Esker vs. Stampli

I would recommend Esker based on the automation of invoice sending - it is very nice to have a tool that not only stores all of the contact info, but sends the invoices out as well. The tracking feature is great to have to see if the submission was successful. I do think that overall it could be much more user-friendly, but once you know what you're doing, it is not hard software to use.

Incentivized

Stampli is best for a compony that has a large amount of payables. It stores everything in one place and reduces the need to keep paper copies of everything. It is less appropriate in a situation where payment is due at the time of services since it is sent via USPS mail and you have to take into account the mail processing times.

Incentivized

• Everything is electronic and every manager receives an email each morning telling them how many invoices they need to approve.
• It has completely removed paper form the Accounts payable process and automatically archives invoices for the mandatory period required by Inland Revenue.
• For monthly reporting there is visibility over what has not yet been included in the accounts and staff can follow with the tardy managers.

Incentivized

• Learning - Billy the bot learns much quicker than our previous OCR.
• Global lookup - we have multiple entities which creates a challenge for finding invoices entered in the wrong place. Stampli has removed this issue.
• Maximizing manpower - reduces the need for more personnel.

Incentivized

• We can't enter credit memos in Esker. Need to enter in SAP and then link.
• PO invoices that were trained to go into the PO bucket, route into the non-PO buckets.
• Freight invoices that have had hundreds going into the non-PO bucket have a tendency to route to the PO-bucket because a PO number is referenced on page 7.

• It would be awesome if I was able to search for a vendor and check number for proof of payment
• When asking questions regarding invoices it is a little confusing on how to make the requested changes.
• Webinar on use of Stampli would be appreciated.

Incentivized

I cannot imagine going back to pre-Stampli processes. Our jobs in the Accounting department (not just AP) have all become more engaging because we've cut out so much mindless, non-value added work: data entry, signing checks, stuffing envelopes, stamping envelopes, etc.

Incentivized

Esker does everything that it promises to do, but it is very hard to figure out. I am a very tech-savvy person, but I needed extensive training to be able to use the basic functions of Esker. Once you know what you're doing, it's not too hard, but I don't understand why they couldn't make it easier to use.

Incentivized

A lot of checks and balances in the system that are an accountant's dream - just takes some time to understand the new process to get up to speed.

Never an issue with downtime

Very fast and no issues with the Sage Intacct integration

They have been very helpful and the online support site is awesome. They keep the site up to date with the latest changes and present challenges to keep learning the new updates to keep things entertaining. They are overall a great crew to work with

Incentivized

We have a dedicated rep (who was also our implementation rep--they stay with you after implementation) who we can email whenever needed and meet with every quarter. There is a chat option within the software that gets responded to by a real person within minutes.

Incentivized

Excellent documentation, step-by-step instructions

We lost an AP employee right as we were deciding to implement, so we had to speed up our timeline. We went from signing the contract to fully functional system within 4 weeks. We did not dedicate any more than 4 hours per week during the implementation.

Incentivized

We investigated Readsoft early in our exploration of upgrade options. We were on Esker DeliveryWare, but the UI for Readsoft, at the time, seemed to be a little convoluted and geared towards exception handling and required tiered users. Also, Readsoft was more cost prohibitive and did not have a solution for our faxing. Though, as I understand it, they may have since found a solution for this issue

Incentivized

Stampli better suited our needs with the
infrastructure we have in place, met our international and workflow requirements, required minimal integration
set-up time without involving a 3rd party vendor, provided a
tailored implementation process, and offered an all-inclusive month-to-month
pricing structure.

Ease of deployment both domestic and international

• We now have reporting available down to the individual field level (changes, errors, etc) and can calculate cost to serve.
• It replaced on-premise hardware with cloud SaaS that is more cost effective and risk adverse.
• It is more intuitive; we can put new hires on order entry and experience less user errors. As a solution owner who fixes problems and answers questions, I don't find myself having to "think" about Esker and it has become a smaller part of my job now that end-users are more self-sufficient.

Incentivized

• decreases manual process - balances out the benefit to cost ratio in automation vs employee time
• ACH payments allow for elimination of lost checks research and reprocessing
• Vendor portal connection putt he tools in their hands to research any status they may need instead of internal employee time to research and provide