127 Solutions is a managed service provider based in Hooton, Cheshire, with over 350 customers. Jo Morton, who runs the company's finances, moved its direct debit collections from their previous provider to Adfin earlier this year.
At a Glance
How 127 Solutions took the legwork out of direct debit
127 Solutions bills its recurring services in advance by direct debit. Under its previous provider, failed payments meant manual retries and fees deducted from collections, which made reconciliation in Xero slow.
Since moving to Adfin in June, failed direct debits retry automatically without additional charge, fees are invoiced separately, and payments reconcile in Xero on their own. 99.5% of payments are now collected on direct debit, across 336 active mandates.
Before Adfin
With Adfin
Challenge
Fees, failed payments and a reconciliation to dread
127 Solutions has been running for 19 years. Jo comes from an accountancy background, and has looked after the company's finances since the start, full-time since 2017.
Recurring services are billed in advance by direct debit. Every new customer receives a mandate link with their contract, and work starts once it's signed. Hardware and ad hoc work are paid by bank transfer, card, or direct debit if the customer prefers.
Under their previous provider, a failed direct debit meant a manual retry, and each failure came with a fee. Over time, charges rose and VAT was added on top, all deducted from the money coming in.
Those deductions made reconciliation in Xero slow. Fees had to be entered manually, and any discrepancy meant going back through weeks of payments to find it, usually just before a VAT return.
“I used to dread it. I'd have a little Post-it note saying 'GoCardless reconciled to this date'. Then a month or two down the line it wouldn't reconcile, and I'd have to go back and work out what had gone wrong.”
Jo Morton · Finance Director, 127 Solutions
Collections also showed under the previous provider's name on customers' bank statements, which led to customers querying payments they didn't recognise.
Solution
Collections that look after themselves
Jo was introduced to Adfin by her accountant, who had moved her own practice across. What made her confident to switch was seeing the migration from the other side: one of 127's own suppliers moved to Adfin, and as their customer she had nothing to do.
With their last collection from the previous provider in May, 127 Solutions took its first payments through Adfin in June.
Failed direct debits are now retried automatically without additional charge, and Adfin's fees are invoiced separately rather than deducted from collections. Payments reconcile automatically in Xero, saving Jo a couple of hours a month.
“It reconciles automatically, which is absolutely brilliant. With this I don't have to go back and check, so it saves me probably a couple of hours, which is time better spent.”
Jo Morton
Collections are branded as 127 Solutions, so customers know exactly who is taking payment. Invoices flow in from Halo and the company's billing software via Xero, and the team now sends Adfin card links rather than using a separate card provider.
Results
One less headache for the business owner
Today, 99.5% of 127 Solutions' payments are collected on direct debit, across 336 active mandates, and reconciliation no longer needs checking.
Jo has since recommended Adfin to another MSP owner. In her experience, finance is where smaller MSPs struggle most.
“Having a system like Adfin where you can just put the invoice in and it does all the legwork for you. It collects the invoice, it tries and tries until it can't try anymore, then it lets you know. It's just one less headache for the business owner.”
Jo Morton
Adfin takes care of the collections. 127 Solutions can get on with looking after its customers.