Case Study: The Power of Automation: Streamlining Operations & Improving Cash Flow

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, time consuming processes can hinder a company’s operations, and even cash flow, as they struggle to stay on pace with competitors or manual processes result in costly errors. Our client, Dana, struggled with inefficient processes in her business that impeded productivity and profitability. Here’s her story and how she partnered with Code Shoppe to get her business back on track leveraging automation.

The Problem

Dana’s business struggled with time-consuming invoicing processes that led to errors, payment delays, and ultimately cash flow challenges. As a result, her business was continually under pressure. The process to invoice customers took 1-2 days due to the information needed for billing being housed in multiple spreadsheets in multiple programs. The invoicing process was complex and elaborate calculations needed to be made to determine what each client needed to pay. Additionally, there were multiple parties that needed to issue approvals. 

Do any of these challenges sound familiar in your business?

- A process has multiple manual steps and you or your team is spending hours (sometimes days) to complete the task each week.

- Doing things manually is ultimately resulting in human error and it’s impacting your business’ ability to be paid faster.

- You’d love to have one system to complete tasks, like invoicing or data analysis, but information that you need is stored in multiple systems and they don’t communicate with one another. 

- You have a process that requires approval from multiple people and it slows down completing a task or project.

If you’re like Dana, you can relate to how overwhelmed she was feeling, especially when slow, manual processes or errors are impacting cash flow. You know there are too many things being done manually, but you don’t have the time and expertise to fix it.

The Solution

Dana scheduled a consultation with Code Shoppe and we discussed a potential solution to solve her invoicing woes. She couldn’t fully visualize the solution, but trusted Code Shoppe’s expertise to make improvements from where she was at.

Code Shoppe introduced an automation solution, eliminating manual steps and providing Dana with clear, accurate invoices. It also provided leadership with custom reports allowing them to access essential data, such as bill rates and pay rates, quickly. 

Dana and Code Shoppe went through multiple iterations as they better learned what was needed on invoices and what data each person needed. Throughout the process, Dana was impressed by Code Shoppe’s patience as they worked through iterations of customizations and slowly added exceptions to eliminate manual steps that were taking a lot of time.

The Benefits

After working with Code Shoppe, the process that once took days is now boiled down to pushing a button. Clients receive a detailed invoice that is easy to understand and accurate. Leadership and other relevant parties can view a custom report that gives them the data they need like, bill rates, pay rates, and hours by employee. Code Shoppe has made Dana’s life and her employees’ lives a lot easier. They are saving a ton of time, invoices are paid faster, and cash flow has improved significantly. Dana feels much less stressed and feels a sense of pride in what’s been accomplished. Code Shoppe's reliable support and client-centric approach cemented their status as a trusted business consultant for her in the future. They’ve even started looking at other processes, like payroll, and are working to streamline them using automation.

Here’s what Dana had to say about her experience with Mark at Code Shoppe:

“Mark got our entire invoicing process down to pushing one button. He delivered on what he said could be done and made our lives a lot easier. There was less stress and more productivity for the company.”