Streamline Your Order-To-Cash Process With Automation
TIMELY COLLECTION OF CUSTOMER RECEIVABLES. AUTOMATION
Prior to implementing an Order to Cash solution, it is imperative to prioritize your collection strategy. Begin by understanding the various collections scenarios, what payment terms you offer customers, and which methods you provide for customers to make payments. You?ll want to set clear payment deadlines and fine-tune what the consequences will be for any overdue payments. Make sure to determine credit limits for any new customers, identify any suspect payments, and decide if you are willing to extend payment terms for any customers with an established history of timely payments. Any of these adjustments can be used to tailor your strategy to fit the needs of particular customers.
Step 2: Prepare Your Accounts Receiveable Team Now that you have collection strategy in place, you?ll need to train your accounts receivable team on the new rules and regulations. Be sure to thoroughly review procedures for invoicing and payment processing as well as how payments will be collected. In addition to outlining payment terms and credit-granting procedures, ensure that all members of your accounts receivable team are familiar with the type of information needed for payments, such as the amount due, date due and the customer?s contact information.
Step 3: Utilize an Order to Cash SolutionThe Order to Cash software provides companies with complete solution to streamline the order-to-cash process. From invoicing and collections to payment processing and payment terms, an O2C solution consolidates multiple processes into one platform. This automation eliminates manual calculations and eliminates errors associated with manual entry, while allowing businesses to accurately track and manage payments.
Step 4: Automate Payment Tracking The O2C solution also makes payment tracking more efficient and effective. Automated payment tracking allows companies to understand how long payments take to process and to track payments in real-time. Companies can also use the O2C?s dashboard to analyze overall performance and use the data to identify any weaknesses in their order-to-cash process.
Step 5: Implement Robust Follow-upThe O2C solution can also automate the order-to-cash process, but companies should still maintain robust follow-up process for any delinquent payments or accounts. An automated reminder system can be implemented to help ensure timely payments and to send out collection reminders to customers who may be delayed in their payment processing. Companies can also set up automated notifications to regularly review their accounts receivable team?s performance and adjust payment terms and collection strategies as needed.
Step 6: Analyze and OptimizeThe insights provided by the Order to Cash solution will help to further optimize the collection process, allowing you to more accurately forecast future cash flow and make smarter financial decisions. Additionally, the automated system will help to reduce manual documentation, so your team must spend more time focusing on more important areas and initiatives.
Conclusion By automating the order-to-cash process through an Order to Cash solution, companies can increase their efficiency and streamline their collection process. Such system enables an organization to better track payments, maintain consistent follow-up process, and accurately forecast future cash flow. As an executive in the finance department, implementing an automated system in the order-to-cash process is an effective way to ensure timely collection of customer receivables.
