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Guide

Automated Accounts Receivables:
The Buyers’ Guide

Because spreadsheets just don’t cut it anymore
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Cover of Accounts Receivable Automation The Buyer's Guide

Automated Accounts Receivables

54% of businesses expect late payment. This staggering statistic reflects the reality of doing business these days. It’s also a likely driver behind the fact that 87% of enterprises are planning a legacy system modernization program in the next 1-2 years.

Outdated, manual systems don’t deliver the results expected these days. Worse, they can hinder growth. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that digital transformation across business has accelerated at an unprecedented rate in recent years. Remote working and contactless customer experiences have increased dramatically during the pandemic years. One person in a back office with a few spreadsheets just doesn’t cut it any more when it comes to best in class accounts receivables.

If you’re reading this then you’ve already started your journey toward automating accounts receivable. This guide will help you understand:

  • If automated AR is right for your business
  • The key benefits of automated AR
  • How to select the right solution for your business
  • Questions to ask to ensure a quick, successful integration
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HOW DOES IT HELP?

Automated accounts receivables makes life easier

We think automated accounts receivables software is for everyone. Big or small, complex or simple. Introducing an automated accounts receivables tool to your team or business will make a significant difference on a number of fronts.

If you want to get specific though, automated AR software and tools deliver the best results for companies that:

  • Lack a clear internal accounts receivables process
  • Want better cashflow
  • Need more visibility over the details of debtor accounts
  • Want to stay on top of overdue accounts
  • Need to improve debtor/AR reporting for boards or exec teams
  • Have difficulty forecasting
  • Want to reduce the number of disputes each month
  • Need a simple solution that’s quick and easy to implement

BENEFITS

Save time, get paid faster

Rolling out automated accounts receivables software is like putting your AR on autopilot. It’ll save you time, money and improve your customer experience. Best of all, it’s simple, quick and cost effective to implement. Results are seen almost immediately.

Key benefits customers tell us they’ve experienced after automating their accounts receivables with CreditorWatch Collect are:

1. GET PAID FASTER

More cash in the bank. That’s what our customers tell us. With customized workflows driving a true reminders journey, the likelihood of getting your invoices paid and paid faster increases dramatically. Invoices can no longer slip through the cracks. And by including SMS communications, your reminders won’t get lost in the inbox jungle or be bottom of the payments pile.

2. REDUCTION IN COSTS

Not only does automating your accounts receivables ensure your customers pay faster, it also reduces your overheads. We have customer who’ve been able to either maintain or reduce their finance headcount thanks to CreditorWatch Collect. And with debt being paid faster, automating your accounts receivables reduces interest paid on outstanding money and decreases the opportunity cost of having cash locked up with debtors.

3. BETTER INSIGHTS

Automating your accounts receivables isn’t just about reducing the admin load. It also delivers better visibility over what’s actually happening with your accounts. Through customer history, dashboards and advanced reporting, you’ll be able to understand why debtors pay late and see trends in key KPIs like Days sales outstanding to ensure you’re tracking well. All this adds up to knowledge, and knowledge is power. Power to forecast better, to improve services and process, to grow.

4. MORE TIME

Automating your accounts receivables saves time. With workflows running at the press of a button, and debtor insights easily accessible, our customers say this is one of the key benefits for them. Productivity increase as time spent on accounts receivables admin, chasing debts and in meetings to resolve disputes is reduced. Automating your accounts receivables will give your team time back to focus on more value-adding work.

5. REDUCTION IN DISPUTES

With your accounts receivables on autopilot, you’ll find that customer disputes are more easily identified and faster to resolve. As payment reminders are sent out through a regular workflow, customers who have a dispute won’t just ignore the issue. They’ll get in touch. And with automated accounts receivables software you’ll be able to review the account history, make notes visible to all and get to a resolution faster.

6. BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Whilst customer experience is not viewed as a core role of the finance team, automating your accounts receivables ensures customers receive a first in class experience. Clear payment reminders and instructions go a long way to closing the final step of the buying cycle. With a strong AR process in place, making payment quick and easy, your customers are more likely to complete the buying process as happy, loyal customers. They’ll walk away advocates for your brand, happy to repeat their business with you.

SOLUTIONS

Selecting the right solution

To ensure your get the right solution for your business it’s important to identify your main accounts receivables challenges. The most common problems automated accounts receivables helps solve are:

The most common problems automated accounts receivables helps solve are:

  • Overdue debt that’s causing issues
  • Unstructured or unclear internal AR processes
  • A lack of debtor insights

Some questions we’d recommend to start the conversation in your business are:

Overdue Debt

  • Is overdue debt a problem?
  • Do we understand why debtors are slow to pay?
  • Are we chasing every account, even the small ones?

Accounts Receivables Process

  • Do we have dedicated AR support?
  • Do we send out statements or just invoices?
  • Do we have a clear process for payment reminders? Does it include email, SMS and phone calls?
  • Are there weekly meetings to review debtors and resolve disputes?
  • Where does ownership sit in regard to collecting debt? Is it finance or is it the relevant account/sales manager?
  • What’s our escalation path for hard to collect debt?

Debtor Insights

  • Can we see debtor trends overtime?
  • Do we have the info needed to deliver thorough reports to the board/exec team?
  • How do our customers pay us compared to the payment terms agreed?
  • Do we know which customers need more prompts to make payment?
  • Can we clearly see customer history when we’re chasing payments?

Once you’ve identified what issues you’re facing, compare these with the features offered by the automated accounts receivables tools you’re reviewing. You’ll then be able to assess which tools deliver the solutions your business needs.

INTEGRATION

Integrating with your tools

One final but important consideration is integration. Before getting too far down the implementation journey, first confirm that the automated accounts receivables tools you’re reviewing do in fact integrate well with your preferred accounting/ERP system.

Good questions to ask at this point are:

  • How long does it usually take to integrate the automation software with our accounting/ERP system?
  • Does data sync automatically?
  • What systems does your software integrate with?
  • Do you need specialist/IT support to manage the implementation?
  • Are there any additional costs associated with implementation?
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Ready to transform your accounts receivables?

Sick of manual reminders and spreadsheets. Join hundreds of other businesses and let CreditorWatch Collect transform your accounts receivables. Say goodbye to mundane AR tasks, get paid faster and have more time for high value work. Try CreditorWatch Collect for free now.

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Automated Accounts Receivables – The Buyers’ Guide was last modified: November 17th, 2022 by Lucy Stewart
CreditorWatch Collect