Robotic Processing Automation is revolutionizing how companies function with its ability to automate manual tasks. Some of its many capabilities involve being able to upload countless payments automatically or sending automatic email notifications once an order is completed. Its use of bots can typically replicate any redundant business processes.

Now more than ever, companies are deploying RPA as the switch to automation is surging across industries. According to TechCrunch, RPA is the fastest growing enterprise software, where the market is growing at a rate of roughly 60% per year and will only continue to grow until intelligent automation solutions are readily available and accessible.

RPA software market is projected to reach roughly $6.5 billion in 2025, according to a recent Forrester study. This number is not shocking considering how companies need to automate to stay competitive. Up to 50% of companies’ current tasks are considered manual and outdated, meaning that automatizing certain work processes could mean businesses gain back more time and save on costs. This shift will become more necessary as companies reorganize and make room for more hybrid or remote workers.

RPA-powered solutions are only the beginning. Many tech companies are predicting the eventual shift to intelligent automation (IA) via machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). When deployed, these tools can fast track companies into having real-time forecasting and analytics-driven decision-making.

For Accounts Receivables processing, RPA is a welcome solution to fixing the tedious parts of traditional AR processing. For one, traditional AR processing is predominantly more time-consuming and inefficient since payments must be manually collected, checked over by a team member, and manually matched to an existing outstanding debt. RPA cuts out these tasks when built into the heart of an automation solution where payments and remit information is automatically uploaded, matched to accounts and settles invoices with minimal exceptions.

Now, with this technology, companies have radically altered how they process AR where teams can work simultaneously within one system to track exceptions and coordinate the settlement process. Instead of waiting for a colleague to finish a task, RPA-powered solutions notify whoever is next on the approval process via email. The settlement process runs smoothly with these RPA built-in features so no extra emailing or nagging is needed!

This collaborative element is not the only feature companies can utilize in an automated AR Settlement solution. Frequently found in best-in class, embedded solutions such as SK Global Software’s AReSettlement solution, there are four key features that businesses are using to significantly streamline their AR processing.

Customizable Matching Rules – Completes payments faster than ever

Payments can now be processed with the matching rules built into an automated AR settlement solution. These matching rules allow companies to set custom rules for matching funds to invoices to ensure the highest level of automatic settlement while minimizing exceptions. This feature intuitively learns a business’ behavior, so it gets better with matching funds to invoices with each batch job.

Intelligent Grid Systems – Easily highlight errors

An automated AR Settlement application typically has a grid system, such as SK Global Software’s Payment Application Workbench, where unresolved invoices, duplicates, or other errors are highlighted in one centralized location. Businesses save significant time with this feature since they can identify exceptions more quickly and can eliminate burdensome tasks involved with error finding.

Businesses who don’t utilize an RPA-powered solution are faced with less cash on hand and more downtime due to the wait times typically associated with error identification and correction in a traditional AR system. Not only will businesses who switch to RPA cut out these problems, but they will find that automated AR processing becomes more accurate in finding errors over time due to the intuitive matching and field mapping capabilities.

Standardization of the AR settlement process – Increases customer satisfaction

By creating standardized processes, redundant tasks and inefficient work can be eliminated. Built-in, autonomous work processes can reduce the time it takes to process transactions and can decrease the average days sales outstanding (DSO). This translates to better cash flow management and quicker turnaround for billing customers. These features speed up the settlement process, which has increased overall customer satisfaction for businesses. Now with these RPA-powered features, businesses can invest time focusing on the customer!

Multi-Company and Multi-Account Capacity – Eases scalability concerns

Typically, with traditional AR systems, having multiple bank accounts and companies is tedious. These outdated systems have limited functionalities and capabilities, which inhibit growing businesses. With an RPA-powered AR system, businesses don’t have to worry about whether their software can handle one more company or more customer transactions. Instead, these solutions are built to be flexible and scalable in nature. An unlimited number of transactions or invoices can be processed in these automated AR solutions while costs per invoice or transaction processed dramatically go down.

AReSettlement with SK Global Software

Now is the time for businesses to switch from traditional to an RPA-powered AR solution. Businesses who are looking to improve productivity, cut costs, and scale their operations should seriously consider the advantages of an automated AR processing solution, like SK Global Software’s AReSettlement. This best-in-class, embedded solution in Microsoft Dynamics F&O is configurable to any team’s needs and gives your team visibility and control over your AR processing.

