With forward-thinking companies readily embracing digital transformation to simplify and optimize their operations, the global business landscape has undergone some substantial changes. Digital transformation has launched the fintech market into a 112.5 billion dollar industry and it is only projected to grow in the future. It is vital that business leaders keep up with the growing fintech trends to stay competitive and expand their organization.  

As a financial manager you must make it a priority for your team to leverage disruptive fintech solutions to stay ahead of the curve. Finance departments who have digitized their operations have discovered numerous benefits such as significant cost and time savings, increased accuracy, and a reduced risk of fraud.  

Organize financial procedures with a cloud-based ERP

A cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP), like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain, is a popular starting point for a digital transformation. It ties all departments together by unifying information, data, and workflow management. Implementing an ERP will allow your company to centralize and analyze all the information in the system, increasing visibility and simplifying procedures.  

Streamline your AR payment process in a centralized environment

An enterprise resource planning system gives your finance team the ability to digitize some financial procedures. However, it does not include advanced features, like the power to fully automate your accounts receivable operations. As your company expands, standard ERP platforms are often not enough to handle an increase in the volume of AR payments. To automate these procedures, your finance department needs to look for embedded AR Automation solutions designed to grow with your business. Companies that opt for built-in modules rather than bolt-on have discovered a more unified platform and true end-to-end automation without a hassle. Bolt-on solutions can lead to complex payment infrastructures that result in  costly errors, unorganized data, customer dissatisfaction, and ultimately revenue loss. Digitizing these processes in one system through built-in automation will increase visibility across your whole finance team making it simple to manage the financial health of your organization.  

Advantages of fully automating your AR Processes:  

As a financial manager you understand that tracking accounts receivable is vital for computing your profitability and providing an accurate measure of your business’s income. It is important to have an efficient and organized procedure for your AR operations. Automation is the best way to do this. Tedious accounts receivable tasks like sending out invoices, payment reminder emails, processing customer payments, and invoice settlement can easily be automated and centralized within your ERP. With this in mind, let’s further explore the benefits of AR Automation:  

1. Improve customer satisfaction

Digitizing your accounts receivable processes has a direct impact on your clients’ experience and your company’s brand. According to a report from PYMNTS, 70% of Chief Financial Officer’s stated that automating AR functions is vital to building lifetime customer value. A natural component of AR Automation is giving your customer the capabilities to view and manage their payments at any time through a self-service payment portal. Customers do not want the inconvenience of only being able to access customer service or manage their accounts during your office hours. Providing a customer-facing portal enhances the customer experience through giving them the capabilities to access their invoices and manage their payments whenever they want. A self-service payment portal truly gives the customer control in the accounts receivable procedure by streamlining it for all parties involved.  

While there are significant benefits of implementing a customer-facing payment portal, it is not always the best fit for every finance team. If this is the case for your finance department another option, you should explore is an AR Cash Application solution. Automating the payment matching process is another effective way to improve customer satisfaction through eliminating payment errors and heightening security.  

2. Achieve greater AR efficiency while lowering costs

Removing redundant manual work is an excellent way to cut expenses and increase productivity. AR Automation removes the busy work behind payment to invoice matching, credit card processing, and online bill presentment further simplifying and optimizing your collection process. According to a report from PYMNTS conducted on companies that deployed AR Automation, 87% reported faster processing speeds and 72% said it reduced operating costs. Discovering these time and money savings will allow your department to focus on more value-added activities and give you the ability to better allocate your budget.  

 3. Timely insights into the health of your AR operations

As a financial manager you know firsthand that it is imperative to maintain accurate forecasts through managing and interpreting data. Manual AR methods result in slow payment processing times putting a time constraint on when you can access the collections data. Efficiency improvements within your AR payment management operations will allow for more timely insights. Leveraging advanced built-in AR payment processing solutions, like SK Global’s, gives you the capability to centralize collection information, improving data accuracy, and accessibility. 

 4. Increase cash flow

As a finance leader, you understand how cash flow management is vital to the success of your organization. Implementing an advanced AR Automation solution leads to faster payment processing times and quicker preauthorization of  sales charges before order completion. As a result, your company will see an increase in cash flow. Additionally, providing the customer with the ability to easily view and manage their payment through a self-service payment portal will motivate them to pay faster.  

5. Achieve a higher level of security

Opting for fully PCI-Compliant AR Automation ensures that your organization remains aligned with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, preventing legal issues and hefty fines. Penalties for a PCI-Compliant security breach can be up to $500,000 per incident. In addition, all individuals whose information may have been exposed must be contacted, which damages your company’s reputation. SK Global’s Credit Card Processing solution module maintains a high level of security with features like PayLink, which can significantly reduce your PCI-Compliance scope.  

Considering all the benefits, is your finance team ready to embrace AR Automation? Contact SK Global today or join one of our weekly live demonstrations to receive an overview of our embedded financial automation modules for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain.Â