Gates Hudson
“We chose to integrate with AvidStrongroom and AvidPay because AvidXchange really understands our industry and can help us meet our clients’ needs. It’s night and day from the old way, providing a huge time savings. Now I can’t imagine doing it any other way.”
Gates Hudson
Founded in 1980 and headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C., Gates Hudson is a privately-held real estate services company with more than 700 employees. Within its umbrella of companies is Gates Hudson Community Management (GCHM), a premier full-service association management company that specializes in providing financial management and residential services to condominium, cooperative and homeowner associations throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area.
- Industry: Homeowner Association/Community Management
- Product: AvidStrongroom, AvidPay
- Year Joined: 2016
- Integration: Vantaca
- Location: Washington, D.C.
Time-intensive, Inefficient Manual AP Tasks
Prior to automating their AP process, collecting invoices and cutting paper checks on behalf of its diverse mix of clients and communities was time-intensive, cumbersome work for GCHM staff.
“Each and every day, four people sat around a conference room table opening invoices that were sent through the mail,” said Timonere. “They manually entered data from each invoice into our accounting system and then sent a copy to our corporate office for the accounting team to issue payments.”
Payment processing was just as tedious and inefficient, dependent on a centralized team to cut and mail paper checks.
Spending so much time on AP meant staff had less time to help their clients manage and enhance the value of their assets.
Integrated AP Solution Provides Invoice Accessibility and Eliminates Paper Checks
In 2016, GCHM implemented AvidStrongroom, AvidXchange’s automated invoice approval product, to reduce manual data entry while eliminating tedious tasks associated with paper invoices.
Their suppliers email invoices directly to AvidStrongroom and the invoices pop up on community managers’ screens, accessible from anywhere, at any time – a feature that is essential for the homeowner association and community management industry.
Additionally, to provide savings in payment processing costs, GCHM adopted AvidPay, AvidXchange’s full-service payment automation solution.
AvidPay offers electronic payment options, eliminating the need for their team to cut paper checks and enabling them to take a day off without worrying about delayed payments. A team of experts at AvidXchange handles the work, ensuring that vendors are paid promptly.
AvidStrongroom and AvidPay seamlessly integrate with their existing accounting software, Vantaca. The integration is user-friendly, flexible and helps streamline the entire AP process.
Less Time on AP Means More Time for Clients
AvidStrongroom and AvidPay have substantially streamlined work for the GCHM team.
GHCM’s employees are no longer stuck at a conference room table, wasting time on the tedious task of opening the mail to gather their invoices.
Instead of requiring several full-time staff to support processing payments, now only two are required to support the invoice processing and payment process. Once the invoice is released for payment, AvidPay handles the rest.
By doing away with cumbersome AP work, GCHM staff is freed to spend their time doing the other parts of their job, including managing and serving the properties and communities in their portfolio.
“We really appreciate the reliable, trusted partnership we get from AvidXchange,” said Timonere. “They are helping us serve our clients by empowering us to spend more time with them and we know that when their payments team communicates with our suppliers on our behalf, they represent us with a professional and friendly face.”