5 Takeaways from a Controller Running Vendor Payments Inside Sage Intacct

Lessons from a Vendor Payments powered by MineralTree customer modernizing AP

At Sage Future 2026, we sat down with Aubree Nash, Controller at Mereté Hotel Management, to hear how her team  unlocked meaningful time savings, gained better control, and achieved more scalable business growth with Vendor Payments–and what other AP teams can learn from their experience.

For Aubree and her team, efficiency, visibility, and control aren’t just nice-to-haves – they’re essential to doing business. Read on to learn the five takeaways from Aubree’s session that every finance team evaluating Vendor Payments should consider.

What finance teams can learn from Mereté’s Vendor Payments experience

1. Manual AP work doesn’t scale and will become a bottleneck for business growth

Before adopting Vendor Payments, Mereté’s AP team was managing a high volume of checks manually across more than 40 entities. Printing, hand-signing, filing, and storing checks ate up work time and introduced unnecessary risk. As Mereté grew, the manual approach couldn’t keep up, which slowed the AP team (and the business) down.

Vendor Payments powered by MineralTree became the logical next step to eliminate manual work and remove friction from day-to-day operations—all without adding headcount.

Takeaway: If your AP process relies heavily on checks or disconnected tools, growth will amplify inefficiencies in these processes. Moving payments out of manual check runs and disconnected bank portals into the same system where bills are approved and tracked is one of the fastest ways to reclaim control.

2. Embedding vendor payments directly inside Sage Intacct delivers real, measurable time savings

One of the biggest wins for Mereté came from handling payments directly inside Sage Intacct. By eliminating printing, signing, and troubleshooting checks, the AP specialists at Mereté now save ~8 hours per week per person. And executives save an additional 2-3 hours per week thanks to remote approvals and fewer payment-related interruptions.

Those time savings are immediately redirected into higher-value work like invoice processing and speeding up payment cycles.

Takeaway: Vendor Payments doesn’t just automate steps in your AP process,it also gives meaningful time back to both AP teams and leadership.

3. Payment optimization is how AP teams unlock the full value of Vendor Payments

Mereté partnered with MineralTree’s payment optimization team to expand virtual card usage in a manner that ensured their vendor relationships were handled with greatest care.

Because payment optimization services are included as part of the onboarding process, Mereté didn’t have to worry about adding another tool or giving vendor communications to a third party.  Instead, they focused on direct collaboration with their dedicated payment optimization manager at MineralTree. Mereté retained decision-making control over which vendors they decided to enroll in virtual card payments, guided how conversations were handled, and made the final call as to when changes were communicated.

This collaborative approach led to higher vendor adoption than with their previous provider while ensuring they upheld existing trust and clarity of communications with their vendors.

Takeaway: The most successful virtual card programs balance payment optimization best practices with internal control and decision-making.

4. Visibility and control matter just as much as automation

Aubree had experience with a different embedded payments provider before MineralTree, so she knew what would and wouldn’t work for her team. Her decision to move to Vendor Payments powered by MineralTree wasn’t just about efficiency, it was about gaining visibility and reliable support. With Vendor Payments, her team can easily see cancellations, failed payments, voids, and reissues directly in Intacct, with a clear support path should any issues arise.

Everything stays inside the Intacct accounting system they already know and trust, rather than relying on disconnected tools or external follow-ups.

Takeaway: Automation without transparency can create issues. Embedded visibility is what turns payments into a reliable, auditable process.

5. Time savings unlock better use of AP talent

Perhaps the most important takeaway Aubree left the audience with was simple: when you save time, you can change how efficiently your AP team operates. With manual, repetitive tasks removed, Mereté’s AP team now focuses on processing more invoices, paying vendors faster, and supporting the business, rather than spending valuable time managing paper.

Combined with fewer errors (no more worries about the wrong check stock, printer issues, or delayed approvals), the result is a more resilient and scalable AP function.

Takeaway: When AP teams get their time back, the entire business benefits.

Mereté’s story is a clear reminder: modernizing AP isn’t just about easing today’s pain, it’s about building a foundation that supports growth, control, and confidence in every payment issued to a vendor. As Aubree shared, the real value lies in what finance teams can do after the manual work is gone.

Ready to modernize vendor payments inside Sage Intacct?

If manual payments, limited visibility, or growing complexity are holding your AP team back, Vendor Payments powered by MineralTree can help you unlock the same time savings, control, and scalability as Mereté, without adding additional headcount. Talk to a  Vendor Payments expert about simplifying your AP process here.

FAQs finance teams have about Vendor Payments 

1. How much time can finance teams actually save by using Vendor Payments by MineralTree?In Mereté’s case, AP specialists saved ~8 hours per person each week, while executives gained an additional 2-3 hours through remote approvals and fewer payment interruptions. Those gains came directly from eliminating manual check processes.
2. What changes when payments are handled inside the ERP?For Mereté, moving payments into Sage Intacct meant no more printing checks, logging into bank portals, or managing disconnected tools. Payments, approvals, and tracking now happen in one place, improving visibility and reducing day-to-day friction.
3. How do finance teams maintain control while automating payments?Before Vendor Payments, manual processes created risk and limited visibility. By moving to an embedded approach, Mereté gained real-time insight into payment status, cancellations, and reissues, giving their team more control.