Mulholland Contracts Ltd Builds Payment Success on Albany Foundations

Contractor uses Albany’s ePAY to speed up their payments process and enable greater flexibility for its 2,000 monthly payments

Mulholland Contracts Ltd, the civil engineering and groundworks contractor covering the belt of Scotland, has been working with Albany Software, the pioneering developer of electronic payment solutions, since 1991, to reduce the cost of supplier and employee payments. By upgrading to Albany ePAY in 2010, an intelligent electronic payments and collections solution that has the capability to integrate with any existing accounting or payroll application, Mulholland Contracts has been able to embrace Faster Payments and has seen increased speed and flexibility when processing its 2,000 monthly payments.

Established in 1974, Mulholland Contracts Ltd provides civil engineering, plotworks, bulk earthmoving, water and drainage, infrastructure, roads and street lighting services to many of the major housing developers across Scotland. The contractor prides itself on offering clients a uniquely flexible and efficient approach to the projects it undertakes, by being able to provide all the necessary groundwork services under the same umbrella.

Mulholland Contracts wanted to upgrade to a payments solution that would allow them to process same day payments without having to use CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System). Kevin Breen, Financial Director at Mulholland Contracts, explains, “Flexibility is important to Mulholland as an organisation, both in terms of our service offering but also within the business. We wanted the flexibility to pay suppliers and staff on a same day basis without going through the CHAPS system, which was costly and cumbersome and didn’t give us the flexibility to choose how to pay our suppliers and workers, a total of around 2,000 payments a month.”

He continues, “We implemented Albany ePAY because it was designed to meet our business needs for accuracy, flexibility and speed exactly.”

This flexibility of service provision and drive to deliver excellence, marries with Mulholland’s business ethos to stay at the forefront of technological developments. The organisation has been an Albany Software customer for 15 years and in that time has always sought to implement the latest solution that Albany delivers to market.

Breen expands, “At Mulholland, we feel it is important to have the same principles within the business that we offer our customers. For that reason, we are constantly looking to drive improvements and efficiency through clever investment in technology. Albany’s solutions have consistently enabled us to drive more accuracy, more flexibility and more speed in our payment processes to benefit our customers, suppliers and staff; this is once again the case with ePAY.”

In fact, Mulholland is so certain of the quality of the Albany Software suite and the ability of the company to develop solutions that drive positive business change, that the organisation was involved in the development of Albany ePAY. Whilst designing the product, Albany consulted with Mulholland Contracts to make sure the new software would meet their continued expectations and business needs. Breen explains, “We were actually involved in the design and testing of the product, as Albany was aware of our keenness to use such a service and wanted input from a relevant organisation to make sure the solution would deliver the day-to-day usability and meet the necessary requirements.”

Commenting on the benefits that Albany ePAY has provided, Breen comments, “The particular benefits to us have been the true flexibility of having access to the different payment method cycles, giving us the ability to send payments via the traditional three-day Bacs cycle as well as in near real-time with Faster Payments. This allows us to cover for staff shortages and any ID problems with contractors, for example. Whereas previously we were required to pay by CHAPS, which could be a long and costly process, we can now make a payment as late as 2pm on a Friday and people still have their money before 4.30pm the same day. In addition we have seen significant cost savings in relation to other payment methods.”

Breen concludes, “We’re really satisfied with Albany Software and the relationship we have with them; they listened to our input in designing Albany ePAY and they really care about the service they provide. The software is easy to use, very flexible and we wouldn’t be able to operate without it.”

• Read more under:
• BankingTech
• Digital Banking