Watermark Retirement Communities achieves best-in-class Source-to-Pay functionality

Watermark Retirement Communities is one of the nation’s premier senior living companies. Based in Tucson, AZ, Watermark manages 65 communities in 21 states, including CCRCs, standalone independent living, assisted living, and memory care communities, in addition to Medicare-certified rehabilitation and skilled nursing neighborhoods. For over 30 years, Watermark has led the way in the development of transformative programs that support residents’ physical and intellectual health as well as their emotional and spiritual well-being.

As the communities they served continued to grow, Watermark realized that some of their Source-to-Pay processes were inefficient, leading to a lack of visibility into overall operations. These processes spanned almost all aspects of their business, including contract lifecycle management, supplier management, sourcing, procurement, and invoicing.

Watermark needed a solution that would streamline their Source-to-Pay processes in a way that enhanced visibility, enabled growth, and increased business agility. It turned out that the Corcentric Platform was the missing piece to the puzzle.

Capital expenses and budgets were also manually tracked and updated on a spreadsheet that required multiple touches. This process, like the others, was prone to delays and inaccuracies. Watermark also had a large issue with non-compliant spend. The organization implemented Corcentric’s Procurement and Invoice Management solutions, which replaced their paper-intensive processes with an automated workflow. Invoicing is now faster and more accurate in the invoice-to-payment reconciliation process. Furthermore, collaboration was enhanced, and an enormous amount of time was saved. From a procurement standpoint, Watermark standardized their process with three pre-programmed shopping carts that include frequently purchased items. Purchase orders are generated within the shopping cart and automatically sent to suppliers, which ensures that savings are realized. Because of these solutions, Watermark now has 34% higher spend compliance rates.

Watermark has seen a high adoption rate of the Corcentric Platform across its communities, with over 900 users and 100%automation. Major results the organization has experienced include an increase in visibility, control, and compliance, which has allowed them to be more agile. This proved to be extremely important during the pandemic when workloads grew and there was staffing turnover. Despite the unexpected nature of the virus, Watermark was prepared and had the systems and processes in place to meet the challenge head-on. Instead of spending time manually processing contracts, invoices, and supplier changes, they were able to save time, utilize real-time reporting, and increase accuracy. This allowed Watermark to properly allocate resources and spend more time on their core mission – providing exceptional service for residents and associates within their communities. Looking ahead, Watermark is confident in their ability to handle any unexpected hurdles.

“Our procurement team and the systems Corcentric implemented have allowed Watermark to achieve best-in-class turnaround time on supplies and services,” says Karen Mlawsky, Chief Operating Officer for Watermark Retirement Communities. “Ultimately saving lives.”