAP to be very easy to use and very versatile. Beanworks service team is always quick and friendly.

Cons

I least like when an user wants to reject an invoice, it goes all the way back to the starting point, when sometimes it just needs to go back one approval level.

Pros

BeanworksAP is SO intuitive and easy to learn/easy to use! Their customer support is also fantastic.

Cons

The BeanworksAP pricing plans are a little expensive, but you're paying for quality. In the end, it's well worth it.

Pros

Automates and digitizes the accounts payable process.

Cons

Beanworks does not have the functionality to process wires at the moment.

Pros

Truly helps eliminate the back and forth of emails, waiting on responses, overlooking an email etc. saves a lot of time.

Cons

Would love to view the check that was disbursed with the option to save as PDF.

Pros

Very easy to use. Options are very clear.

Cons

I type very fast, sometimes can keep up with my keystrokes

Pros

I really like the ease of forwarding invoice s via email and saving on data entry time.

Cons

It sometimes take a while to manually sync with Quickbooks when adding a new vendor.

Pros

It's easy to use and understand the functions

Cons

It's also easy to have sync errors without any reasons

Pros

It can be tailored to the company's needs and easily edited.Our accounting software is fully integrated with this software, making it very easy to use and quick to implement. Managers appreciate it because it saves them time,

Cons

So far, I have not encountered any major issues, however, I would like the ability to mark invoices that I have already read but are awaiting approvals before payment can be processed.

Pros

Less paperwork, less filing, chequer runs a click of button

Cons

Cheque numbers not always recognized by our banks ocr software

Pros

The auto submit feature is brilliant! I needed a way for my Danish assistant to input and code from our Danish vendors that syncs with my NY based office. QB file in the cloud.

Cons

There are just 1 or 2 things I wish I could set a standard default but other than this one little thing, it's really a wonderful bit of software

Pros

Great system for remote employees approvals.

Cons

The system some times freeze and I have to refresh the page.