Blog | Canidium

From Red Tape to Rhythm: How Achieve Transformed Commissions and Payroll

Written by Lizzy Wolff | Aug 19, 2025 10:22:34 PM

In the fast-moving world of financial services, speed and accuracy aren’t luxuries—they’re survival tools. For Achieve, a company with 935+ employees and generating $1.03 billion in annual revenue, the way commissions and payroll were processed had become a growing liability. Every month, the process demanded more time, more manual intervention, and more staff resources than the organization could afford. The team was wrestling with outdated workflows and fragmented systems that didn’t speak to one another, resulting in inefficiencies that rippled through finance, HR, and sales.

 

935+ employees and $1.03B in revenue—with payroll and commissions managed on outdated, manual processes.

The mandate from leadership was crystal clear: reduce overhead, streamline payroll and commissions, and build a model for long-term self-sustainability. The stakes were high—this wasn’t just about cutting costs. It was about reclaiming agility in a business where every delay in paying sales teams or closing payroll cycles could impact morale, trust, and ultimately, performance.

That’s when Achieve turned to Canidium and Xactly. The partnership was built on a shared vision: eliminate the bottlenecks, modernize the tools, and put processes in place that would allow Achieve to operate leaner without sacrificing accuracy or compliance. The solution wasn’t just a software deployment—it was a full operational overhaul. Automations replaced repetitive manual tasks. Centralized data sources meant payroll and commission teams no longer had to track down numbers from scattered spreadsheets. Transparent reporting gave leaders visibility they’d never had before.

“We needed a system that could scale without scaling our headcount—and we needed it fast.”

The transformation was immediately evident across the organization. Teams quickly experienced new efficiencies as manual workload dropped and critical information became accessible in real time. Where frustration and delays had dominated, there was now newfound clarity and momentum. Staff recognized the shift not only in process speed, but in a renewed sense of confidence and autonomy—empowered to direct their attention to higher-impact activities rather than being mired in administrative complexity.

Payroll cycles that once took days to close were completed in a fraction of the time—with fewer errors and less departmental back-and-forth.

Commission calculations, which affected hundreds of sales professionals, shifted from a monthly stress point to a streamlined, repeatable process. The new model didn’t just reduce the need for additional headcount—it freed existing staff to focus on higher-value work, driving strategic initiatives instead of chasing down numbers.

By the end of the transition, Achieve had delivered on its vision: operational costs dropped, inefficiencies were eliminated, and a sustainable system was in place to support future growth. What once felt like a constant scramble became a controlled, predictable rhythm—one that empowered teams, built confidence in the numbers, and created a foundation for the next phase of expansion.

In a market where many companies tolerate outdated processes simply because “that’s how it’s always been done,” Achieve’s story is proof that the right mix of modern technology, expert implementation, and strategic change management can unlock measurable results—and fast.