One Payment Hub, Four Companies: How Millwood Enterprises Mastered Multi-Entity Pay Runs

Millwood Enterprises is a group that manages three other businesses under the same ownership: Millwood Hotels and two vehicle leasing companies, Drive Electric and Jurni. This diverse portfolio means the group handles a high volume of supplier invoices and has complex payroll requirements.

Gareth Jones, Finance Director, oversees the accounts for all four entities with a finance team of ten. He shares how switching from manual banking portals to Telleroo transformed the group's bulk supplier payments and secured their payroll runs.

The burden of manual banking and payroll privacy

Before using Telleroo, the group managed payments through NatWest Bankline and Lloyds online banking. Gareth found the process painstakingly manual and a drain on the finance team's week:

"Uploading CSVs into Natwest Bankline just wasn't an easy process. Setting up new payees, creating templates manually for the bank, authenticating transactions and reconciling payments, the whole process was time-consuming and lacking efficiency. And with Lloyds, we needed to apply to use batch payments, so we were stuck making individual payroll payments."

Sending payroll payments individually through Lloyds presented another hurdle, creating privacy concerns for the group.

"When we purchased Drive Electric, we inherited an accountant. That accountant doesn't have anything to do with payroll, but when we ran payroll payments through Lloyds, he was able to see wages to individual payees, which was a frustration."

The team needed a system that could process payments quickly while keeping individual staff wages completely hidden from unauthorised personnel.

Finding software to create, send and reconcile payments easily

Millwood started searching for a new supplier and payroll payments solution, and landed on Telleroo for its seamless integration with Xero, their accounting software of choice.

Instead of manually entering data into banking portals, the finance team now plans payment dates within Xero. In Telleroo, these invoices are selected by payment date and grouped into a single pay run. The pay run is automatically sent to Gareth to review and approve.

"Telleroo makes payments a slick process; from the team processing an invoice, to marking the date it should be paid, and submitting it easily for my approval."

This is especially applicable to payroll payments for Millwood Hotels. The hotel business employs many staff on hourly contracts, requiring tight turnarounds that are now made easier with Telleroo.

"We're running payroll up until the day before it needs processing. So Telleroo allows us to upload one large batch file from Brightpay for our payroll run, rather than having someone go in and spend half a day making manual payments."

When it comes to accounts payable, Gareth can also view the original supplier invoices directly within Telleroo, making it much easier to approve payments.

"I like the fact that you're able to view the Xero invoice through Telleroo. Mostly, we pay the same suppliers, but you get a feel for things like when an invoice seems higher than normal for a certain supplier. Telleroo means I can easily click on each one and check, without having to go into Xero."

Keeping individual salaries hidden and improving supplier relationships

Telleroo also addressed the group's payroll privacy issues. Because payroll is processed through Telleroo, the company's main bank account only shows a single top-up payment to Telleroo, ensuring individual salaries remain completely confidential.

"Using Telleroo means payroll isn't broken down by individual payees anymore. I now don’t have to worry about anyone seeing what people are being paid."

Beyond payroll, the sheer efficiency of the platform allowed Gareth and the team to completely change how they interact with their suppliers. The time saved on manual admin meant they could transition to more regular pay runs.

"Telleroo has helped us build better relationships with suppliers. We've been able to move from monthly to weekly payments because of its efficiency, and we're never late to pay invoices."

An invaluable tool for managing multiple companies

By automating payment creation, sending payments in batches, and securing confidential payroll data, Telleroo has drastically reduced the hours Millwood previously spent navigating clunky bank portals.

When asked what he would say to other businesses considering Telleroo, Gareth is clear in his recommendation:

"Use it. It will undoubtedly save you time," Gareth concludes.

Automate your payment process, catch errors early, and get your time back with Telleroo. 🚀