Close to 68% of businesses are going to invest in automated solutions like this one in the next couple of years. Don’t wait to catch up to your competition and instead, invest in a sustainable solution like ours. Our consultants with over 20 years of treasury format experience will help your business save money and build a solution that works for your team’s needs. To learn more about our AReSettlement solution, email sales@sksoft.com to schedule a demo with us today.

More than ever, treasury and finance departments globally are needing automated solutions to keep up with the demands of remote work. Based on the Association of Corporate Treasurers’ (ACT) recent Business of Treasury 2022 report, 66% of their survey respondents stated that remote work and the pandemic has increased the adoption of automated technology. With the move to remote work, companies are trying to find ways to streamline their treasury management and overwhelmingly, treasury automation has allowed them to work collaboratively and streamline operational tasks in a cloud-based, integrated platform.

When successfully using a treasury automation solution, your business can oversee the entire banking and payment processes while factoring in your company’s macroeconomic environment. Together, this allows your company to make data-driven decisions, keep up with competitors, and satisfy customers.

If your company is not completely sold on the idea of further automating your treasury functions, consider some of the benefits of using additional automation in your daily business operations.

Advanced Analytics and Reporting

When a business starts using more automated processes, they have an immediate overview of their entire banking and payment landscape. Dashboards and grids showing payment history and outstanding balances built within treasury automation solutions allow companies to gather real-time data on their business processes, which can drive better reporting, analytics, and predictive forecasting. Alongside these reporting capabilities, treasury automation solutions feature robust audit trails by tracking every activity completed. These audit trails can assist teams in identifying KPI performance and can help them complete their financial goals. Together, these built-in capabilities enable a better assessment of a company’s cash position and drive working capital optimization.

Boost in Productivity

By having features like advanced analytics, your team can better anticipate and fix problem areas in your team’s treasury processes. Teams that have utilized RPA-powered solutions, like treasury automation, have seen significant increases in productivity. According to Deloitte, 86% of companies have increased their productivity and have minimized workflow bottlenecks through treasury automation. Most importantly, treasury automation saves teams from countless hours of rework. Gartner found that 25,000 hours of rework were eliminated once financial teams used treasury automation. This reduction of rework creates more opportunities for higher team engagement in more value-added activities.

Eliminate Redundant Costs

In a Deloitte survey, 59% of the companies surveyed had a reduction of costs when they switched to a treasury automation solution. Instead of taking days to reconcile accounts or having manual payment processes, companies who deploy treasury automation solutions can automatically reconcile bank transfers and minimize the costs associated with processing payments. Companies can not only save money, but they can also have better cash flow as a result of treasury automation. Since automated solutions can process accounts receivables faster, companies can lower their DSO and increase their access to cash, which can significantly help the scalability of growing companies.

Reduction of Errors

Through the deployment of RPA in treasury automation solutions, the bots used in RPA can complete financial processes virtually error-free when completing rule-based jobs. Line-item matching becomes more accurate over time as these bots learn your company’s behavior, which reduces errors over time and increases batch job accuracy when processing invoices and transactions.

Cross-currency transactions is one problem area where companies faced higher risk of errors due to it being predominantly processed manually. This tedious process is streamlined with built-in FX settlement modules in many treasury automation solutions. This normally long multi-hour process happens in a matter of seconds with an embedded connection to an FX trading platform.

Greater Control over Treasury Processes

When dealing with manual treasury processing, it can be a hassle trying to manage all processes in disparate systems. With an embedded treasury automation solution, finance teams work in a centralized solution that has many processes in one place, making it easy to overview the health of your cash management system. This solution allows your team to easily delegate tasks and simplify complicated workflows. However, not all automated solutions are alike, and some are bolt-on solutions that are not embedded in an ERP system, which makes it difficult for treasury teams to integrate accounting data directly into these solutions. This problem is the main reason why companies are now looking for embedded solutions that are centralized within ERP systems. Embedded solutions that have the same appearance as your ERP, like SK Global Software’s Treasury Automation Suite, don’t create extra hassle of learning another system or interface and instead integrates and keeps all your accounting data in one place.

Better Risk Management – Integrated Risk Mitigation

One of the biggest worries of a treasury team is the protection of company data. Manual treasury processes increase the chance of a data leak and fraud. A potential data leak is significantly minimized with the use of a treasury management solution that can automate end-to-end processes. Solutions that incorporate features like SFTP, files encryption, secure storage and transfer of payment files, and PCI-compliant process for credit card processes, greatly reduce security risks. These solutions also make it easier than ever to maintain full compliance with the emergence of global and regional data security standards and financial messaging standards like SWIFT, SEPA, and ISO20022.

