Apkudo implement a forecasting and billing solution with Breadwinner and GSP 

Apkudo is the global leader in the connected device supply chain management industry. With the only platform for smartphones and other connected devices, Apkudo’s robotics clean, diagnose and determine the cosmetic condition of devices as they flow into and out of reverse supply chain operations.

Apkudo wanted to improve their book-to-bill accuracy through an integrated solution that bridged the gap between Salesforce and Xero.

When it comes to generating invoices for recurring revenue accounts, there is often a gap between what was forecast and actuals. A common method is for someone in Finance to export data out of the CRM and into Excel spreadsheets for truing up actuals – which can take 4 hours’ of tedious work every week.

Finance then sends off the Excel data to the sales and account management teams for them to update the revenue numbers before generating invoices. Back and forth processes like this are common in SaaS businesses wasting tens of thousands of hours of business value every year. 

Close The Variance in Your Forecasts

As much as leadership can encourage Account Management and Sales to own their numbers, these types of manual processes are not conducive to scaling the business. No matter how perfect the manual process is, relying on people to manually do each step in a complicated sequence has inherent limitations. “We sought a solution that leverages automation and software to do these mundane tasks so our staff can focus on customer-facing actions that drive the business,” says Stephenson.

Before implementing Breadwinner, Apkudo was using Zendesk Sell to create a new deal for every invoice. “Every month we would clone a deal for that month’s invoice. When we decided to move to Salesforce, I wanted to create an optimized configure, price and quote solution that integrated with our Xero accounting system,” continued Stephenson. 

Let Software Do More of The Work

After adopting Salesforce, Apkudo found the GSP Revenue Scheduling App on the Salesforce AppExchange to break the total projected revenue into monthly revenue schedules over the contract period. “GSP’s Revenue Schedules allow our Sales team to estimate future revenue and our Account Management team to update those forecasts as each account’s business changes,” says Stephenson. “As those forecasts become updated with actuals, we have everything we need to generate an accurate invoice.”

The next challenge was to transfer that information from Salesforce into the Xero Accounting system as invoices. 

Initially, Darwin considered utilizing his engineering team to create a custom solution. In looking into the timeline, cost, and effort of building a custom solution, Apkudo discovered Breadwinner on the Salesforce AppExchange. Breadwinner already had the capabilities that Apkudo needed, reducing the timeframe and upfront cost involved in creating a custom solution.

“We’re not unlike most companies that explore the build vs. buy decision,” remarked Stephenson. “Our engineers are the brightest stars at Apkudo and we regularly ask ourselves what do we want them working on. As I’m responsible for revenue attainment, I want them working on new products instead of creating solutions for my team.” 

The adoption of Breadwinner provided Apkudo with an easy way to generate invoices from the GSP Revenue Schedules directly into Xero. In addition to the ease of configuration, Breadwinner offered a 2-week free trial of their solution. This trial allowed Apkudo to properly test the functionality of Breadwinner.

Breadwinner’s integration with Salesforce enabled Apkudo to eliminate various systems and close the variance in their forecasts, ensuring more accurate data and probable predictions. Additionally, Darwin explains “invoicing and forecasting can now be done quickly and confidently, based on a single source of truth.” 

Darwin concluded that “Untethering my finance team from creating invoices in Excel has meant they can focus on initiatives that move the needle.”

Creating a solution that is not locked into individual workflows makes the business less dependent on individuals carrying out processes.

Business Outcomes: 

• Finance recovering 4 hours of data extraction and manipulation each week
• Improved Book-to-Bill accuracy
• Accountability resides with the customer-facing staff that best know the forecasts of their customers
• Forecast accuracy and variance can be measured and improved
• Everyone is able to focus on revenue-driving tasks and less time on mundane tasks

For more information about Apkudo, visit www.apkudo.com.

Want to learn more about integrating Salesforce and Xero? Book a free demo with our friendly product team.

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