Since the beginning of 2019, Fiscotax, member of the Institute of Accountants and Tax Consultants (IAB), has been using Banqup. Managing director Christophe Meesters, also a recognized external member of the IAB, became completely convinced of Unifiedpost's community platform in that short period of time: "For me, Banqup is the ideal solution to get all invoices digital and thus make an immense efficiency gain."
Christophe Meesters started Fiscotax in 1997 and together with his four permanent employees, he advises an extensive client portfolio, from multinationals to the small independent around the corner. Christophe: "To the large companies we mainly give digitalization advice and we also perform ratings for them. To the local neighborhood supermarkets, car dealers or newsagents, in turn, we guide them from A to Z. Because we are a fully digital office, we really take them into the 21st century."
Largely plug-and-play
Christophe first heard of Banqup through the IAB, which is co-sponsor of the community platform. "One day I saw a Banqup promotion: ten offices were allowed to use Banqup in the start-up phase," Christophe recalls. "I jumped on that immediately, because I was very curious to see what the platform had to offer. We have used many programs in the past, but they never matched my expectations seamlessly. With Banqup, that's a completely different story."
For Christophe, the platform had to meet some strict criteria. "The fact that Banqup is supported by Unifiedpost of course creates a lot of confidence, but immediately also expectations. You know in advance that it complies with all rules and that it is a secure platform. But in addition, it was also important to me that it would be a simple system, could process the invoices properly and also recognize them quickly. Another big advantage of Banqup is the fact that it is largely plug-and-play. Everyone in the office had to be able to work with it smoothly."
Extensively tested
Before Christophe rolled out the platform to his entire customer base, he first tested it internally for a year. "In the past, we made the mistake of switching completely to a new system right away, and that didn't work out at all ideally. For example, it was impossible to enter an invoice with two VAT rates or to work with continuous financial years. So for Banqup we decided to try it first and evaluate it extensively afterwards. That evaluation was so positive that we have been offering Banqup to our customers since the beginning of this year. In order to convince customers to also switch to Banqup, I organized some short seminars at our office."
After the test period, about 80 percent of Fiscotax's customer portfolio is already using Banqup. Christophe: "Our customers or employees scan the invoices to their own Banqup environment, where they are converted to a UBL format. It actually starts with Robotic Process Automation: in the background, the UBLs are retrieved and then processed in the accounting package ExpertM. It's the same story for the CODA, the digital bank account statements, and the SODA files for personnel entries. Then a linking happens with Silverfin on which the data are put up-to-date. In this way, clients can access all the documents almost in real time."
Benefits are many
Beyond the fact that Banqup is a user-friendly platform and that invoices are processed well and recognized quickly, it offers many other advantages for Christophe. "For processing invoices, it really is the ideal platform, and it also best suits my needs as a numerical practitioner. The big difference with other platforms is that with Banqup you keep control over the UBL and the document at all times, and you decide how the processing should be done. The UBL comes in, is in Banqup's folder, and I choose which program to import it into. With many other systems, you don't have that freedom. Once the UBL is processed, you have absolutely no control over the file with other systems. It is also important that we retain ownership of the UBL per se. After all, the processed UBLs are stored on our own server."
The financial picture
What also played a role in Christophe's decision-making process was the cost issue: "Banqup is, thanks to the IAB's contribution, virtually free, which is quite unique. I listened to other parties and there we are talking about thousands of euros for just the implementation, and then there are the monthly costs. Those are costs I can't sell to my customers."
But that's not the only financial advantage, because according to Christophe, Banqup even brings in money. "In the limited time we have been using the platform, we have become much more efficient. For us it is important that all documents are in Banqup as quickly as possible, because then the work is actually done for us. I also notice that there is less stress in the office. For the most part, everything is prepared properly, which allows us to move much faster."
Payment initiation no longer a pipe dream
The fact that Fiscotax will also be able to initiate payments via Banqup in the very near future makes Christophe very pleased. "I have been informed that these payments are now in a pilot phase and that this function will soon be rolled out to everyone. That is a moment that many are eagerly awaiting. Customers will then have the complete overview themselves and be able to follow up on all payments: which customer has already paid, which supplier still needs to be paid... I'm already predicting that we're going to see a big reaction then. Those who may still be hesitant now are going to be asking for it then."
