Inglett & Stubbs Moves from Manual to 99% Automated Invoice Entry with Canals

Growth Was Outpacing the Team's Ability to Key Invoices

Abby Everage has spent six years at Inglett & Stubbs where she oversees both the accounts payable and billing departments. For most of that time AP ran on manual data entry, but those processes became increasingly untenable once the business began expanding rapidly.

As invoice volumes grew with the business–from a daily average of 179 in January 2026 to a daily average of 373 just nine months later–the two-person AP team hired a third member to help. Even with the additional support, hand-keying 3,500 to 4,000 invoices a month consumed six to seven hours a day. 

It became increasingly difficult to even take a day off. Falling one day behind meant double the work the following day, or pulling other people off their own work to help catch up. 

Before trying a purpose-built solution like Canals, the team had experimented with general AI, using tools like ChatGPT to process large batched PDF files from their vendors. 

“It kind of worked,” said Abby, “but you had to say the same prompt every single time, and half the time it wouldn't produce the same outcome. It didn't know our vendor codes, so we were still having to do some manual work. It helped, but not a ton.”

Core Challenges

• Manual entry didn't scale with volume: Invoice counts kept climbing, and each new hire only bought a little more runway before the backlog returned
• A single missed day compounded fast: Falling behind on entry meant a doubled backlog and other team members getting pulled off their own work
• Ad hoc AI tools weren't built for the job: ChatGPT required repetitive manual prompting, couldn't handle vendor codes, and reset with every new document
• Everything else got pushed to the back burner: Statements, certificates of insurance, and vendor emails consistently lost out to the more urgent work of getting invoices entered and job-costed

What Canals Did to Stand Out From the Crowd

The team knew they needed a solution. They evaluated five platforms before choosing Canals. For Abby, Canals stood out for two key reasons.

First, Canals Accounts Payable offered the right level of flexibility without sacrificing a straightforward user experience. “Some platforms allow you to manually change a bunch of fields and manipulate the experience with lots of customizations. Some platforms used AI, but you couldn’t ‘teach’ it. Some were not easy to use. Canals gave us a good balance–it’s user friendly.”

What really cemented the decision, though, was less about the product and more about the team behind it. 

“Canals had the attention to detail and the willingness to learn about us. They wanted the product to fit us.”

As Abby got to know the Canals team better, she experienced a level of support that made her decision clear. “Our implementation engineer is a 10 out of 10. Fantastic. In the beginning I was asking 82 million questions, and he was on top of it. He was quick, and he fixed everything. And now it runs beautifully."

Abby started piloting the Canals AP platform herself to get up to speed and test-drive the tool before rolling it out to the rest of her team. The timing couldn’t have been better. Inglett & Stubb’s growth was driving more and more invoices into her team’s inboxes every day–growing from about 4,000 to as many as 6,000 a month.

“I wanted to make sure that everything was working before I felt comfortable giving it to the AP team,” said Abby. Over the course of a few weeks of extensive testing, integrating, and working directly with the Canals engineering team on further customizations, the platform was ready to deploy at scale.

The due diligence paid off. With the confidence she had from personally testing the tool, rollout was a breeze. “The rest of the team picked it up in about a day and a half,” said Abby. 

Support That Keeps Up and Thinks Ahead

Since choosing Canals for their flexibility and attention to detail, Abby has seen the level of anticipated support play out. They’re in touch with their dedicated Canals team members almost weekly.

“We have a lot of small nuances and weird quirks,” said Abby. “The Canals team is trying to make this product exactly what we need it to be.”

“The Canals team is trying to make this product exactly what we need it to be.”

Abby’s regular communication with the Canals teams doesn’t just give her the opportunity to ask questions or make suggestions. It’s also proven to be fertile ground for innovation.

“Canals is constantly thinking about other things, too,” said Abby. “It’s fantastic because it’s stuff that wouldn’t even be on my radar, but Canals is thinking beyond just processing invoices. I really appreciate the willingness to raise these ideas if the team thinks it will benefit us.” 

“Canals is thinking beyond just processing invoices.”

