Back-to-school shopping brings excitement to students, but for schools like Derby Academy, the months of July-September are a shopping "super bowl," according to Nam Dinh, Controller. 

Like many schools, Derby Academy opts to do back-to-school shopping at Amazon. Before the team found Teampay, it was messy. The school had a designated point person to do all the ordering, and the manual process was arduous and time-consuming.

"That probably took four out of five days of her time just to collect the POs, get them approved, and then physically get them signed, approved, and then actually make the purchase in Amazon," said Dinh.

Derby Academy's shopping experience exemplified the school’s entire spend management process. Purchasing was time-consuming and manual from approval to month-end close. The team set out to find software that would automate the entire spend process.

These key features added value to Derby Academy’s day-to-day operations

• Customizable, automated purchase workflows, instead of manually submitting purchase requests to a single person for manual processing, ordering, and reconciliation, Derby Academy staff can submit virtual purchase requests in the Teampay web app. Requests are then automatically routed to the correct approver, who can approve or deny requests with the click of a button. Upon approval, employees receive a virtual card number. The team also uses Teampay physical cards where needed and can request and pay reimbursements through the platform. "Teampay is super customizable on the back end, even as our organization changes over time,” Dinh notes.

• Real-time reconciliation and reporting, as employees make purchases through Teampay, they are automatically prompted to upload receipts. The finance team can also access all purchase information and track spend in real time, ensuring everyone stays in budget. As for the point person initially placing orders for the entire staff? She now has time to handle bills, vendor management, and closing the books, which takes significantly less time.

• Ease of user experience: Teampay’s interface makes for an easy user experience. According to Dinh, regardless of tech-savviness, "the faculty members just love it. It's like shopping at home for them. And once those requests are submitted, they can wipe their hands clean of them, and purchases show up in two days in their classroom."

• Cash back: Derby Academy also benefits from Teampay’s cash back program. "The rewards back have been great so far. We pretty much tried to throw everything on our credit cards. So that has been super helpful in cash savings," says Dinh.

The cherry on top of the Teampay sundae was Teampay’s Amazon Business Integration.

With Teampay's Amazon Business Integration, employees request an Amazon purchase in Teampay and are directed to an organization's Amazon Business account to select items for approval. Upon approval, employees can buy what they need, and the purchase is automatically reconciled in Teampay. Account administrators can customize automated workflows and rules by spend limit, internal approvers, specific items or brands in Amazon, and more.

With Teampay, Amazon purchases are no longer limited to a single point person. Faculty members quickly order supplies for their classrooms using Teampay’s customizable, automated workflows, and upload receipts upon purchase. 

The best part? Teampay has helped Derby Academy save $139k in 2023 alone.

With Teampay, back-to-school shopping can be just as fun for schools as it is for students.

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