Learn how market research firm Antares Advisors saves time and money paying vendors overseas with Melio
Meet Antares Advisors
Antares Advisors was founded in 2015 by Bob Hettel in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, to provide market research and consulting services in the healthcare, business-to-business, and business-to-consumer sectors. Antares uses cutting-edge technology to adapt to rapid digital changes, working as an extension of their clients’ businesses to allow them to focus on developing actionable insights for growth. Its clients include prominent global consultancy firms as well as full-service market research organizations.
“A lot of our clients are based in the U.S., but we have clients throughout Europe and Asia so we’re pretty used to dealing with people in other markets both from a supplier point of view and a customer point of view. It does add a different context to everything. You get to understand the different markets and cultures,” Bob said.
“From our perspective, Melio is certainly the most convenient to use and very cost-effective for us. I think Melio has the best solution out there in this space."
The challenge
About a quarter of Antares’ 40 or so monthly vendor payments are outside the United States, mainly in India but also in Canada, the United Kingdom, and occasionally other markets such as Australia. Antares makes international payments in both dollars and foreign currencies, depending on the vendor’s preference.
“We’ve tried a lot of different approaches. We’ve worked with our bank directly doing traditional wire transfers, which were slow, cumbersome, and expensive. We’ve also used third parties that charged fees,” Bob said.
The solution
A couple of years ago, when Antares was using Melio to make payments through its integration with QuickBooks, Bob saw on the website that it was possible to make international payments through Melio.
“It started with a limited offering for just a few countries and we thought, ‘Okay, that’s nice because it happens to fit some of our needs. So, let’s do that.’ And then I just kept checking back to see if it was expanding and over time the service started to check off every box,” Bob said.
Antares found using Melio for international payments to be very simple because it is integrated into the firm’s main accounting platform. “The ability to have that sync and not have to go through a third-party solution and have to re-enter information, it’s just convenient. And the fees are very competitive,” Bob said.
Antares has found it very easy to transition to Melio for all its vendor payments, compared with a few years ago when the company still had to send out checks. On occasion, Antares still has to pay some of its smaller vendors by check and the company can do that through Melio, rather than mailing a check or having its bank issue one.
“Melio has made everything so much smoother and our jobs so much easier,” Bob said. “In terms of convenience, with Melio we now save three to four hours monthly on global payments over our original method via our bank. We also save about $60-$80 per month.”