Collaborative Workspaces

Finally, embedded treasury automation solutions have a centralized, cloud-based location where treasury teams can work simultaneously on projects and can assign each other tasks. Through the recent move to AI and machine learning, teams can now also set up automatic work processes which can streamline approval flows and daily tasks. Together, this solution minimizes data silos and helps treasury teams achieve higher levels of productivity and integration.

Save Time and Money with SK Global Software’s Treasury Automation Suite

The benefits of treasury automation show the obvious cost-saving and efficiency that companies can achieve when using an automated solution. With SK Global Software’s Treasury Automation Suite, your business will gain all the benefits that treasury automation can offer. With our consultants who have over 20 years of experience in treasury management, your business will improve your treasury management significantly while utilizing our best-in-class, embedded solution in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain.

To learn more about our TAS solution, email sales@sksoft.com to schedule a demo with us today.

The pandemic caused a significant disruption within the payments industry. It accelerated many businesses’ digital transformation programs and pushed towards the rise of fintech trends such as digital banking, borderless payments, and blockchain technology. With consumers moving to contactless and online shopping, digital payments and automated systems have become increasingly popular. Today once again your company must turn to fintech solutions to continue to expand your business amidst uncertain financial times.

With the economic uncertainty you may be tempted to cut financial technology expenditures. However, this could be a costly mistake. The global fintech market is projected to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 26.87% up to 2026. As the industry continues to expand fintech automation will keep becoming increasingly more advanced. According to a report conducted by Accenture, technology laggards will leave behind 46% of their potential revenue in 2023. Laggard companies that failed to automate have already bypassed some of their potential profit gains. The gap will only continue to grow as payment automation companies release improved solutions.

Why companies are shifting from manual AP processing to automated options

As the market for financial technology grows, Accounts Payable departments are continually transforming. The time-consuming and expensive nature of AP procedures has led to a shift away from manual processes to automated options. Even when the economy is healthy, your accounting team knows firsthand that managing AP processes by hand is problematic. Below is a breakdown of the typical manual AP invoicing and payment processing procedure:

Review the received invoice
Tracking down department heads that can verify and approve the invoice
Manually entering in AP data into the accounting system
Match numbers line by line to ensure the Purchase Order matches the invoice and delivery
Getting final approval from the CFO
Printing out and assembling paper checks
Mailing payments
Organizing and filing receipts for reference

Clearly, this outdated and inefficient process is costly, error-prone, and lacks visibility. If your accounting department is still using a procedure like the one above then the time for a change is overdue.

How AP automation can help your business solve your expansion challenges

As a business owner, one of your key responsibilities is to continually expand and drive profitability for your company. Leveraging robust AP Automation will increase your business’ agility allowing you to better navigate uncertain times. Eliminating redundant manual processes and streamlining your AP procedure will support business growth through tough economic times. According to Forbes, executives should approach the uncertain economic times with the mindset that business and tech are inter-connected. With an economic downturn on the horizon, you should consider investing in AP technology to create a stronger competitive position and drive expansion. Focusing on AP technology expenditures specifically will produce the following benefits:

Productivity increases

Freeing your AP employees up from unnecessary manual tasks will give them more freedom with their time allowing them to focus on value-added tasks. Using a manual invoice processing procedure, on average takes over 11 days to process a single invoice. Implementing an efficient AP Automation solution like ExFlow cuts the invoice processing time down to just under four days. Reducing the amount of time required to process your AP Invoices gives your employees more time to work on important tasks ultimately supporting business growth.

Gives your company the capability to handle a larger number of invoices

As your business grows it is natural for the number of AP invoices you handle to increase. High volumes of invoices can be very difficult to manage. Traditionally, this would require hiring additional employees. However, through implementing advanced AP Automation software such as SK Global’s Banking and Treasury Suite paired with ExFlow (powered by SignUp Software), you can fully automate the entire AP process. Additionally, both solutions are designed to scale with your business and have the capabilities to handle an unlimited number of invoices supporting potential expansion.

