How Automation Helped Queensway Save Half a Headcount
Established in 1973, Queensway is a family-owned business with a diverse portfolio of services. The company is known for its innovative spirit, customer-centric approach, and commitment to quality. With operations across the UK, Queensway continues to deliver exceptional experiences and sustainable growth.
Queensway’s busy finance team of 8 found manual invoice management increasingly challenging. With slowing efficiency and complicating price checks against POs, the team sought a cloud-based solution to automate workflows and integrate seamlessly with their accounting software, Xero.
The Paperwork Chaos
Queensway employs 450 people across its regional operations, including a newer advisory arm of 15 employees providing consultancy services to hospitality and retail businesses. Gillian Benjamin joined this division 3 years ago as a Finance Director to lead the finance team. Alongside managing 10 internal sites, Queensway runs around 35 external sites for administrators and clients, offering flexible, short-term support.
Prior to Lightyear, Gillian’s team would struggle to complete daily admin jobs like invoice data entry, while also juggling important cost-control tasks like price checking.
''Price checking was a challenge because it was such a time-consuming task, and we didn’t have the resources to do it. We need to ensure everything is charged correctly, as it's often not, and that was the real draw for us." highlights Gillian.
Queensway has a large client base and therefore a substantial purchase ledger team. With so many people working on the same accounts, there was potential for duplication or confusion, which made managing the workload more challenging.
"If we'd had Lightyear in place at that time, it would have definitely assisted with managing such a large number of invoices and their approval workflows."
Recognising the inefficiency of the processes, Queensway moved to Lightyear’s automation solution for their busy finance team.
AP Automation Magic in Action
With Lightyear, the team can process the invoice for payment on the same day as it arrives.
"Connecting Lightyear to Xero was really straightforward, and everything flows smoothly. With Lightyear, invoices go to one person for price checks and site managers for review. Without it, this process would be difficult, especially with teams across different locations." Gillian mentions.
While transitioning from manual to automated AP was a change, Gillian noted that they received great training.
''The person from my team who handled the implementation found the Lightyear support team really helpful. They are always quick, responsive, and proactive, especially when it comes to monitoring what the most cost-effective pricing plan is for us."
Plus, by prioritising automation over hiring new staff, the team maintains efficiency and consistency, regardless of how many sites they’re managing at any given time.
"Because of our operational model, where site numbers can fluctuate, staffing is always challenging. Relying more on an automation system has definitely been a big benefit for us," says Gillian.
Gillian pointed out that while the system has a cost associated with it, it has ultimately offset the expense of hiring more people, leading to greater cost savings.
Half a Head, All The Impact
Automation with Lightyear allowed Queensway to save the equivalent of half a full-time position.
"Without automation, we’d likely need another half-person to handle our current document volume. Right now, with people spread across different companies, we have one full-time person managing the purchase ledger. If we were still processing manually, we’d definitely need more resources to keep up."
When asked what advice Gillian would give someone looking at Lightyear for AP automation, she said:
''If it works for somebody's business model, I don't think there's any flaws within the system that would stop somebody from moving over.''
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