The challenge
When Elizabeth Skokan joined Immigrant Law Group as Accounts Administrator, she inherited two tools to manage the firm’s A/R workload—software for handling the bulk of its accounting tasks and a separate billing system for administering client payment plans. Although the organization connected the platforms for payment reconciliation, synchronizations between the two environments failed repeatedly.
The failures resulted in errors in account statements, prompting repeated calls from clients. To reduce confusion, Skokan printed out and painstakingly verified statements herself, which meant that statements were sent out several weeks late. “We’d rather hold off on sending statements than have clients receive a statement that was incorrect,” she said.
A lack of visibility across A/R operations also created issues for the firm. Legal assistants frequently needed to check a client’s account balance, and it could take several days to receive this information from the accounting group.
In addition, the firm’s attorneys needed a daily report showing payments received per attorney. With busy schedules and only three attorneys on staff, this labor-intensive task could easily slip through the cracks.
Finally, limitations in the billing system’s payment functionality made it difficult to manage payment plans. Skokan could enter payment plans, but she couldn’t modify them if terms changed or even track payments against the total amount due. And in order to manage the early payment discounts that Immigrant Law Group offers, she had to maintain an elaborate system of notes, reminders, and alarms.
The solution
Skokan evaluated online invoicing solutions and decided to work with Invoiced based on its easy-to-use technology and superior customer service. “We wanted to find a system that is customer friendly,” she says. “We really like the fact that Invoiced is always available—on the phone, by email, and also via documentation. It’s a big deal for us to communicate our needs and have an answer.”
Immigrant Law Group loaded its customer data into Invoiced and began accepting on-site payments to get a better feel for the platform. Realizing that the firm needed additional payment plan functionality, Invoiced co-founders Jared King and Parag Patel decided to build the capabilities into the platform.
“Our mission is to empower businesses of all sizes with the best tools to get paid,” said Jared. “Keeping track of and collecting installment payments is a time-consuming task that is ripe for automation. This problem is an ideal example of the complex billing processes we can solve for merchants.”
“Invoiced has made sure its solutions can be applied to all our business needs. In every way, they have helped improve the quality of our business—regarding payments and beyond.”
Elizabeth Skokan, Accounts Administrator, Immigrant Law Group
The results
After deploying Invoiced, Skokan now has streamlined, automated workflows in place for billing and payment processing. She can easily modify payment plans, track payments against specific plans, enter discounts, and set expiration dates for each discount. And she spends 70% less time on payment plan management.
The Invoiced solution has also proven highly beneficial for other Immigrant Law Group staff members and customers. Clients can find balance information online with a couple of clicks. Legal assistants can access customer payment data immediately. And each day, Skokan quickly and easily creates payment reports for the firm’s attorneys.
Critically, Immigrant Law Group employees have gained the peace of mind that comes with knowing the most up-to-date payment information is available in Invoiced at all times. Staff members no longer spend time fielding customer calls about incorrect statements or performing manual processes to keep track of payments and discounts. And the firm has eliminated the failures, delays, and billing errors that previously resulted in lost revenue.
“Invoiced has made sure its solutions can be applied to all our business needs. In every way, they have helped improve the quality of our business—regarding payments and beyond,” says Skokan.