Cost Savings

In a report conducted on 1,485 organizations, the American Productivity and Quality Center, found that top performing organizations spent an average of $2.07 per invoice. The lowest 25% spent almost 5 times as much per invoice. The main variance between the two groups was automation. The more efficient companies generally used AP Automation while the less productive companies were using manual AP processes. Another area where your organization will save money is with labor costs. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for just one AP clerk is about $74,000 a year. As you grow you will either need to automate or hire additional employees. Implementing AP Automation software is typically the cheaper option. Lowering your overall expenses will free up funds for your business allowing you to re-invest it into expenditures that will grow your company.

Improve data visibility

Automation enables real-time tracking of your AP payments, giving you greater insights into your critical account payable process flows. Through robust software like SK Global’s, you can access approval history data, invoice codes and documents without having to contact your accounting department. Having greater visibility of data will not only improve your forecasting capabilities, but also allow you to use the information to make better informed decisions that grow your business.

True End-to-End AP Automation Built-Into Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SC

Through advanced technology embedded into your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain ERP, SK Global’s Banking and Treasury Suite paired with SignUp Software’s ExFlow unifies and automates the entire AP Automation procedure. SignUp Software’s AP Invoicing solution streamlines the process before the payment takes place, while our Banking and Treasury Suite automates the payment processing procedure. To learn more about our solution join us for our weekly public AP Automation demos.

Accounts Payable automation simplifies the accounts payable process by allowing companies to digitally pay and process supplier invoices. To process invoices, AP automation software, like SignUp Software’s ExFlow, employs scanning software to read invoice data within a matter of seconds.

With this technology, manually entering AP data is now a thing of the past. AP automation software, supplemented by OCR (commonly known as Optimal Character Recognition which extracts data from scanned documents, images, and pdfs), automatically uploads invoice data, saving companies time and money. Intelligent AP automation solutions such as ExFlow are embedded directly into ERP systems like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, which completely streamlines the invoice approvals. With these solutions, companies have much greater control over their AP process. This technology has countless benefits but why have companies decided to switch when it means changing their current process and training their team on completely new software?

Companies at the forefront of technology trends have recognized the gradual shift to digitalization but the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted companies more than ever to use automation after seeing the countless benefits of digitalization of work processes. Now, companies who desire to have a competitive edge are seeing automation as an avenue for cutting-edge growth. According to a recent McKinsey study, a majority of companies have realized their business models will no longer be economically viable if they do not employ automation. As a result, more companies will shift to automatizing work processes as more digital solutions will arrive on the market.

With the rise of working autonomy as a part of the new wave of digital transformation, there is a pressing need for configurable end-to-end automated systems that learn from your companies’ behaviors so that teams can be freed up of manual processing work. Through this technology, teams can now complete predictive maintenance of their banking and treasury management systems, which enables them to make great strides in optimizing their business processes. Financial automation has given companies the tools to outpace their competitors and has allowed for the building of a sustainable digital ecosystem, which can connect to larger hyperconnected networks.

Not only will switching to automation keep companies in pace with their competitors, but it will also save them from high labor and operational costs of manual, paper-based invoice processing.

Here are four reasons why companies are making the switch now more than ever.

Significant Cost Savings

After switching to AP automation, companies have seen sometimes dramatic reductions in costs related to invoice processing. Costs per invoice go down dramatically when using AP automation since it reduces the time processing the invoice. According to 2021’s State of ePayables Report from Ardent Partners, companies with little or no automation spend as much as $10.95 per invoice processed versus companies who are using invoice automation spend $2.25 per invoice or less.

These costs may vary per industry but nonetheless, companies save significantly when switching. Your company will face upfront costs of buying an automation solution. However, over the long term, your company will save thousands of dollars. Many AP Automation solutions are now increasingly offering subscription-based payment models, which may be beneficial to companies looking for a more budget-friendly option.

Increased Efficiency

For many companies, manual AP processing has weighed down productivity since employees have to dedicate time to pore over countless invoices. Companies who have made the switch have streamlined their business processes since Accounts Payable automation entails seamless processing without human intervention. Its 24/7 operating system means that at any time of day, your team can process invoices. In the background, an AP automation solution gathers copious amounts of data to learn how your company’s behavior. This is so that it can better anticipate your company’s interactions with vendors.

Error Minimization

Manual processing makes it incredibly difficult to identify errors easily. For some teams, this process can take hours, hindering teams from focusing on more value-added activities. This tedious process is automatically streamlined with automation. Intelligent invoice capturing utilizing OCR, such as ReadSoft, dramatically minimizes errors. This system is supplemented with line-item matching, which is used to ensure accuracy.

