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How shifl, an international freight forwarding company, uses Melio to accelerate vendor payments up to 300% – for a faster and more efficient workflow

Expediting speedy and efficient payments to Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) is critical to any successful freight forwarding lifecycle. With Melio’s same-day proof-of-payment and QuickBooks integration, shifl can process payments 2-3 times faster, save time and money on couriers, and streamline their operations by eliminating physical checks, mailing hassle, and lost checks.

2 hrs / day

Time Saved
Per team member on admin tasks

200%-300%

Increase
In speed of payments to LSPs

$7500

Money Saved
Per month on fees and couriers

shifl – A digital innovator in the freight forwarding industry

shifl is a global freight forwarding company driving international shipping into the digital age. With advanced online solutions, shifl’s customers can seamlessly navigate shipments from the point of online booking through to the final destination, all from one screen.

Founder and CEO Shabsie Levy imagined shifl after realizing that traditional freight forwarding includes many manual processes, inefficiencies with outside agents and 3rd parties, and lagging communications that can easily be automated.

He set out to create a robust end-to-end experience that lets shifl’s customers, mostly importers, navigate shipments online, track each touchpoint live, and pay for it all with a credit card without any credit card processing fees. Thanks to a worldwide network of offices and “out of the box” thinking, shifl continually streamlines processes and passes savings on to their customers.

The challenge

As a company aiming to deliver online operations in an offline world, shifl searched for tools to enable their vision and eliminate the costly mistakes of traditional manual freight forwarding. One critical component was to provide same-day proof of payment in a cost-effective way at each station of the shipment’s lifecycle (warehouses, exam stations, customs brokers, etc.), to get their customers’ freight released quickly.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, and influx of imports for related emergency equipment shifl also needed a reliable but flexible payment solution to onboard new vendors and partners, rapidly adapt to the turbulence of the pandemic, and seize new opportunities.

The solution

Since shifl processes their bills through QuickBooks, they wanted a payment solution that works seamlessly with QuickBooks, as well as being able to furnish same-day proof-of-payment.
Melio’s free digital bill payment solution with QuickBooks integration fits them like a glove.  shifl can create invoices in their proprietary software, sync them to QuickBooks, and live-sync to Melio for payment. The process saves them about 2 hours of administrative work for every team member involved in the payment flow. Free ACH payments and delivery mean that they save on payment fees and courier services at every touchpoint in the process.

“Melio has made it super easy for shifl to facilitate ACH payments with every shipment that we manage. We are paying many different fees on behalf of our customers for each shipment, so the fact that we can make payments in the morning and provide proof of payments on the same day is an enormous competitive advantage. We have been able to expedite our payments 2-3 times quicker than before, and most importantly, we eliminated the costly inefficiencies that were traditionally involved in the industry. ”

Shabsie Levy Founder and CEO

Onboarding new partners with confidence

With the outbreak of the coronavirus, shifl has seen an influx of new business. Melio has played a key part in shifl’s ability to quickly onboard new partners and ensure a simple, reliable, and efficient way of transferring payments quickly.

Delegating payment roles

With new opportunities, shifl has also been able to scale their team. Melio allows shifl to delegate payment responsibilities, providing more operational efficiency, transparency, and better control over the payment process.

“When the coronavirus hit, we needed to pivot quickly to accommodate the capricious nature of the pandemic. With our office staff working from home and a new influx of urgent shipping needs, we were able to utilize Melio to ensure that our new and existing partners receive payments efficiently and reliably, allowing us to easily adjust to new situations as they arise”

Shabsie Levy Founder and CEO