Item: Avalara
Rating: 8
Author: Andrew Greco

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use three Avalara solutions in our tax team. Avatax compliance software for filing and paying monthly sales/use and hotel tax returns. We also use the Avalara Business License and Permit Managament (ALM) software to track our operational license and permit renewals. We use a custom research service specific to the tax rates for our hotels to ensure we are using the most current state and local tax rates at our hotels.

Pros and Cons

Communicate well with customers
Partner with our internal staff to implement new functionality in our solutions
Offer various products and services that may be customized to a customer's needs

communication among different parts of the Avalara organization can be inconsistent.
It would be great if there was an ability to bundle different products and services to offer better pricing to customers that use multiple Avalara solutions.

Return on Investment

We have realized significant savings of time and resources to process tax related accounts payable transactions
We have reduced the hours required to manage tax reporting internally by 75%
Reduced missed tax rate changes resulting in reduced expense related to tax under-collections.

Usability

The Avalara team has gone above and beyond to work with our internal tax staff to ensure our solutions deliver their expected results. We view the Avalara team as strategic partners and trusted advisors.

Additional Capabilities

Avalara Returns
Professional Services (nexus studies, registrations, backfiling, etc.)

We have benefitted significantly from our investments with Avalara. The process took a bit of time, but the results have been worth the effort.

Alternatives Considered

Vertex and Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE

Avalara offers the most robust content around the transaction taxes for the hospitality/hotel industry.

Key Insights

Do you think Avalara delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Avalara's feature set?

Yes

Did Avalara live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Avalara go as expected?

Would you buy Avalara again?

Yes

Other Software Used

CheckPoint, ProfitSword

Likelihood to Recommend

Avalara is well-suited for organizations that already have strong internal teams to manage their solutions. Their products and services are most effective and beneficial to an organization when there are experienced team members to manage them.

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Scalability
Ease of Use

Scalabilty is key in our industry because acquisitions and mergers are always being pursued. We need to be adaptable with handling integrations.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I would have gotten a more clear description of what internal resources would be expected to handle regarding specific tax related tasks

Helpful business partners

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Avalara