VAI Partners with Avalara to Automate Tax Compliance for Businesses

Ronkonkoma, N.Y. – February 28, 2023 –  VAI, a leading ERP software developer, today unveiled customer testimonials for its integration with Avalara, a leading provider of tax compliance automation software for businesses of all sizes.

VAI and Avalara are partnered in bringing tax solutions through ERP software applications to their global customer base. VAI is part of Avalara's "Certified for AvaTax" program, which features integrations that perform at the highest level, providing the best possible customer experience. Certified partners pass a series of criteria developed by Avalara to ensure the connector's performance and reliability, thereby helping mutual customers benefit from a seamless experience with Avalara's tax compliance solutions.

As a result of this partnership, VAI customers can choose Avalara’s AvaTax to deliver sales and use tax calculations within VAI’s S2K Enterprise application at the time of checkout or billing — in real time.

“Tax automation tools have evolved significantly over the past decade as the need for sophisticated, cloud-based sales tax solutions expands,” said Maggie Kelleher, director of sales, VAI. “AvaTax integrates into S2K Enterprise to track sales across the country and helps our customers automatically organize and keep track of sales tax on customer orders, retail sales, and web portal services - all while validating addresses for the most accurate information.”

Frank Hanzlik, general manager of global partner development at Avalara said, "VAI understands the needs of its customers, as their new testimonials demonstrate, and their S2K Enterprise ERP offering reduces complexity for their customers in many ways. We understand that digitization of business processes is not an option, it is essential; we are proud to offer fast, accurate, and easy tax compliance solutions to our shared customers."

Here’s how VAI’s integration with Avalara AvaTax is helping customers manage sales tax compliance:

VAI & Avalara help Blue Ridge Imaging Technologies save time and resources

Founded in 1982, Blue Ridge Imaging Technologies is a national supplier of imaging equipment, service, and supplies. The company began as a regional business, mostly selling in the Southeast U.S. With plans to continue growth throughout the United States, the company decided to add Avalara for its Sales Tax Filing to its S2K Enterprise ERP applications. Blue Ridge has been with Avalara and VAI S2K Enterprise for over five years:

“Avalara automatically pulls all pertinent tax data from S2K Enterprise and generates the monthly sales tax reports and filings with the correct information – allowing Blue Ridge to save time and resources, and maximize productivity,” said Kathy Jones, Controller, Blue Ridge Imaging Technologies. “I’ve never before worked with integrated software systems that performed seamlessly. I am very grateful for the high level of competence of both VAI and Avalara – I would say it is a great union and I’m glad Blue Ridge is in their hands!”

Garratt-Callahan relies on VAI integration with Avalara cloud tax compliance automation

Garratt-Callahan Company (GC) was established in 1904 and is today the largest privately-owned industrial water treatment company in North America, providing water treatment chemicals and expertise for the care, management, and support of industrial water systems.  GC has long had a presence in multiple U.S. states, requiring the collection of sales taxes and the filing of returns in many tax jurisdictions. Unfortunately, the rules are not consistent across jurisdictions, and rates change frequently, making it very challenging to manage from a systems and operational standpoint. Avalara and its integration into VAI S2K Enterprise software solved these problems and has provided additional benefits. 

“As a cloud service, Avalara maintains up-to-date rates, rules, and street-level address information,” said Matt Smith, ERP Systems Programmer, Garratt-Callahan Co. “We no longer have to load updated tax rates into our system, nor do we have to worry about what is or is not taxable in any given location. Avalara is a sales tax expert for every jurisdiction in the U.S. and beyond, meaning that we do not have to be. All we need to do is to code our products and customers correctly in VAI S2K, and Avalara takes care of the rest.”

GC’s customer shipping addresses are validated by Avalara, ensuring that the address is deliverable and that the correct taxes will be charged. All of this is transparent to users due to the seamless integration of Avalara into VAI S2K. “At the end of the month, we simply review the transactions in Avalara, approve them, and our tax returns are all filed automatically,” continued Matt Smith. “The VAI S2K integration of Avalara via web services means that we are always up to date without any changes to the software or database.”

To learn more, visit www.vai.net and www.avalara.com.

About VAI

VAI is a leading independent mid-market ERP software developer renowned for its flexible solutions and ability to automate critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, retail, and service sectors. VAI's software solutions are backed by a wealth of experience and a reputation for excellence that countless companies rely on. With specific ERP solutions for hard goods, food and pharmaceutical companies, VAI has helped some of the most recognized companies address key industry requirements and deliver bottom-line results. VAI continues to innovate with new solutions that leverage business intelligence, analytics, mobility, and cloud technology to help customers make more informed business decisions and empower their mobile workforce. For more information, visit www.vai.net.

About Avalara, Inc. 

Avalara helps businesses of all sizes get tax compliance right. In partnership with leading ERP, accounting, ecommerce, and other financial management system providers, Avalara delivers cloud-based compliance solutions for various transaction taxes, including sales and use, VAT, GST, excise, communications, lodging, and other indirect tax types. Headquartered in Seattle, Avalara has offices across the U.S. and around the world in Brazil, Europe, and India. More information at avalara.com.