Cloud Eleven automates software recharging while keeping GoCardless

Cloud Eleven Accountants recharges software to around 150 clients across Xero, QuickBooks, Dext, Companies House and Apron. As principal, Jan Willis raised every invoice herself, and keeping each charge accurate meant manually updating every price and plan change. It was eating into time she would rather spend on client work.

When a vendor price changed, it had to be caught and updated manually. Some slipped, and clients would later get a larger bill than they expected. Revenue sat on the table, and the chasing took hours every month.

Now Rechargly imports every vendor charge and builds the invoices automatically. Cloud Eleven keeps collecting through GoCardless, so clients never set up a new direct debit. Because each client matches their existing GoCardless record, collection happens on its own.

At-a-glance stats

• Firm size: 6 staff, ~150 clients across Xero, QuickBooks, Dext, Companies House and Apron
• Location: Lymington, United Kingdom
• Key outcome: software billing automated with no change to how clients pay
• Efficiency gain: 3 to 4 hours of admin saved per month

Before: what life looked like pre-change

Context

Cloud Eleven Accountants is a forward-thinking UK practice based in Lymington, Hampshire, serving clients across the country. It specialises in the creative industries and works across a wide range of other sectors, with services spanning accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, corporate and personal tax, and consultancy. It runs as a near all-Xero practice and is a Xero gold partner.

Old workflow

Subscription billing ran across multiple channels: GoCardless direct debit, plus clients paying by bank transfer. It all fell to Jan, the principal, to manage manually:

• Clients set up on a monthly GoCardless direct debit covering fees and software
• Some clients paying annually, some monthly
• Repeating invoices created in Xero for monthly clients
• Every price or plan change updated manually
• Delays in updating repeating invoices led to under-billing until it was reconciled, and to catch-up invoices for clients

"I am the principal, and I handle the billing even though it is a busy practice. We have been fortunate enough to experience significant growth, and various clients were on different payment methods, some annually, some quarterly and many monthly. Before you know it, it is six to twelve months since you billed someone for their Xero, Companies House, Dext or Apron recharges, the prices have gone up across the board, and then you issue the client with a reasonable-sized invoice. This is not ideal for the client, and we bear the risk if someone does not pay it. We pride ourselves on being a forward-thinking practice and using technology to support us to deliver a great service to our clients. After the demo with Rechargly it was a no-brainer that this was a good tool to significantly save time in the practice and let us focus on other areas, while also improving the service and regular touch points for the client." Jan Willis, Principal, Cloud Eleven Accountants

Going line by line through every supplier invoice to recharge could take up to a day a month. And there was never full confidence that everything had been billed and collected, because new clients onboard all the time, and if a repeating invoice was not set up, a client could be missed.

The trigger

Two things pushed the change. The admin was taking hours Jan would rather spend on client delivery, and billing usually ended up being done at the weekend, time away from family. And the risk was building: revenue was sitting uncollected, which became a real problem when a client relationship ended and the unbilled software had stacked up. Xero pointed her to Rechargly on a courtesy call.

During: how the firm made the change

What they looked for

Cloud Eleven wanted the admin gone without forcing clients onto a new payment method. The system needed to:

• Import charges from every vendor automatically
• Keep invoices accurate as prices and plans change
• Keep collections running through GoCardless
• Avoid asking clients to set up a new direct debit
• Give clear visibility of who is billed for what

Implementation

Rechargly creates rules that pull every vendor charge into one place, then maps each charge to the right client in Xero. From there it raises the invoices each month automatically.

There was no back billing. The team reviewed what had and had not been billed, then went live on Rechargly the following month.

Cloud Eleven kept GoCardless for collection. Because each invoice matches the client's existing GoCardless record, payment is collected without anyone setting up a new mandate.

They started by recharging Xero, then added Companies House as a second phase once they saw how easily a new vendor could be added. They also recharge Apron and Dext.

The new playbook

• Vendor charges import automatically across every tool
• Invoices are raised each month with price and plan changes already applied
• Collection continues through GoCardless on the existing mandates
• Some clients still pay by bank transfer, but more have moved to direct debit
• New vendors can be added in their own right, as Companies House was
• Jan keeps full visibility of who is charged for what

After: results and proof

What changed (Before to After)

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Day-to-day impact

Jan no longer raises invoices manually or hunts for missed price changes. The firm saves three to four hours of admin every month, and that time goes back into client delivery and time with family.

"It is about making sure there is no revenue left on the table, and that clients are billed in a timely fashion, always with the most up-to-date pricing across our recharges." Jan Willis, Cloud Eleven Accountants

Business impact

The win is three to four hours of admin saved each month, plus the peace of mind that every software cost is tracked and ultimately recovered. Cloud Eleven started with Xero and added Companies House soon after, because adding a vendor was straightforward. Rechargly now sits as the core infrastructure behind recharging, and behind making sure every cost gets paid.

Bottom line

Cloud Eleven automated software recharging without changing how clients pay. Rechargly handles the imports and the invoicing, GoCardless still does the collection, and the manual monthly job that used to fall on the principal is gone.