Commission Factory pays publishers and people at speed with Airwallex Transfers and Reimbursements

Commission Factory is an Australian affiliate marketing software company with an amazing growth story. Born of humble beginnings on the Sunshine Coast, the business experienced rapid growth, particularly through the lockdown period when online shopping experiences boomed in popularity. 

Connecting brands, influencers, and agencies through their innovative tools, the business is tech-first and data-driven – values that resonate strongly with us at Airwallex. They also wanted to show consideration for their publishers (influencers and advertisers) and reduce their international payments fees, which is what initially connected them to Airwallex tools. 

A few years later, Commission Factory was invited to be a part of beta testing for Airwallex’s new Spend tools, to great success. We spoke with APAC Finance Director Alec Alltimes about how the Airwallex product suite has boosted efficiencies around the business.

Rethinking spend management

Commission Factory was one of the first companies to get their hands on our spend management tools, a suite of new Airwallex features built to streamline internal financial management. 

Bringing on Reimbursements and Expense Management tools from the suite, Alec’s team soon found that processes were simplified – not only for the finance team – but for the wider business. 

“Previously reimbursements were going through payroll,” says Alec. “We were using our accounting software, but one of the biggest flaws and issues that I had with that is that there was no opportunity for approval by line managers. So the team member would submit an expense claim, and it essentially went straight to the people preparing payroll.”

“Everything was just added to payroll to reimburse the team member. Then the budget holder didn’t see those costs until they showed up on their operational expenditure report at the end of each month.”

Airwallex’s Reimbursements feature was able to create those clear workflows and levels of authority. Additionally, it helps expedite payroll because the team member managing it didn’t have to add expense claims in.  

Alec Alltimes

APAC Finance Director, Commission Factory

“It’s definitely time saving, from mine and our Head of P&C’s perspective as people that prepare payroll are not having to granularly look through each expense item line.”

Teams have taken to new tools “like a duck to water”

When introducing any new tech tool, there can be a bit of apprehension about ‘tech fatigue’ – where team members are bogged down in processes. With Airwallex’s user-friendly interface, this was easily avoided.

“The users have taken to it like a duck to water. It's not a difficult system to use.”

“Sometimes people are like ‘oh, another system, another app to download.’ But it wasn’t arduous at all. Once you download the app, it's very straightforward. There's really been no push back whatsoever from anyone because I think people immediately get the buy in.” 

“The one thing that we made clear for all employees with Reimbursements is, with the old way, we would pay out fortnightly when we do payroll. Whereas now it will be at the latest fortnightly. There’s every chance that people will get paid their expenses weekly or even within a couple of days of them submitting them.”

Alec Alltimes

APAC Finance Director, Commission Factory

“99 times out of 100 they’re going to get paid quicker than they would have before. You could say that it's generally up to ten days quicker.”

Virtual cards for physical efficiencies

Prior to entering the Spend beta, Commission Factory had already been using Airwallex Cards to simplify processes. 

"We didn't always have corporate credit cards for team members that were entertaining clients, which would mean them having to spend out of pocket and be reimbursed.”

“Then I went through Airwallex and we started using virtual cards. Straight away it was easier. It’s just like using your card on your phone. We opened it up for the sales team as they wine and dine people the most. We also gave one to one of our product guys who does lots of testing of new advertisers to make sure that the shopping carts work.” 

“This helps the team members manage spending separately rather than on one of the other company cards that belong to me or the CEO.”

Alec Alltimes

APAC Finance Director, Commission Factory

“Again the uptake and the feedback from the guys that do use it has been great and very simple. If people need to go out for lunch it’s also really easy to sell. I can set a card up and two seconds later it's done, and also you can close it down just as quickly as you can set it up.”

Our Borderless Cards also come complete with helpful controls, which can help admins direct team spending. From the user dashboard, card managers can set and change limits, specify merchant category codes and even select the currencies that can be spent.

“You can also change the limits as and when it’s needed. So if we know someone’s going for a bigger lunch I'll just bump the limit up, but then I'll reduce it back down afterwards because they don’t need to always be up there.”

When great support opens up opportunities

Commission Factory is one of the first companies to use our advanced spend management tools. Alec was invited to participate in a Beta program by Account Manager Pete Waldron, who identified needs that Airwallex could support.

“What's nice about having Pete being our Account Manager is that he's clearly invested in trying to grow solutions and identify gaps that we have that Airwallex can service.” 

“That was how the expense and reimbursement tools came about – we caught up for the first time and I gave him a run through of what we do as a business and some of the challenges that we've got particularly from an accounts payable perspective with expense claims. He said, ‘we’ve got something that we're building for that.’”

Airwallex constantly has new features and tools in our beta program. We’re always evolving our products and offering to better fit the needs of modern businesses. 

Passing the perks on to publishers

While the Commission Factory team benefits from an improved reimbursement process, it’s their publishers who benefit from Airwallex’s fast, efficient and cost-effective FX.

“I've always tried to look for what's best for the publisher,” says Alec. “Without the publisher there is no affiliate industry because you need these guys to drive the content to drive the consumer to generate the traffic to generate the commission – so it’s really important to look after those guys as much as possible.”

As a business, there are few ways to better look after a supplier than by paying them faster, and reducing associated fees added onto those payments. In a well-connected industry, going the extra mile in this way can make all the difference.

“The world is much smaller now so you're not just getting Australian publishers promoting Australian brands, you get businesses from all over the world that can do that. If you pay publishers that want to receive Australian Dollars in Euros or Singapore Dollars – you pay through the bank and it's kind of criminal how much margin they take and the rates they use.”

Alec Alltimes

APAC Finance Director, Commission Factory

“What we have been able to offer as a result of working with Airwallex is that when we send those funds onto our publishers – rather than using a bank – the amount of money that they take home is probably 2%-3% more. If you're making a 6 figure payment that’s a fair chunk of change.

“If publishers are happier working with us because they get more money or they get paid quicker then they're going to help promote us to the brand themselves as well. You create champions for your business.”

A versatile product suite that scales with your business 

Whether you’re looking to save money on FX, revamp your expense processes, or just boost your overall efficiencies, the Airwallex product suite can simplify and streamline a range of financial operations. 

To learn more about our game-changing features, explore our Business Account here.  

Disclaimer: This information doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. If you are a customer of Airwallex Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 487221) it is important for you to read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for the Direct Services, which is available here.