Challenge

Since its founding in the late 1940s, Inland Group has expanded from 1 to 37 locations across Canada and the United States, and that growth caused inevitable growing pains. The company’s old ways of invoicing and processing payments—by manually punching in customers’ credit card numbers and batching out dozens of point-of-sale terminals each day—were wasting time, leaving a high margin of error, and causing scalability issues. Additionally, Inland Group was using a different payment provider in each country, which created a disconnect within its internal systems.

The company’s financial infrastructure needed an overhaul for efficiency, accuracy, and security. To consolidate its payment systems under one roof and improve the experience for employees and customers alike, Inland Group turned to Stripe’s comprehensive suite of financial products and services.

Solution

Heavy-duty trucking hasn't historically been a tech-forward industry, but its workers and customers increasingly want low-effort, streamlined ways to improve operational efficiency. Stripe Payments and Stripe Invoicing have automated Inland Group’s accounts-receivable processes with payment links that allow customers to easily access and settle invoices.

“Before Stripe, we had to manually send PDF invoices to both the customer and our payments team,” says Scott Williams, director of corporate credit at Inland Group. “Now, customers can click on their payment link and get a running total of all open invoices, and instantly pay in a secure platform.”

Payment Links also gives peace of mind to customers in remote locations. Williams says, “Many of our customers work in regions where there is no reception. With Payment Links, the invoice is paid automatically. When they get back into service, they get their receipt and know the payment is already taken care of.”

With Stripe Radar, Inland Group has also integrated fraud prevention and protection into its processes, while Stripe Terminal maintains PCI compliance by keeping sensitive customer information safe. All of Stripe’s products work holistically with Inland Group’s internal platforms, allowing employees to focus less on data entry and more on providing exceptional service.

Results

Optimized for operational efficiency

In the year and a half since implementation, Stripe has saved Inland Group countless hours of manual input, reduced redundancies, and safeguarded against human error. “We process hundreds of transactions every day, and if there’s a line of customers in the store, things are going to fall through the cracks,” says Sean Chapman, IT manager of security and applications at Inland Group.

With Stripe, employees no longer have to manually type customers’ credit-card information into terminal machines, gather receipts to reconcile the day’s payments, send invoices via email, or input financial data into spreadsheets. Says Chapman, “Stripe takes care of it all automatically, quickly, and accurately.”

Simplified onboarding and training process

Stripe’s simple, yet comprehensive interface means everyone across Inland Group’s organization can easily get comfortable using it on the job. Previously, employees had to learn multiple systems, but now, all facets of Inland Group’s financial infrastructure are consolidated in a single platform. Everyone is working within the same system and can help each other with troubleshooting.

Cost-effective, agile payment solutions

Inland Group’s previous payment providers were costly subscription-based models that couldn’t keep up with the company’s evolving needs. With Stripe, the team benefited from a one-time fee, with no hidden costs, for an agile, tech-focused solution that keeps the company up-to-date, compliant, and adaptable.

“We wanted a technology company that happened to do payments, not a banking company that happened to implement new technology,” says Ian Carpenter, vice president of information technology at Inland Group. “Stripe is open and flexible, so we can make it work the way we need it to.”

Fluid implementation and on-demand support

On the development side, Stripe’s Discord channel provides real-time support to help Inland Group’s developers get instant issue resolution. This quick turnaround allows for swift changes to the company’s Stripe setup as needed, making it easy to add features to better meet customers’ needs. For example, the team plans to add preauthorized debit functionality in Canada to give customers even more flexible ways to pay, and Stripe’s easy-to-follow documentation will streamline this process. As the company keeps growing, it will continue to make strategic use of Stripe’s products to future-proof its financial infrastructure.