Issue payments four times faster
Saved 12+ monthly hours through automating invoices
Reduced freelancers cost by working directly with them
Background
UpKeep is a mobile-first CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) that was created to make life easier for facilities and asset management departments. It’s platform simplifies all of the work and communication needed for managing maintenance requests, assigning work orders, and keeping track of assets for organizations across virtually all industries (such as manufacturing and plants, equipment, farming and agriculture, restaurants, and more). UpKeep offers several core solutions, including asset management, facility management, property management, inventory management, and preventive maintenance.
The company, which was founded in 2015, has received $48.8 million in funding after completing its Series B funding round. With this capital, UpKeep has raised ambitious goals, including accelerating growth and doubling its revenue.
Challenge/Pain Points
As the company grows and expands its headcount, UpKeep has developed a solid base of freelance talent. In the marketing department alone, it works with about 20 freelancers, most of whom are content writers and designers.
Because UpKeep’s marketing team requires highly technical content, finding qualified and reliable freelancers who are available for long-term work is difficult. After identifying a great worker, they make building a positive relationship a main priority. Some of their freelancers have been working with UpKeep for a few years already.
“We really try to keep a good working relationship with our freelancers and make sure they’re happy,” says Maura Melis, Growth Marketing Manager at UpKeep. “In our space, it’s not so easy to write well about these topics. When we find a good freelancer, we need to do what we can to keep them happy.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t always easy. Many of UpKeep’s freelancers were not happy with the payment terms of Bill.com, where they sourced some of their talent. Sourcing freelancers from UpWork eliminated the payment issue, but the platform takes a 20% commission, which made their talents too expensive.
Maura wanted to implement a solution for her team that would not only delight freelancers by speeding up payments, but also make her life easier by reducing the administrative and management burden.
Why UpKeep chose Fiverr Enterprise?
Fiverr Enterprise was the perfect solution. The platform simplifies the payment process by eliminating the dependence on finance to approve and pay invoices. Fiverr Enterprise pays all freelancers and contractors within 14 days in their preferred payment method and currency once the invoice is approved by the hiring manager. The platform even offers accelerated payments within 24 hours to freelancers who require payments immediately after their invoices are approved.
“A huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders in making sure our freelancers are being taken care of and paid on time,” says Maura.
Another important benefit is the speed and simplicity of onboarding. “The platform is super intuitive so the onboarding experience for both the UpKeep team and our freelancers was very easy. We were up and running in just a day.” She added that in a startup, having the ability to quickly onboard new freelancers and launch projects quickly is an invaluable advantage.
With Fiverr Enterprise, freelancers also get more visibility into their tasks, progress, and status of payments. By allowing them to access the platform, Maura says she doesn’t need to remind them of their upcoming milestones or provide individual updates on their payments — all of that information is visible within the platform. Fiverr Enterprise helps improve accountability on all sides, streamline communication, and take the manual work out of documentation.
Results
Since implementing Fiverr Enterprise, UpKeep pays its freelancers four-times faster. The need for individual communication regarding timelines and milestones has significantly decreased, saving Maura valuable time and energy so she can focus on other aspects of her role.
These benefits extend to the finance team, which no longer needs to collect, approve, and pay each individual invoice.
“With Fiverr Enterprise, every individual freelancer’s invoices are consolidated into one,” says Max Polakow, Accounting Manager at UpKeep. “There’s just one bill to pay, one invoice to look out for, and one point of contact if we have any questions. This consolidation helps on the accounts payable side a lot.”
Additionally, the finance team no longer has to chase freelancers and remind them to submit their W-8 or W-9 forms — instead, those are directly uploaded to the platform. At the end of the year Fiverr Enterprise issues each freelancer their 1099 form.
“In most cases, you want to remove the middleman” says Max. “But here, Fiverr Enterprise removes a lot of the administrative work on our side by creating a direct connection to contractors.”
For companies considering Fiverr Enterprise, Maura says, “Just do it. It will change the way you work with freelancers and you’ll never want to go back. Fiverr Enterprise will help you build a better relationship with your freelancers and it will give you both the transparency and confidence during the process, it will also save you and your company precious time so you can focus on what matters most.”
Issue payments 4X times faster
Saved 12+ monthly hours through automating invoices
Reduce 20% of freelancers cost