LiveSalesman is a global customer service and BPO partner with 18+ years of experience. They run fully managed live chat, phone, and email support in 25+ native Asian and European languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish. The team is proudly multicultural, with talent from about 30 nationalities. As their global network grew, one operational challenge became increasingly complex: how to efficiently pay international contractors while keeping finance workflows under control.
The challenge
1. Manual, error-prone invoicing
Before Abillio, finance handled everything manually. Contractors created invoices in different tools and spreadsheets, and the team had to verify:
- Bill-to details
- Tax IDs
- Signatures
- Addresses
- Signed W-8 forms
Many invoices were incomplete, which delayed payments and created back-and-forth over email. Paying international contractors became slower than it needed to be.
2. Time cost per freelancer
Each new freelancer could take about 45 minutes in the first month just to coach them on invoice basics and correct mistakes. After that it still took around 15 minutes per invoice because three people needed to review and approve.
3. Cross-border payout friction and currency fees
Beyond invoice reviews, cross-border payouts added complexity:
- SWIFT transfers that were slow or bounced back
- Payment issues in certain countries
- Additional currency conversion fees applied by local banks
Managing international contractor payments was both time-consuming and unpredictable.
Why Abillio Makes It Easier to Pay International Contractors
Today, roughly half of LiveSalesman’s payouts go through Abillio, and the plan is to shift even a larger share there.
The accounting team now receives invoices in a standardized format. Instead of checking structure and compliance details, they:
- Compare the amount to an internal spreadsheet
- Approve
There is no format chasing and this makes it significantly easier to pay international contractors at scale.
75+ Hours Saved Per Month
Previously: ~45 minutes in month one per new freelancer, then ~15 minutes per invoice.
With Abillio: the team checks the amount and approves. No format policing.
Simple example:
If each freelancer sends one invoice per month:
- With 200 freelancers on Abillio, about 50 hours of checking are avoided each month.
- With 300 freelancers on Abillio, about 75 hours are avoided each month.
That is just 15 minutes saved per invoice, multiplied by the number of freelancers. If people submit more than one invoice a month, the savings grow.
Fewer Escalations, Cleaner Contractor Experience
Standardized invoices reduce back-and-forth and late payment complaints.
With the company covering Abillio fees, onboarding gets simpler.
“Your support is amazing. Very hands-on and fast. The product has improved a lot since we started.” – Saurabh, LiveSalesman
NPS score: 9/10.
