How PandaDoc transformed financial ops to fuel subscription growth
Reducing manual hours and support tickets by 50%
When it comes to managing documents, PandaDoc does it all. From helping businesses create sleek proposals to streamlining the entire contract workflow with eSignatures, PandaDoc makes the tedious seem effortless. Renowned as a top-tier document automation platform, their tools are built to save time and boost efficiency for companies of all sizes. But even industry leaders face growing pains, especially behind the scenes.
As their financial operations scaled alongside the business, PandaDoc began to outgrow their current capabilities. That’s when they discovered Recurly. What followed was a partnership that not only streamlined their billing and reconciliation workflows, but also gave PandaDoc the freedom to focus on what they do best.
Bogged down by manual reconciliation
For a company like PandaDoc, the numbers have to add up. Efficiency isn’t just a buzzword for their financial operations team; it’s a necessity. Operating a growing SaaS business means the gears behind the scenes, from billing to reconciliation, must turn smoothly.
Back in 2016, PandaDoc placed its bet on Recurly to handle subscription billing.
“We've come a long way as far as what we are able to do with Recurly,” explained Bibek Bhattarai, PandaDoc’s Vice President, Controller. “We started off primarily with subscription billing, but over the years, we started using a lot more of the functionality that Recurly has to offer. Our company has grown tenfold since the time I've been here, and Recurly has been able to do almost everything we needed in that timeframe, which has been awesome.”
Our company has grown tenfold since the time I've been here, and Recurly has been able to do almost everything we needed in that timeframe, which has been awesome.
But as the company scaled, their previous setup began to show its limits. It was clear that for PandaDoc to continue growing at pace, they needed a more robust approach.
The static nature of their former solution meant limited flexibility, forcing the team to repeatedly reach out for manual interventions. Payments were routed into a single account, leaving the accounting team to tackle labor-intensive reconciliations, consuming three whole days each month — a strain on resources no growing business can afford.
Finding flexibility with a new architecture
When Recurly proposed an upgrade to their data automation architecture, the PandaDoc team saw a window of opportunity. This wasn’t just a simple swap; it was a move toward something their previous setup couldn’t deliver: true flexibility.
"The primary pain point with our previous setup," explained Bhattarai, "was how we couldn't flexibly sync transactions into the appropriate accounts. Everything was syncing to a single account, which meant a lot of manual work."
This new architecture directly addressed their pain point by introducing the ability to dynamically map payment methods, gateways, or currencies to specific accounts. For the PandaDoc team, this wasn’t just an upgrade; it was a reimagination of their reconciliation process. It gave them the power to automate payments with precision, ensuring each transaction landed exactly where it needed to — not in one bulky, catch-all account.
A smooth transition, a faster workflow
Switching billing solutions might not inspire the same adrenaline rush as, say, launching a new product, but for PandaDoc, the stakes were just as high. After all, Bhattarai put it plainly: "Changing billing is scary." Migrating years’ worth of data and workflows into a completely new workflow took collaboration between PandaDoc and Recurly at every level — and Recurly came prepared. The team prioritized extensive testing, iterating on issues, and emphasizing constant feedback loops between the two groups.
"They hand-held us throughout the process and identified issues and dealt with them as they came up," Bhattarai recalled.
It wasn’t without some bumps, though, especially since PandaDoc was among the first Recurly merchants to adopt the new architecture — but the finish line made the effort worth it. Where the previous process handled data with a lag of two hours, the new automated process delivered updates like clockwork, every twenty minutes.
"On the accounting side, updates are much simpler now. Bringing in new fields or additional data from Recurly has become far easier with this new process,” said Bhattarai. “This new system feels much more nimble and capable compared to the old one, which has been an increased benefit for us.”
Less frustration, more time saved
Efficiency begins where frustration ends. For PandaDoc, the new framework didn’t just improve their processes; it transformed them. Reconciliation, once a tedious three-day grind, now wraps up in a single day.
We’re saving several hours of manual effort every month.
But the benefits go beyond hours reclaimed. The sheer reduction in errors has slashed support tickets by 50%, cutting down backfills for missed transactions and manual fixes that previously plagued their close process.
This shift has opened up space for PandaDoc’s financial team to focus on high-impact work rather than endless troubleshooting. Instead of spending hours untangling exceptions, they’re looking at insights and investing in their product.
A partnership rooted in trust
For any technology partnership, the queue of support tickets is a litmus test for what’s working — and what’s not. With their previous process, PandaDoc’s tickets often involved data sync issues and manual follow-ups.
"With the new process, we’re monitoring daily, not just waiting for issues to pile up,” said Bhattarai. “We're ensuring everything maps between our systems perfectly, and, thankfully, the number of support tickets has gone down significantly, because there aren’t as many issues."
The true value of the migration wasn’t just in adopting better technology — it was in the partnership. PandaDoc and Recurly collaborated closely, as engaged, active partners.
We’ve seen firsthand how Recurly takes our feedback seriously and delivers on the roadmap. What stands out to me — and why we've still been around — is because of the receptiveness of feedback and willingness to listen to the customer.
What’s next? More growth
While the implementation is complete, the momentum it sparked continues. As a SaaS company expanding into volume-based contracts and innovative billing streams, PandaDoc needed tools that could grow alongside them. With this new architecture in place, the PandaDoc team is leveraging Recurly’s dynamic capabilities to track usage, easily sync transactions, and prepare for a future full of scale.
And though the road to automation can be complex, Bibek would offer reassurance to anyone holding back: "You won’t make progress without change.”
For PandaDoc, the decision to adopt this new architecture was about more than just solving today’s problems — it was also about preparing for future possibilities. With freed-up resources, fewer headaches, and a strong partnership with Recurly, they’ve transformed reconciliation from a roadblock into a runway for growth.
