Alabama Rural Electric Association

Automated Stripe Intacct Payments Improve Cash Flow and Reduce Manual Work

Alabama Rural Electric Association (AREA) supports its members with essential electric services across rural communities. But behind the scenes, payment processing had become increasingly manual and time-consuming. With many members needing to pay by credit card over the phone and invoices often sitting unpaid, AREA partnered with Venn Technology to modernize its payment workflows and improve the experience for both staff and members.

Challenge

AREA’s finance team was processing approximately 80–100 payments per month, with 20–25% of those requiring phone calls just to collect credit card payments. If members didn’t pay immediately upon receiving an invoice, payments were often delayed, leading to follow-ups and slower cash flow.

Manual posting and reconciliation added even more overhead, pulling staff away from higher-value work. AREA needed a solution that would allow members to pay quickly and easily—while eliminating the manual effort on the backend.

Solution

Venn Technology implemented an integrated payment solution connecting Sage Intacct, Stripe, and Yeeld to automate invoicing, payment collection, and reconciliation.

Midway through the project, AREA chose to add Yeeld to support processing fee recovery. Venn adapted quickly, expanding the scope without disrupting the implementation timeline.

The solution was designed to:

• Automate invoice posting and payment reconciliation in Sage Intacct

• Provide members with easy-to-use payment links

• Support surcharging through Yeeld with minimal configuration

• Eliminate manual follow-up and data entry

How It Works

• Invoice Creation in Intacct: AREA creates invoices in Sage Intacct as usual.

• Payment Link Generation: Invoice data is sent to Yeeld and Stripe, where a secure payment link is generated and included on the invoice.

• Member Payment: Members pay via credit card or ACH using the Stripe-hosted payment experience.

• Automatic Sync Back to Intacct: Payments—including surcharge details—are automatically posted back to Intacct, matched to bank entries, and reconciled without manual intervention.

Results

AREA went live and the impact was immediate.

Some invoices were paid within 10 minutes of being sent, dramatically reducing collection time and eliminating the need for follow-up calls. Members quickly adopted the new payment options, and internal processes became significantly more efficient.

Key outcomes included:

• Faster cash flow and reduced days-to-pay

• Streamlined workflows for approximately five team members

• Fewer manual payment calls and follow-ups

• Automated Stripe payouts and bank reconciliation in Intacct

• A simpler, more convenient payment experience for members

In THEIR OWN WORDS

“The Venn team’s flexibility and Steven’s expertise made all the difference,” said Bryan Matney, Vice President, CFO at Alabama Rural Electric Association. “We went from customers having to call in to pay, to invoices being paid within 10 minutes of sending. That changes how you operate.”

Venn Technology is proud to support Alabama Rural Electric Association with an automated, scalable payment solution that frees up staff time and improves the member experience. If you’re looking to modernize payments inside Sage Intacct, let’s talk.