Paymerang’s Vice President of Partnerships Speaks on How Strategic Partnerships are Driving Company’s Growth in Finance Automation

Over time, Paymerang has witnessed rapid growth in the finance automation space. Investing in strategic partnerships has been a game changer for Paymerang and played a significant role in its success.

Colleen Crist, Vice President of Partnerships, shared more about the work she and the Partnership team are doing to accelerate partner growth and expand Paymerang’s footprint nationwide by developing new initiatives.

How long have you been with Paymerang, and how has your role grown and changed throughout that time?

I’ve been with Paymerang for about five years now. I started with the company in our marketing department, working with our leadership team to build and grow our existing marketing channels. I pivoted to sales, where we started our Partnership team.

How did the Partnership team originate?

We realized from all our marketing efforts that we had created great relationships. We are a trusted partner of several national and state-level associations, which has helped us gain more clients. We know that having these impactful relationships enables us to reach more members quicker and help our partners deliver more value to their members.

What are some examples of the work the Partnership team does?

We work with existing partners to find marketing opportunities, develop thought leadership content and social media posts, and get more exposure for our team.

The thought leadership content we create directly with our partners is very informative and valuable. We meet with them regularly to hear what topics their members are most interested in learning more about. An issue such as fraud is crucial because it’s not going away, unfortunately. It’s no longer a matter of if you’ll be a victim, but when, so these partnerships enable us to get in front of their members and help educate them so they can hopefully protect themselves from fraud.

We also work with our partners to support them in person at their events, so we’re attending their conferences and tradeshows, where we often lead thought leadership discussions. Additionally, we are responsible for vetting and finding new partnership opportunities.

How have Paymerang’s partnerships with organizations like M3, LeadingAge, and the Coalition for College Cost Savings propelled its growth, especially in the past two years?

Paymerang’s partnership with these associations has been critical to our sales growth. They’ve enabled us to grow more quickly, reach more members, and bring added value to our partners. Below are some examples of that added value:

M3 Accounting Services: M3 is the hospitality industry’s leading cloud-based financial and data management platform. Partnering with M3 allows Paymerang to help hotels worry less about manual Accounts Payable tasks and more about the guest experience.

LeadingAge: LeadingAge is a community of nonprofit aging services providers and other mission-driven organizations serving older adults. Partnering with Paymerang empowers senior living communities nationwide focus more on patient care for their residents.

Coalition for College Cost Savings: The Coalition’s mission is to support state-level higher education member organizations by creating collaborative opportunities for their member colleges and universities to transform processes, reduce cost, and increase efficiencies.By partnering with Paymerang, CCCS has extra time to devote to tuition, enrollment, and diversity, all of which enrich the student experience.  

How are Paymerang’s partnerships mutually beneficial for our partners and us?

Paymerang’s partnerships not only help Paymerang, but they also help our partners. They can bring us in to help their members solve business office needs. We know staffing is a huge issue right now and that finance teams are being asked to do more with less. These partnerships allow us to alleviate some of that burden for our partners and their members because we can quickly act as an extension of their finance teams.

How does Paymerang directly support our partners’ missions?

Paymerang is a values-driven organization that works to support our partners’ missions because we understand the importance of achieving such goals. The work that we’re doing with our partners enables them to reallocate their time and resources back to their mission. They can focus on providing better patient care or better education for students, for example, because they are no longer required to dedicate so much extra time to tedious manual finance processes.

Can you speak to the synergies of partnering with other values-driven organizations?

The synergies that come with partnering with other values-driven organizations are meaningful. Paymerang is a values-driven organization, and so being able to help our partners and their members better deliver on their mission is critical.

How do end users see value from Paymerang’s partnerships?

Paymerang creates all its solutions with the end users in mind by delivering fantastic products and amazing customer experiences. Knowing that they have the Paymerang Support team on standby to troubleshoot any unforeseen issues is important for these partners because they know and trust that we are knowledgeable in this space. it’s a win-win for Paymerang and our partners because we can help organizations optimize their AP departments while making their processes more efficient and secure.

How are Paymerang’s products making a difference in helping its partners achieve their goals in their business offices?

Through Paymerang’s partnerships, we’ve been able to reach more members and bring them our incredible, simple, Accounts Payable finance automation solutions, which is something that our partners and their members value. They love that our solutions are quick and easy to implement, that we have ongoing customer and vendor support, and that we can help them solve headaches in the business office. We can help them become more efficient and secure, and they always know that if they have a question or an issue, they can pick up the phone, and our team will be there. They also know that we are there for their vendors, which is important to our partners and differentiates us from our competitors.

Paymerang’s finance automation tools also empower business office employees to advance their careers. One client leveraged the technology to go from practitioner to accountant, and another client moved into more of a development role focusing on strategic initiatives for students.

Can you give an example of one of Paymerang’s successful partnerships?

A couple of years ago, Paymerang realized a massive need for finance automation in the Senior Living and long-term care space. We worked with our partner LeadingAge National to come in and develop a program and partnership that would serve Paymerang and, more importantly, Leading Age’s members. Today we service hundreds of Senior Living clients across the country in over 20 states.

Paymerang’s valued partnerships have played a key role in helping the company grow its clientele. The Partnership team is committed to building these existing relationships and creating new relationships with more partners nationwide in the future.

Anthony Burket

Anthony Burket

Anthony is a marketing professional passionate about leveraging automation and AI to drive meaningful engagement with the modern B2B buyer. He began his career in social media marketing while attending the Robertson School for Media & Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University. After graduation, Anthony joined a Richmond-based agency, honing his skills before starting his Paymerang journey in 2020. He managed the social and digital channels before moving into a leadership role on the marketing team. Now, he serves as Senior Marketing Manager, leading the Marketing team.