Integration Kings rules the payments game with Airwallex

Founded in 2014 by Robert and Paula King, Integration Kings is a cloud-based advisory business that helps people understand the critical applications they need to run their business. With a team of 14 and over 200 eCommerce clients, Integration Kings uses Airwallex to simplify financial processes and reduce costs.

We spoke to Rob about how Airwallex transformed Integration Kings' and its clients’ operations with smarter integrations, workflows and payments.

The challenge

With most of their clients in the eCommerce space or managing inventory, one of their biggest issues is getting payments sorted efficiently, especially to overseas vendors or suppliers. "In an inventory business, the process typically starts with a purchase order to a supplier who says, 'I can make that for you, but we need 30% before we start.' From there, you have several payments needing approval throughout the process." Rob explains.

Unfortunately, Rob discovered legacy banking process can make things worse; inputting data between multiple systems and often being charged each time the funds are handled by a new provider.

Rob King

Founder

"Customers using a traditional bank might enter data in Xero, then have to log out, switch to internet banking, manually key everything in again, and wait for approval. It's really clunky."

"The faster you get payment to your supplier, the quicker they approve production, the faster you get your product, and ultimately, the sooner you make sales," Rob says.

Stung by hidden fees and charges

Rob gave an example of a marketing agency's struggle, which led to tailored support with an Airwallex solution. After explaining how Rob’s team used Airwallex to maximise ecommerce profitability, their client took a closer look at its credit card statements and discovered overseas transaction fees of up to 3% that were eating into monthly profits.

Rob King

Founder

"Our client realised with every Meta payment and subscription, there was an extra fee charged by their old provider, even though they was paying in AUD. The situation was particularly frustrating because the card wasn't being used as a line of credit, but more as a debit card with everything being paid off monthly."

Unfortunately, Rob’s client isn’t alone, as research shows over a third of merchants selling internationally don’t feel confident about maximising cross-border sales, and 50% see costs from things like FX and transfer fees as a significant barrier to profitability.

The solution

The solution was straightforward, "The marketing agency opened an Airwallex Global Account and moved its subscriptions onto virtual cards. It immediately began realising significant savings."

This story represents a common issue Rob sees. "Many other clients have large volumes of Meta and Google ad spend. The traditional banks are taking an extra 3% for the right to process these payments, even though they’re billed in AUD."

Pandemic challenges forge partnership

"We started working with Airwallex when COVID hit," Rob explains. "Many of our eCommerce clients were trying to set up operations in other countries while also being concerned about their financial positions."

The solution came through a timely referral. "One of Airwallex's customers suggested I check out Airwallex’s Business Accounts for my client base. After getting a demo, I immediately saw the potential."

What impressed Rob most was the platform's far-reaching functionality, with features like low-code checkout and exceptional integration capabilities. 

Rob King

Founder

"Airwallex is a comprehensive financial platform. What really sets it apart is how deeply it integrates with the Xero ledger. Far more seamlessly than any traditional banking solution I've worked with from the Big 4."

The practical benefits were clear: "Quicker turnaround times for international payments and none of those nasty hidden bank fees that shouldn't exist these days."

Since then, Integration Kings has become an advocate for the platform. "We've been referring all our clients to Airwallex and helping provide feedback to develop features like the bill pay function with Xero. It's good to see a product that actually listens and improves."

Redesigning payment workflows

Airwallex transformed Integration King’s payment process, bringing significant time and cost savings.

"Before Airwallex, we'd process bills through Dext, where they'd sit as outstanding accounts payable in Xero. Then came the tedious part: creating a batch file, downloading it, uploading to the bank, getting approval, making the payment, and going back to Xero to send a remittance," Rob shares. "And for foreign payments, it was even worse. We were using Westpac with all the fees and hidden charges."

The solution came with Airwallex's Bill Pay module, which Rob's team helped shape. "We designed the ability to get our accounts payable correct in Xero first, hit a button to sync it all into Airwallex, then execute payments, get approval, and verify source documents to prevent fraud. The whole process is now lightning quick."

This improvement has fundamentally changed how Integration Kings operates.

Rob King

Founder

"We've moved to where we try not to pay any suppliers outside of Airwallex. With our traditional bank, we just store money there, that's it. We don't use it for payments because it’s clunky, archaic, doesn't sync with Xero, and wastes time."

Building future financial resilience

Looking ahead, Rob has ambitious plans for Integration Kings that centre on client growth and deeper integration with key partners. "Airwallex plays a crucial role in this as we keep educating clients on automating their expense management and payment processes," he says.

"We're also developing better functionality between Airwallex and platforms like Cin7 and Xero. The more we can embed banking directly into these systems, the less time people spend on manual banking tasks. Our main focus is making everything work together so our clients can concentrate on their business, not on shuffling between platforms."

Disclaimer: The information contained herein is factual information only and is not intended to imply any recommendation or opinion about a financial product.