A premier window and door manufacturer transformed their accounts payable from a manual, bottleneck-ridden process into a fully automated workflow cutting processing time, improving cash flow visibility, and freeing their finance team to do strategic work.
A Real-World Example of AP Automation
Pella Windows & Doors encountered challenges with its accounts payable process. Manual invoice handling and slow approval cycles made timely payment processing difficult. As a result, the company incurred late payment fees and received more vendor inquiries.
To enhance efficiency, Pella implemented QuickPayable to automate its accounts payable workflow. The solution streamlined invoice processing, accelerated approvals, and provided clear visibility into payment status.
Pella Windows & Doors is a premier provider of high-quality windows and doors, serving customers across the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. Known for exceptional products and service, Pella holds itself to high standards in every aspect of the business including how they pay their suppliers.
But their accounts payable process told a different story. Every invoice was processed manually received by email, keyed into the system by hand, chased through approvals via back-and-forth email threads. As invoice volume grew alongside the business, the cracks turned into serious financial and operational problems.
Late payment penalties became a recurring cost. Cash flow forecasting was impossible without real-time payable visibility. And the finance team spent the majority of their time on administrative work instead of analysis and strategy.
Every invoice required manual handling creating bottlenecks that slowed workflows and couldn't scale with growing vendor volume.
Invoices sat in email inboxes awaiting decisions no routing, no reminders, no escalation. Approval delays cascaded into payment delays.
Missed deadlines led to avoidable penalties eroding margins and straining vendor relationships that Pella had built over years.
No real-time view of outstanding invoices or cash flow obligations making financial planning unreliable and treasury decisions opaque.
Finance staff consumed by chasing invoices and approvals time that belonged on strategic analysis, vendor negotiations, and financial reporting.
Pella implemented Quick Payable, a Salesforce native accounts payable automation platform, to replace their manual AP process with a structured, automated workflow from invoice receipt to payment.
Because Quick Payable is built 100% on Salesforce, Pella did not need to learn a new system, migrate data to an external platform, or configure a separate integration. Everything ran inside the Salesforce environment the team already knew live within weeks, not months.
Five capabilities were implemented, each directly targeting one of Pella's five core AP challenges delivering measurable improvement from the first invoice processed.
Invoices forwarded to a dedicated email address are automatically imported and created as records in Salesforce no manual entry. Processing time dropped from hours to seconds per invoice, eliminating the intake bottleneck entirely.
Quick Payable's AI engine extracts vendor details, invoice numbers, amounts, due dates, and line items automatically from any PDF or image with near-perfect accuracy, eliminating the data entry errors that caused downstream payment failures.
Invoices route automatically to the correct approver based on predefined rules vendor type, department, amount threshold. Approvers receive instant notifications and can approve from any device. Email chains eliminated.
Automated reminders and deadline alerts ensure every invoice is processed and paid on time eliminating the late payment penalties that had been eroding Pella's margins and straining supplier relationships.
Management gained live visibility into all outstanding invoices, approval status, and upcoming payment obligations with a complete audit trail of every action. AP moved from a black box to a transparent, manageable function.
From vendor invoice to payment the complete automated workflow Quick Payable runs inside Salesforce.
Email or PDF forwarded to Quick Payable inbox
OCR extracts all data zero manual entry
Quick Payable identifies vendor & flags mismatches
Invoice routed to correct approver instant notification
Approved from any device complete audit trail
Invoice paid on time marked complete in Salesforce
From vendor invoice to payment the complete automated workflow Quick Payable runs inside Salesforce.
Quick Payable delivered immediate, measurable improvements across cost, speed, accuracy, and financial visibility from the first invoice processed.
Automated deadline alerts and approval workflows ensured every invoice was processed and paid on time eradicating penalties that had been a recurring operational cost.
What previously took days of email back-and-forth now completes in hours capture, coding, routing, and approval moving automatically through the pipeline.
AI OCR data capture removed the errors associated with manual entry near-perfect accuracy on vendor details, amounts, and due dates from day one.
Real-time dashboards improved AP planning accuracy by 80% management can now see outstanding invoices, approval status, and cash flow obligations live.
Finance staff freed from manual tracking 25% of their capacity redirected to strategic analysis, vendor negotiations, and financial reporting.
Timely, consistent payments enforced by automation rather than individual effort enhanced supplier trust and built stronger long-term vendor partnerships for Pella.
Four principles every finance team should take away from Pella's implementation.
Manual AP is not just slow it actively costs money through penalties, errors, and administrative overhead. For any business processing meaningful invoice volumes, automation pays for itself rapidly through penalty elimination alone, before counting the time savings or visibility improvements.
Real-time AP dashboards replaced guesswork with evidence. When management can see exactly what is outstanding, what is due, and when cash flow planning improves dramatically. Pella's 80% improvement in financial planning accuracy reflects this principle directly.
Releasing 25% of the finance team's capacity from administrative tasks and redirecting it to analysis, vendor strategy, and financial planning creates more business value than any incremental efficiency gain in the manual process could ever deliver.
Consistent on-time payments made reliable by automation rather than individual effort are one of the highest-leverage investments in supply chain relationships. Pella's vendor relationships strengthened immediately after implementation and continued improving.
Quick Payable automates invoice capture, approvals, and payments 100% inside Salesforce. See results in weeks. No credit card needed to get started.
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AI-powered Salesforce-native accounts payable automation software.