Maximizing Accounts Receivable Payment Automation
Accounts Receivable Customer Payment Automation
Accounts receivable (AR) payment automation is critical component of an organizations order-to-cash process. Without efficient, streamlined systems and processes in place, your businessuffers in terms of the customer experience, erroneous customer profiles, reduced customer payment traceability, and lack of informed customer relationships. To make the most of AR payment automation, organizations should consider customer-centric approach. Instead of relying on traditional, manual processes, organizationshould aim to accelerate revenue recognition, reduce payment cycle times, decrease processing costs, and improve customer relationships with greater visibility into their revenue communication.
This article outlines the essential steps of successful accounts receivable payment automation when considering an Order to Cash (OTC) solution. With the right system and the expert guidance from our team, you can benefit from improved collaboration and the automation of routine activities, enhanced customer profile visibility, and reduced errors, time-to-collect and risk of fraud.
Step 1: Design Comprehensive Automated Accounts Receivable Solution
Before you start shopping for solution, it is important to conduct an initial assessment of your customer communications needs. It is important to consider the potential gaps that manual process has within the organization, where automation could be deployed, how to reach customer records, how customer communications touchpoints could be improved, and how data entry activities are currently being handled within the system. This assessment will help to create comprehensive strategy and inform the design of your automated accounts receivable solution.
Step 2: Select an Integrated Accounts Receivable Software
When selecting the right accounts receivable software, there are certain factors that must be taken into consideration. To start, it is important to move from manual processes to an integrated Accounts Receivable (AR) solution that can automate and streamline all customer communications. The solution should have robust, feature-rich capabilities so that you can capture customer data, automate customer communication processes, manage customer payments and reconciliation, and conduct customer analytics and reporting.
Step 3: Implement an Accounts Receivable Process Workflow
Once the chosen AR software has been implemented and is running, it is important to ensure that accounts receivable activities have consistent process workflow. This will ensure that accounts receivable transactions are smoothly and accurately implemented, along with the ability to reduce process time, increase efficiency, and enable real-time visibility.
Step 4: Monitor and Optimize Accounts Receivable
To maximize the benefits of automation, it is important to regularly review and optimize your accounts receivable processes. This includes monitoring the performance of customer payments and analyzing customer data to identify inefficiencies and sources of errors. It is also important to ensure that customer profile data is updated and accurate, as this will help you gain better understanding of customer behavior and provide insights into customer preferences. Step 5: Integration of External and Internal Systems
Finally, it is important to ensure that an ERP system is integrated with an accounts receivable system to enable data integration between the two systems. This integration allows the customer information to be easily shared across all areas of the organization, helping staff quickly and accurately access customer data.
Conclusion
Accounts receivable payment automation is critical piece of an order-to-cash process. Implementing an AR automation system requires planning, designing, deploying, and monitoring activities to ensure the system runs optimally. By following the five steps outlined above, organizations can maximize the benefits of accounts receivable payment automation, while improving customer experience and reducing discrepancies, fraud, and risk. With the expert guidance of our team and the right system, organizations can ensure comprehensive strategy for managing accounts receivable activities and processes.