Key Benefits

• Fast, low-friction adoption: Once Abby tested the platform solo, she handed it to the team, who picked it up in about a day and a half
• A platform that adapts to their quirks: Unlike other platforms evaluated, Canals could be taught and molded to Inglett & Stubbs' specific formatting needs rather than forcing them into rigid rules
• Responsive, proactive support: Their dedicated Canals engineer typically replies within an hour via email, and proactively surfaces new ideas rather than only reacting to requests
• Genuine partnership feel, not just a vendor relationship: "I will always speak highly of Canals,” said Abby. “I think you all have done a fantastic job with us."

Doubling Volume Without Doubling Headcount

The clearest measure of the impact Canals Accounts Payable has made is the volume of invoices Abby’s AP team of three now handles. In January of 2026, the team processed about 3,500 invoices for the month for an average of roughly 130 a day. By August, that had grown to nearly 6,000 invoices for the month, or roughly 280 a day, with some days reaching 300.

“Canals came at a really good time,” said Abby. “If we had to sit there and key that many invoices ourselves, we would have been even more behind.”

With Inglett & Stubbs projecting continued growth, automation is crucial not just to keeping up with crucial tasks like invoice processing, but also tasks that had previously fallen to the backburner, like statements, COIs, and vendor emails.

“Canals has opened up so much more time.”

With the critical work of invoice processing now 99% automated, Abby and her team can move from reactive to proactive work.

“If my manager comes to me saying, ‘Why isn't this updated?’ Now we have an answer, versus previously when we hadn’t had the time to respond and follow up,” said Abby. “Canals enables better time management. It’s easier to account for everything that needs to be done. Now instead of pushing things without a hard deadline, we’ve set a schedule and a plan to get to those things.”

With invoice submission handled by Canals, the team doesn't need to grow headcount, even as volume keeps climbing. If and when they do, they can prioritize a strategic hire whose day won’t be defined by data entry.

Business Impact

• Double the invoice volume, now processed automatically: Invoice processing grew from roughly 130 to 280 per day, without adding AP headcount
• 99% of invoices are now automatically submitted: The team now only has to focus on the occasional exception 
• Nearly a whole day of work reclaimed: About 6–7 hours a day of manual keying time can now be reallocated to other work
• No more tasks on the backburner: Backlogged tasks like statements, COIs, and vendor emails are now handled on a set schedule instead of being pushed indefinitely
• Reduced stress, higher morale: Abby describes the team as relieved of "a lot of stress and what felt like wasted time" from manual entry

Advice for Other AP Teams Considering Canals

Asked what she'd tell someone in a similar role, Abby was candid that it depends on the situation, but was clear about what mattered most for her team.

“If you're only processing 10 invoices a day, I don't think there's a need,” said Abby. “If you're processing higher quantities, I definitely think there's a need." 

“For us, we needed someone who would help us adapt to the platform, but also adapt the platform to our needs. Some companies get the same invoice every time, processed the same way. They might not need that one-on-one hand-holding like we did. But I will always speak highly of Canals.”

‍“I will always speak highly of Canals.”

Asked what her team's reaction would be if Canals were taken away tomorrow, her answer was immediate: “I think they'd be in shock and ask, ‘How are we going to key all these invoices?’ I'd be sad, too.”

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How Inglett & Stubbs Is Building One Connected System for Purchasing and AP with Canals

For Inglett & Stubbs, the digital transformation doesn't stop at accounts payable. Canals Advanced Sourcing and Procurement (ASAP) used by the purchasing team gives Abby's team purchase orders that track every line item, so they can match invoices with confidence instead of chasing down discrepancies after the fact.

"With Canals fully generating those POs and receiving the acknowledgements, things will move faster because we'll have that visibility and verification. We won't need a human to check because Canals will have all the line items to compare apples to apples in just a couple seconds. With Canals flagging discrepancies where we could be overpaying or underpaying, it's going to add a lot of value."

Canals keeps material moving because every person in the chain—crew, foreman, PM, purchasing, AP, and even the supplier—has their own dedicated workflow, and all of those workflows connect directly to each other in real time. While the AP team automates invoice entry and matching, purchasing ensures every order is tracked by line item from the start, so both teams catch errors before they cost money.