Most comp admins know all too well that the work has only just begun once commissions calculations are run. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of compensation, revenue teams are often signing up for weeks of painstaking reviews, dispute resolutions, and approvals that span different teams and systems. All this manual orchestration can lead to communications sprawl, error-prone outputs, and – inevitably – delays in getting commissions out. 

This all impacts what we call Time-to-Payroll (TTP) in commissions.

Time-to-Payroll: Time-to-Payroll (TTP) measures the duration between the moment commission calculations are run and the issuance of commissions to payroll.

This metric serves as a critical benchmark in evaluating the efficiency of a company's commissions process, and when fully optimized, can save your comp team significant time while keeping sellers motivated with timely delivery of incentives. 

It’s with Time-to-Payroll in mind that CaptivateIQ is building a new cornerstone in our product: Enterprise Workflow Automation. CaptivateIQ's new Enterprise Workflow Automation suite will empower customers to build intelligent and automated workflows fitting their unique needs. Built to reflect our DNA of empowering users with an easy-to-use experience that doesn’t  sacrifice flexibility, our Enterprise Workflow Automation suite resets how the market today manages their commissions processes. 

Today, we’re solving the dispute resolution problem 

The first step toward Enterprise Workflow Automation is our new Custom Workflow Builder. 

While eventually this functionality will allow users to build any commission workflows for their unique business needs, today, our Custom Workflow Builder will offer this ability for one of the most common and painstaking processes our customers encounter: Inquiry Approvals. With this functionality, admins can build intelligent workflows that:

• Define unique inquiry types
• Automate inquiry & approval assignment
• Add approvals to inquiries
• Automate multiple outcome paths
• Offer visibility into those approvals all in one place

Let’s walk through an example of how an Inquiry Approval might work.

Example: Incorrect Deal Data

In the case of incorrect deal data in a commissions calculation, rather than manual triaging and orchestrating a fix, an admin can set up a Custom Workflow that automates it for them:

Set up: Admin builds & defines a unique Inquiry Type & resulting logic for Incorrect Deal Data in Custom Workflow Builder based on their business needs.

Process: 

1. Payee identifies opportunity with wrong deal length (ex. one year instead of three)
2. Payee submits an inquiry for ‘Incorrect Deal Data’ type
3. Inquiry automatically routes to admin defined recipient (ex Finance) for Approval with email notification 
4. Finance reviews, agrees there’s an error and approves
5. Inquiry automatically routes to next admin defined recipient (ex Salesforce Admin) with email for correction
6. Salesforce Admin corrects error in Salesforce
7. Admin closes inquiry 
8. Admin reprocesses commission with correct data

With our new Inquiry Approval capabilities for our Custom Workflow Builder, admins can resolve disputes faster, cutting down one of the lengthiest parts of the Time-to-Payroll process. 

We’re building toward a future of automation 

This launch not only addresses the painstaking Inquiry Approvals challenge, but more importantly serves as a springboard towards our vision to reduce Time-to-Payroll by introducing automation to all aspects of the commissions process.  Things like reviews, processing, and even adjustments will be pulled into our Custom Workflow Builder to cover the entire gamut of activities in the commissions to payroll process.

More specifically, CaptivateIQ is building towards:

• All Processes, Your Way: Build and automate additional workflows in the system, such as processing, reviews, and more.
  • Easing manual triaging and orchestration
• Approvals & Inquiries, Wherever Needed: Raise inquiries and approvals anywhere in the platform.
  • Removing the communications sprawl
• Adjustments, Made Automatically: Automatically make upstream data changes based on inquiries.
  • Improving speed and accuracy

All of this will be built in a native, no-code experience that reflects CaptivateIQ's DNA of a user-friendly that doesn’t compromise on flexibility. Unlike legacy vendors’ blackbox workflow solutions that require a services team to manage, CaptivateIQ is giving the keys back to our customers, to build intelligent workflows that automate their unique commissions process. 

The result? Commission process efficiency gains

With the flexibility to automate any workflows such as inquiries and approvals through a no-code platform, we not only cut down on manual triage and communication clutter but also ensure accurate data adjustments - propelling customers to a more efficient commissions process.

Combined with the power of CaptivateIQ, customers already see an average reduction of 31% in Time-to-Payroll (from 14.7 days to 10.1 days).

• Based on a survey of CaptivateIQ customers conducted in 2024

It’s no surprise that customers like Showpad have this to say: 

Since implementing CaptivateIQ, Showpad has reduced the time it takes to process payouts from one month to 12 days – a 60% time-saving.

— Alex, Financial Analyst, Showpad

Are you ready to reduce Time-to-Payroll for your business? 

CaptivateIQ is building an Enterprise Workflow Automation suite that promises to make your commissions process more efficient and reduce time-to-payroll by bringing intelligence, automation and flexibility into complex and cluttered processes.

Inevitably, this efficiency can help both revenue and compensation teams be more productive, allowing sellers to focus on selling, and admins to up-level their day-to-day from tactical to strategic.

Learn more on how CaptivateIQ can help you reduce your Time-to-Payroll.

Already a CaptivateIQ customer? Sign up here to take advantage of CaptivateIQ's new Custom Workflow Builder.