Equiem is a global Software as a Service (SaaS) platform for management of the workplace tenant experience, founded in 2012, with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. It combines workplace management, tenant interaction and data management in a single, intuitive platform, which most users access through an app. It is used by real estate portfolio managers, typically with 100 or more properties across multiple locations, property managers, workplace managers, employees and tenants. It currently covers more than 800 properties for clients in Australia, the UK, USA, Europe and Japan.

Why Sterling?

Equiem began its relationship with Sterling in February 2022 by hiring us to manage credit control for operations in the UK, US and Australia, with new locations in Europe and Japan added later. Six months later, Equiem identified a skills gap in its finance team that would be essential to fill in order to support Equiem’s global growth strategy. With its HQ in Australia, where the market for finance professionals is constrained, outsourcing offered a cost-efficient way to source those skills abroad. Sterling has since integrated with all of Equiem’s finance, billing and CRM systems, including Xero, Maxio and HubSpot respectively.

Adam Smith, Finance Director, Equiem: “It is really about how easily you can scale, the quality of the work, and the relationship, especially how open [an outsourcing partner] is to change. One of the most important things to consider when you go on the outsourcing journey, is that you have a long-term partner that you can trust.”

Continuity in communication

Sterling’s location in Central Europe is advantageous for continuity in communication with this global business. As Australia and Japan finish the business day, Europe is coming online, followed by the Middle East; while for Equiem’s US clients, it’s still afternoon for Sterling’s team as those clients start their day. Since adding Poland in 2023 as a territory, Sterling can liaise with Equiem’s clients there in real-time and through Polish. Along with communication through Microsoft Teams and Slack, Sterling is connected with Equiem’s own internal, real-time instant messaging, enabling faster communication.

Adam Smith, Equiem: “There’s no point in taking the cheaper option if the quality you’re getting is not up to scratch. I’ve seen outsourcing before in other areas, and I’ve never seen it as good as at Sterling. You can tell when you meet them and by the quality of work that they really care. That goes a long way.”

Credit control

Within its credit control remit, Sterling is responsible for issuing customer invoices and monitoring their timely payment. We are also a single point of contact for Equiem’s customer service.

At the outset of our cooperation, some client’s payments were significantly in arrears and had built to a large outstanding balance. The credit control team has worked with Equiem’s regional heads, who manage high-level client relations, to drastically reduce overdue payments – in one case, from £2m to £50,000.

Gavin Fisher, Service Manager, Sterling: “Since we took over billing two months ago, we’ve become even more efficient. It’s already very positive as far as turnaround with client queries and problems is concerned.”

Adam Smith, Equiem: “Having the credit control team and billing department working as a unit with our regional heads to find solutions has allowed us to resolve problems and get a great result. I would only allow that with an outsourcing company that I knew could be trusted, because it’s our reputation on the line.”

Accounting and bookkeeping

Sterling’s service for Equiem on the accounts payable side includes:

• Posting invoices to Equiem’s clients
• Processing employee expenses and reviewing transactions on 30+ company credit cards
• Monitoring and reconciling bank statements for ten bank accounts owned by eight Equiem entities
• Fulfilling numerous finance processes across the US, UK, Australia, Europe and Japan
• Analysis of expenses and allocation to appropriate cost centres across regions
• Managed by a dedicated team of two, with a colleague trained specifically on the Equiem account for contingency
• Monthly account closing, streamlined to five days

As an example of how Sterling has refined processes, after Equiem handed ownership of customer invoicing to Sterling, we identified an historical problem of amendments to invoices leading to subsequent mismatches and queries. We were able to identify this because of the integrated approach to accounts payable and credit control, so that what had become a monthly, time-consuming problem could be corrected at source.

Daniel Finnegan, Finance Team Leader, Sterling: “Sometimes there’s a unique problem for a specific supplier, so it’s about getting people on the same page. Building a relationship going forward usually stops that from happening.”

Adam Smith, Equiem: “If [Sterling] can pick up processes, improve them, and do a better job than a staff member, whom I’ve had here for six years, it says something.”