Case Studies

McNally Robinson Booksellers

Case Study

McNally Robinson is Canada’s largest independent bookseller, with stores in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New York City. Family-oriented and committed to community bookselling, the firm provides a local alternative to corporate-chain bookstores.

Challenges

Due to a high transaction volume and an extensive vendor list, McNally’s accounting department was processing a mountain of paperwork every month. Just gathering, maintaining and updating vendor information was an unenviable challenge, let alone mailing, tracking and reconciling the piles of cheques, all requiring manual signatures. The system was causing a bottleneck so an alternative had to be found.

Solution

Although McNally had implemented an electronic payroll system, years ago – and was reaping all the benefits that electronic employee remittances offered over traditional cheque issuances – the company was still making bill payments the old-fashioned way. McNally was looking for efficiencies and best practices, and Telpay delivered.

Results

Shortly after implementing Telpay’s electronic bill payment system, McNally’s accountants came to recognize the benefits that their HR managers had known about for years. Telpay’s system proved so reliable and robust that, in spite of McNally's switching to new core accounting software, the Telpay component was carried over with a minimal effort and is in use today for almost all of McNally’s bill payments.

Testimonial

"We like the fact that we can pay anyone electronically without having to worry about gathering our supplier’s banking information, setting it all up, and worrying about upkeep and management of their information. Telpay has saved us a lot of time and money and it has allowed us to keep our accounting personnel and cost to a minimum. I don’t see any alternative to Telpay. I think it’s the only product that has such an extensive payroll list, is totally reliable and inexpensive. It’s the only option for us."
— Lori Baker, McNally Robinson Booksellers