How Sabrix Makes the Difference

Sabrix MTS helps anchor Archive Data Solutions’ on-demand back-office infrastructure, freeing the fast-growing company to focus on revenue-producing activities while lowering the cost of business and ensuring transaction tax compliance.

“We can compete with much larger companies because of Sabrix and the rest of our outsourced technology infrastructure. Sabrix MTS works brilliantly for us now, and as we continue to grow we won’t have to hire additional staff to support our sales and use tax needs.”

– Derek Siler, General Manager, Archive Data Solutions

At a Glance

Tax Challenges

• Registration in 50+ tax jurisdictions
• No internal tax expertise
• Limited accounting resources

Results

• Low-cost back-office operations
• Ensured tax accuracy
• Rapid implementation
• Support for rapid and substantial growth

The Customer

Archive Data Solutions Archive Data Solutions is a leading supplier of data storage products for information protection and management. Archive Data Solutions functions as a virtual warehouse, unencumbered by inventory, logistics or a costly back-office infrastructure, as it serves customers across North America via direct sales and third party representatives.

The Challenge

Registered right off the bat with more than 50 tax jurisdictions, Archive Data Solutions wanted to move quickly and decisively to ensure tax compliance, but without adding headcount. “We don’t have, nor do we want to have, internal tax expertise,” explains Derek Siler, General Manager. “As a growing business, we need to focus on adding value to our customer relationships. That’s where we want control and internal expertise. We believe that back-office functions, including sales tax management, should be outsourced to best-of-breed providers so we can remain light, agile and focused on our core selling and customer service strengths.” 

Hence, even as the spin-off was being finalized, an initiative was launched to find the right sales and use tax compliance solution.

The Decision-Making Process

Archive Data Solutions’ search for a transaction tax solution was conducted by a due diligence team, including professionals from Iron Mountain Incorporated’s corporate tax department. As the search progressed, a former Vertex employee on the team recommended the Sabrix Managed Tax Service (Sabrix MTS) as the best option for managing end to end sales and use tax compliance for the new company.

“Sabrix was very well recommended,” claims Siler. “They not only offer the best tax platform, but also tax expertise to handle all of our key tax processes so we didn’t have to hire and retain people internally. Our clients are large, and they demand that we have an understanding of taxation rules and accurate tax. Sabrix MTS gives us these capabilities and understanding.”

With Sabrix MTS, an outsourced sales and use tax service managed by highly skilled tax professionals on an industry-trusted platform, Archive Data Solutions would be able to keep transaction tax compliance costs and effort at a minimum – leveraging Sabrix’s expertise rather than adding expensive tax professionals to its own payroll and thus cutting into its margins. Moreover, Sabrix MTS’ implementation was quick and managed by Sabrix experts, it fit into the on-demand paradigm that Archive Data Solutions was intent on following as it created its back-office infrastructure, and it integrated well with the company’s financial systems of record.

“Backed by Sabrix’s extensive technical capabilities, Sabrix MTS can integrate in real time with our finance, inventory and other systems, which is an important advantage,” says Siler. “We also like Sabrix’s wealth of experience serving the Global 2000.  We feel confident this is a tax partner that will scale to support our growing business.”

The Results

Archive Data Solutions is now enjoying extensive business benefits, including:

• Low-cost back-office operations — On track to triple its number of personnel within one year, Archive Data Solutions is saving almost a full headcount today, and multiples in the future, by outsourcing its transaction tax management to Sabrix MTS. Each accounting headcount saved is an additional headcount that can be applied to revenue-producing direct sales or customer service. “From a cost perspective, due to our extensive transaction tax liability, we would currently have to occupy a significant percentage of someone’s time managing returns,” says Siler. “It makes no sense to dedicate present or future headcount when we have an on-demand tax solution with such an excellent ROI profile.”
• Tax accuracy and audit support – Registered in more than 50 tax jurisdictions, Archive Data Solutions relies on Sabrix MTS to minimize the potential for audits and reduce the monetary and operational impacts of any audits that may take place. Sabrix MTS automatically keeps Archive Data Solutions current with all tax law and rate changes across all 13,000+ U.S. taxing authorities, makes the accurate calculations, and delivers signature ready returns. The company enjoys “anywhere, anytime” access to a complete returns archive, audit reports, and Sabrix experts for help in supporting audits. “With Sabrix, we know we’re getting transaction tax taken care of correctly, which is one less big back-office thing to worry about,” asserts Siler.
• Support for rapid growth – Sabrix MTS is helping support Iron Mountain Data Product’s rapid growth in several ways. The managed service has eliminated the need for the company to invest in building and maintaining a costly software infrastructure for managing tax. The company is also relieved of the need for internal dedicated tax personnel. As its business grows, Archive Data Solutions can be assured that its Sabrix MTS implementation will scale seamlessly to handle mounting transaction volumes, new markets and products, and new sales channels, including online sales. But beyond all this, Sabrix MTS supports Iron Mountain Data Product’s overall business model. “Ultimately, we’re a virtual warehouse of data products, limited only by where we can open customer relationships,” explains Siler. “In keeping us nimble and lightweight, Sabrix MTS supports the agile enterprise concept, enabling us to compete aggressively yet profitably with much larger companies.”

Concludes Siler, “I’m pleased that our skill set is focused on sales and service, and Sabrix is helping us keep it that way without risking non-compliance.”

Archive Data Solutions can be reached at Sales@imdata.com, or 800.899.4979