If torq.partners GetMyInvoices from Berlin accompanies growth processes of companies in complex, dynamic environments on a regular basis. Katerina Nichols revealed why in an interview. She is principal of Torq Consulting GmbH, the company behind torq.partners Consulting partner from GetMyInvoices.
**Hi Katerina, thank you very much for taking your time?**What do you actually do at torq.partners? Can you briefly introduce your company and tell us what products or services you offer? We are a consulting company that primarily takes care of the optimization and management of financial processes, i.e. everything that arises in the operational area in finance departments. This can, for example, involve advising on projects to optimize preparatory accounting and structural setup. We work with over 100 start-ups, scale-ups and grown-ups as well as medium-sized customers in parallel. The need for such support is increasing sharply, especially now during the pandemic. That’s why we’re constantly growing. Founded in September 2020, we currently employ just over 50 people in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg and Amsterdam. We want to expand our business to other cities in Germany and are therefore looking for more colleagues.
How did you come up with the idea of founding torq.partners? We all used to work in financial operations at various companies and noticed that the finance department was often neglected. She has to deliver, but at the same time she is not seriously cared for or invested in her. This is particularly problematic in start-ups that want to grow quickly. Because long-term specialists in the finance sector have rarely been and are hired to scale financial processes. The logical conclusion for us was to support these companies for a certain period of time as part of a service, especially since there was nothing like this on the market yet. The response was and is great.
**What does such a consultation process look like? **Does the software selection also play a role? The selection of software makes up a significant part of our advice. We not only support scaling projects, but also a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs come to us because they want the processes set up correctly and automated. This means that process optimization and structuring in preparatory accounting is part of our daily business. The selection of tools and how they are linked to each other play an important role.
How important is digital invoice management in your consulting? A very big one. I don’t think we have yet structured or optimized a process without the use of digital tools. There are many solutions on the market and it is becoming increasingly difficult for users to evaluate which ones are most suitable. Many factors come into play here, such as which countries the company is active in or which accounting software it needs to work with. Of course, individual requirements, i.e. what the tool is to be used for, also play an important role. GetMyInvoices is a perfect example for receiving invoices.
How did you come across GetMyInvoices? To be honest, I have been using the software for quite a long time, I think since 2019. I became aware of it back then because I was researching as part of a project how the annoying downloading of invoices from portals could be better organized. Over the past few years I have also followed the development of the solution and now I no longer want to be without GetMyInvoices.
Where do you see the benefit of GetMyInvoices? Our enthusiasm began with the fact that the solution automatically downloads invoices from portals. Then we added our positive experiences with customer support. Inquiries are answered within a very short time and the development team implements connections to portals very quickly. In addition, the central email inbox is valuable and the fact that GetMyInvoices can create a single point of truth. This means that finance managers only have to look in one tool and know that they will find all invoices there. These can be further processed within GetMyInvoices, whereby approval processes can be implemented. This is a feature that really belongs in everyday life. This way, finance managers can ensure that invoices are approved by the individual departments. This simplifies the work enormously. Last but not least, it is possible to design a variety of evaluations automatically.
What evaluations are we talking about here? For example: How many invoices do we receive per week? What is our payment behavior, what are the payment terms? Which positions are still open?
Do you also help your customers with the implementation of GetMyInvoices and the configuration of the release processes? We often do the implementation because most finance departments don’t have the time for it and it’s part of our daily business, which means we work more efficiently. This usually includes the configuration of the release processes. We then provide training so that staff know how to use applications correctly. Such training can be completed in 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the number of participants and the invoices to be processed. However, we often see that companies that take care of this themselves do not invest as much time as they should. The result is that the tools are not used to their full potential.
Are there certain projects or topics for which you particularly recommend GetMyInvoices to your customers? This is definitely the receipt of invoices, because transactions that take place via standing orders or direct debits are usually related to invoices that have to be downloaded from a portal. To avoid having to do this manually or wait for an employee to download the invoices, GetMyInvoices can increase the resilience of the finance department. This is particularly useful when employees can make decentralized purchases, e.g. B. via credit cards. The problem that often arises here is that people simply forget to download the invoice. Another example is Amazon, where invoices also have to be requested from suppliers. GetMyInvoices takes care of this work directly and so it is not forgotten.
What advice can you give entrepreneurs when it comes to bookkeeping and invoice management? Most people try to find a perfect solution for everything. I wouldn’t recommend spending too much time looking for the perfect all-rounder tool. It usually makes more sense to use individual partial solutions and automate the path between the tools. Complete solutions are quite expensive and require a lot of administration effort, while smaller tools that communicate with each other are easier to manage. Smaller tools are also introduced more quickly and therefore offer great potential for motivating employees, especially in departments that tend to lag behind in in-house product development, especially in fast-growing companies. Overall, they don’t cost any more or are even cheaper. In addition, companies are more flexible with several smaller solutions. You can easily swap these out when scaling. In short: For many small to medium-sized companies, individual solutions are the better choice.
