ADAPTOVATE slashes admin time and growth barriers with Airwallex Global Accounts and QuickBooks integration

In the vast global market of management consulting services, ADAPTOVATE has found its niche by driving business transformation through human interaction and collaboration.

In Chairperson Douglas Ross’s words, "We've noticed a significant gap in the consulting world. Traditional firms, like BCG, McKinsey and Bain, where many of us started, alongside the Big Four, tend to focus on huge, tech-driven transformations. But there's a missing piece between creating a strategy and putting it into action."

"Our strength lies in bridging that gap. We help leadership teams turn their strategies into reality by thinking through execution. It’s about getting people to collaborate, breaking down silos, and making sure product teams work better together.” 

We spoke with Doug about how Airwallex has provided the agility needed to efficiently manage and transfer funds across the many locations where ADAPTOVATE operates. He also filled us in on how being an early adopter of Airwallex’s QuickBooks integration has been instrumental in streamlining financial operations.

Douglas Ross

Chairperson, ADAPTOVATE

"Airwallex has been essential to our rapid growth, allowing us to move money quickly and efficiently across our global operations. Traditional banks simply can't keep up, with transactions taking overnight or longer. We have everything centralised in an all-in-one interface and it really sets us up for growth."

Looking beyond the big banks

Airwallex is proud to have supported ADAPTOVATE’s growth from its Sydney origins to a global company with over 140 employees in 10 offices.

As the demand for its services continues to grow beyond borders, the strategy has been to boost consultant numbers simultaneously across Australian, North American, European and South-East Asian markets.

This depends on the free flow of funds between offices, something Doug told us would be hard to achieve within the inflexible constraints of traditional banking.

“The world of banking has changed,” he says. “At our size, even with rapid growth and an international presence, it’s hard to get a big global bank to deal with you.

"Moving money between physical banks in different currencies is incredibly slow, difficult, and expensive,” he says. “About four years ago, after opening offices in the UK, the US, and Poland, we needed a more efficient way to transfer money. I came across Airwallex and we quickly signed up.”

“From that point on, it was a no-brainer. We regularly move funds into Airwallex and then transfer them between entities as needed.”

Douglas Ross

Chairperson, ADAPTOVATE

“There’s certainly a cost benefit, but it’s also the speed and ease of transactions. I’m not sure how we would operate at our current pace without Airwallex."

Doug points out that he’s also traded a traditional credit card for an Airwallex Borderless Card to manage spending and uses it for a significant volume of business-related purchases.

“For example, all our online services like Microsoft and QuickBooks, are paid using an Airwallex card. It syncs with our accounts and is just easier and more efficient,” he says.

A powerful new integration

As businesses scale globally, complexities in accounting increase. It’s a reality that ADAPTOVATE has overcome with the help of the Airwallex Bank Feed integration with QuickBooks.

"Given that Australia is our central hub, we frequently move funds to our global entities to fuel growth,” says Doug. “Being completely bootstrapped, we often need to transfer substantial sums multiple times weekly to various locations. This means handling numerous high-value transactions, which need to be precise to avoid errors and compliance issues.” 

“ADAPTOVATE leverages the QuickBooks Bank Feed integration, allowing it to connect with popular accounting software and seamlessly sync its Airwallex transactions across supported currencies into its QuickBooks Online account.” 

This integration eliminates tedious data entry and speeds up the reconciliation process, skipping the time-consuming, error-prone manual data entry, and providing a faster, more comprehensive, and accurate view of ADAPTOVATE’s finances across markets and currencies. 

"Managing finances without the QuickBooks integration would be significantly more challenging. Airwallex provides a seamless experience where I can use a single login to access any entity or account,” he adds. “The interface is intuitive and straightforward, allowing us to grant or restrict access as needed to keep things running smoothly.”

Doug emphasises that without the integration, managing funds in places like the US, Canada, and the UK would be a daunting task. “We’d have to move money manually for each location, which would be practically impossible. We wouldn't be able to grow or start new ventures at our current pace without this efficient system. QuickBooks and Airwallex together have made our complex financial operations much simpler and more manageable."

Douglas Ross

Chairperson, ADAPTOVATE

"Integrating with QuickBooks has made a huge difference for us. It helps keep everything accurate and efficient, reducing the chances of human error and keeping our financial transactions secure. This kind of reliability is essential for our day-to-day operations."

Looking to the future

Doug spoke about deepening ADAPTOVATE’s relationship with Airwallex as the business continues to grow. 

It has ambitious plans to expand its consulting services and has invested in a UK-based training business and a local Indigenous business. These complement ADAPTOVATE’s existing services and highlight its commitment to meaningful impact.

“Unlike many companies, we have small offices scattered across many locations rather than large centralised operations,” he says. “This complexity can be exciting for us to navigate but can also be quite tricky.”

“It’s largely for this reason Airwallex has been a great solution for us. Being more involved as partners will be incredibly valuable for us, especially if it means getting closer to the product teams and being able to become early adopters of new features.”

If you’re keen to join the thousands of businesses adapting and innovating along with Airwallex, sign up for a Global Account and get started.

This information is factual information only and it doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. This case study is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an endorsement or guarantee of results. The experiences and outcomes described may not be representative of all clients or experiences. If you are a customer of Airwallex Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 487221) it is important for you to read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for the Direct Services, which is available here.