The Risk: Getting Billing Wrong 

Vantage Partners operates across several continents, managing projects and staff in markets that demand precision, speed and compliance. The firm serves some of the world’s leading companies in sectors like biopharmaceuticals, healthcare, energy, financial services, technology and manufacturing. Many clients operate in highly regulated industries where invoices must be precise and formatted to strict specifications, so they can be easily incorporated into the client’s own accounting workflows.

All these clients pay for expenses related to their projects. For Vantage, billing isn’t just an administrative task, it’s a trust point with clients.

     “For every project, our billing needs to reflect the professionalism and accuracy our clients expect,” said Carolyn Conroy, Director of Financial Operations at Vantage Partners. “When you’re working across several countries and currencies, you can’t afford manual errors.”

The Challenge: Manual Processes, Maximum Stress

Before automation, the billing process was part paper chase, part spreadsheet marathon. Vantage Partners’ staff mailed in receipts, manually entered expense data and reconciled multiple spreadsheets. They used a mix of paper and digital reports, which was tedious to track and took a great deal of time.

With projects that required invoices to be turned around in just a few days, even small delays had ripple effects on payments, client relationships and internal stress levels.

The Vantage finance team had to double-check every expense report line by line and make copies of the receipts, according to Conroy. It wasn’t unusual for them to work late making sure everything added up. Even then, they’d worry about missing a detail or using the wrong currency exchange rate.

For global clients, the margin for error was razor thin. Currency conversions, tax differences and unique billing formats for each client made every invoice a one-off challenge. Manual work slowed cash flow, introduced inconsistencies and frequently triggered follow-up questions from clients trying to reconcile their own reports. Often, clients had to look across multiple reports to understand a single billing cycle.

The lack of automation also limited visibility. Managers couldn’t easily track non-billable expenses or assess project profitability in real time. Since they were always reacting, the Vantage team knew they were missing opportunities to proactively manage costs and see the full financial picture.

 The Solution: Automation with Intelligence

Vantage partnered with Pivot Payables, a fintech company delivering corporate financial operations solutions, to solve the problem of efficiently tracking billable expenses. By adopting its PivotPrime on-demand reporting solution, which integrates with SAP Concur data, Vantage made the transition effortlessly.

The fully automated process can handle expense data imports, currency conversions and custom reporting—all within minutes. With PivotPrime, the system can generate client-ready PDFs customized to match each customer’s preferred format and include automated data checks for accuracy. Receipt images are included automatically as proof of the expense for each project.

“Once we saw the product demo, we didn’t even consider other options,” noted Conroy. “Pivot Payables didn’t just hand us a tool. They delivered a solution that fit how we work. They built automation that feels intuitive to our team, not something we had to force into our workflow.”

Vantage’s integration of PivotPrime allows managers to control user-level access, giving department heads the ability to view budgets, receipts and spending trends in real time. This visibility gives management more ownership while reducing the burden on finance teams.

Because Pivot Payables collaborates closely with users, the automation isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it’s designed around a company’s specific billing logic, approval paths and reporting standards.

 The Results: From Bottlenecks to Brilliance

For Vantage, the result was a flexible, intelligent system that adapts as the business evolves—and the advantages were immediately apparent. What once took several days of manual work can now be done in hours. The transformation wasn’t just technical—it changed how the finance team worked, saving time and eliminating frustration.

“In the past, we might spend hours reconciling a single complex report,” Conroy said. “With the new system, it’s done almost instantly, so we can focus on the insights behind the numbers rather than the mechanics.”

A two-person finance team now manages the billing process, eliminating the need for an extra billing staff member. Expense report data goes live within as little as 15 minutes. Billing turnaround time has been reduced by 50%, enabling faster invoicing and quicker payment cycles.

The efficiencies have strengthened Vantage’s cash flow, client relationships and relationships with the traveling project consultants. Vantage benefits from professional, customizable reporting that reflects the company’s commitment to quality. Clients receive one unified document, instead of multiple files, that are cleanly formatted, easy to read, branded and ready for review. For internal viewing, non-billable expenses are now tracked within the same projects, helping leadership see the complete cost picture and make more informed decisions.

Prior to automation, the Vantage team spent a lot of time fielding questions after they sent invoices to clients about line items or exchange rates. In some cases, inquiries even required the finance team to reach out to project consultants for clarification, which would then prompt revisions and a second wave of invoicing, a laborious process for all stakeholders. Since error rates have now dropped dramatically and reports are self-explanatory, the team rarely receives any questions.

In short, billing is consistently accurate, so clients have confidence and trust in every Vantage Partners invoice.

 Looking Ahead: Continuous Innovation

The collaboration between Vantage Partners and Pivot Payables continues to evolve. Most recently, Vantage began using its PivotEQ credit card reconciliation solution to help manage the accounting associated with company-paid cards. The new integration streamlines payment flows and provides deeper visibility into spend management.

Rather than having to send multiple reminder emails to project consultants for their expense reports, PivotEQ helps close the loop much faster. Vantage has real-time visibility from expense submission to payment, which helps with forecasting and client communication.

Because Pivot Payables customizes all solutions within its platform based on real-world feedback, enhancements can be rolled out quickly, ensuring the system grows alongside Vantage’s global operations. For Vantage, automation isn’t a one-time project—it’s an ongoing strategic advantage.

 “Adopting PivotPrime is one of the best decisions we’ve made on the business side of our company,” Conroy concluded. “Automation doesn’t just make our lives easier, it makes our clients’ lives easier too and that’s the real measure of success.”

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