As the former sole employee of Terrell Wines, a wholesale business specializing in the sale of wines predominantly from the Eurasian country of Georgia and neighboring regions, Christopher Terrell has held just about every role within his small business, from tasting the wines at the wineries, to sales rep, to accountant. Having started in 2008 with only $15,000, today his business boasts more than $1 million annually in revenue, a significant jump in value, and in workload as well.
“Originally, I set up the business with spreadsheets and then QuickBooks on CD,” said Terrell. “We’ve since grown, I’ve brought on contractors to help with pieces of the business, and at the same time, I got married and started a family. So, with those greater responsibilities came a greater need for efficiencies.”
And that need drove Terrell straight to Veem. In seeking to overhaul his accounts payable and receivables processing, he came across the solution and immediately saw how it would help to streamline his entire accounting infrastructure.
“When QuickBooks went online, the transition was horrible,” said Terrell. “You couldn’t just turn it on and have it work. This led me to find Xero, a competitor, and an understanding that there can be better ways to do things. And this led me to Veem, which integrates with Xero. I saw that they used blockchain, and I liked that they were forward looking and trying to be ahead of the game.”
Prior to Veem, Terrell Wines’ account payables/receivables process was almost 100 percent manual. Since most payment providers did not integrate with Xero, and Terrell Wines was a one-man shop, Terrell was forced to perform back-end reconciliation work on his own. This typically meant going line by line through bank statements to determine how each line item matched up to each payment.
It also meant manual work when it came to the calculation of foreign exchange rates, which required computation to get it into the correct format, and then once in the right format, manually inputting the rates into the accounting system.
Additionally, with an internal system that did not allow for easy, electronic payment of invoices, Terrell Wines processed a large volume of checks. This typically meant traveling to a mailbox to collect checks, tracking down or canceling lost checks, following up regarding missing check payments, depositing checks, and a host of other tasks associated with the paper instrument.
But Veem changed that. With a system that allows for automatic payment reconciliation, electronic calculation of foreign transaction rates, fees in any currency, and the viewing and easy payment of invoices right online, Veem saved Terrell Wines countless hours previously spent on manual tasks.
“Veem is saving me about 10 to 15 hours per week,” said Terrell. “It’s changed my life. It’s changed my family’s life. And for that, I appreciate it, enormously.”
In addition to time savings, Veem has made cost savings for Terrell Wines possible as well. One area that has seen significant savings is in its foreign exchange rates and fees. With Veem, Terrell Wines is able to benefit from better rates, which has really impacted its bottom line.
“As a small business owner, you don’t have the power of a larger company [with massive volume] to get the deals or discounts. But Veem provides that for us. And as a small business owner these dollars really count.”
Terrell Wines has also found cost savings as a result of its reduction in check processing. Typically, each check costs $4 to $5 to process, in terms of labor time spend picking up the checks, scanning in checks and reconciling checks. With the reduction in checks, as well as the lower foreign exchange rates/fees, Terrell Wines now saves $1,000 to $2,000 each month, depending on monthly sales volumes.
While time and cost savings are two of the foremost benefits Terrell Wines has experienced with its use of Veem, a fortuitous value-add has been its ability to support and even strengthen relationships with vendors and customers.
“Veem allows you to be straight and transparent in your relationships,” said Terrell. “When I send a payment to a winery in Georgia, Armenia, France, Spain, Italy, or Australia, they can click on that payment and see the status of those payments. If they have a question, I can quickly check and help the customer find the information.”
Veem also helps prevent double payment or overpayment of invoices because there is clear line of sight into the status of payments and invoices. That transparency also helps to eliminate the need for expensive, last-minute payments, which can be costly and harm relationships.
“Veem helps to de-escalate what can be relationship-breaking issues,” said Terrell. “With Veem, if you have a smartphone, you can literally go to Veem.com, log in, see statuses, make a payment. Veem helps us be transparent. Because as small business owners, none of us have time for [anything else.]”
Veem is a global payments network built for businesses. We began in 2014 with the intention of making international money transfers as simple as purchasing a cup of coffee. Since then, we’ve revolutionized the way businesses pay and get paid around the world by empowering owners, accountants, and financial professionals to take control over their payment processes. We level the playing field by providing enterprise-level financial tools and negotiating power to the small businesses who need it most.