Total Full Spend Transparency

Comprehensive capturing of invoice data gives teams full access to money spent on vendors or suppliers, which helps companies with strategic sourcing. This intelligent overview of your spending allows your company to reduce overpayments or late payments since your team can track the invoice cycle at any moment.

So How Do You Make the Switch?

To complete the switch to automation, you must choose solutions that are configurable and embedded in formidable ERP systems. With SKG and ExFlow’s optimized AP Automation modules, we have the right solutions for you! SignUp Software’s ExFlow solution can meet all AP automation needs through creating a truly end-to-end, embedded user experience in your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain environment.

Here are some notable features of ExFlow:

Robust reporting to power your automation insights
Best-in-class processing rates
Complete transparency of Accounts Payable process
Built with the latest technology for optimized processing

Utilize a high-end automation solution like ours to save significant costs, reduce redundancies, and increase team productivity!

Talk to our sales team today to see how you can deploy AP Automation today!

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.

In today’s fast-paced environment, it is becoming more evident that adding software to automate business processes is fundamental to the success of an organization. According to a 2022 report from Imaginovation Insider, 66% of companies have added automation to their processes in one or more business functions. With automation becoming increasingly popular, using manual processes puts your company at risk of falling behind the competition.

An excellent place to start your digital transformation is with tedious financial operations. If your finance team is manually applying accounts receivable (AR) payments to the corresponding customer invoices, an automatic AR cash application solution is the perfect fit for your organization.

What does an AR Cash Application solution do?

An advanced AR Cash Application solution will process lockbox files and other types of customer payment files, seamlessly matching payments to the correct customer invoice, account, and remittance information. If your business receives large quantities of high-volume cash receipts the process of manually matching the files to customer invoices is expensive, inefficient, error-prone, and an overall security risk.

10 ways that AR Cash Application Automation can benefit your business:

In a report from PYMNTS.com, 74% of accounting teams reported that problems arose when manually processing invoice information. On the contrary, 60% of businesses that automated invoice and expense management reported a decrease in misplaced invoice cases. With these statistics in mind, let’s take a deeper dive into the advantages of automating your AR Cash Application process:

1. Fewer Mistakes

Manually matching your accounts receivable payments to the correct invoice can lead to time-consuming errors and customer dissatisfaction. Utilizing automation instead prevents some of the common inaccuracies such as decoupled remittances, incorrect discount terms, and missing characters from invoices.

2. Time Savings

Advanced Cash Application solutions will require zero additional data entry to match payments, significantly increasing your accounting team’s efficiency. According to a recent report from PYMNTS.com, among the companies that have deployed AR automation 87% reported faster processing speeds and 79% said it improved the AR team’s efficiency.

3. Improve Cash Flow

Giving your accounting team the ability to match payments more efficiently will increase your cash flow. To rightfully use the money from the customer your accounting department must first validate and associate the payment to the invoice. The quicker payments are matched to invoices, the faster your company can use the funds for other expenses giving your business more agility in uncertain times.

4. Reduce Operating Costs

Due to the excessive amount of time it takes your accounting team to correctly match payments to invoices, the cost of manually processing invoices is significant. Not to mention if an error is made,the length of time it takes to correct this mistake raises costs substantially.

5. Greater Visibility

Automating your AR processes with a solution that is built directly into your ERP, like SK Global’s AR Cash Application module, makes it easy for your business to maintain accurate records of your financial affairs in real-time. Posting on-time and precise cash statements will give your financial executives improved visibility on cash inflows.

6. Ability to Scale as your Business Grows

Manually matching payments to invoices prohibits your company’s growth. Your business may be able to get away with manual cash application now, but as you grow so will your sales volume. Naturally, an increase in sales will cause the number of invoices you receive to rise. Manually matching high volumes of payments to invoices will be increasingly more expensive as your organization develops. For these reasons, it is important to implement an automated solution that is designed to grow with your business.

7. Better Customer Service

If you are receiving customer complaints about mistakes in your cash application procedures, the time for your business to upgrade to a more efficient automated process is overdue. Common payment mistakes like missing discounts or invoicing a customer who has already paid can decrease customer satisfaction and damage your business’s reputation.

8. Centralized Financial Processes within your ERP

Our AR Cash Application module is built-into your Microsoft Dynamics 365 environment, keeping all your accounts receivable data in one centralized system. Consolidating your banking and treasury functions into one platform keeps your accounting and finance teams better informed and organized.

9. Increased Support for your Finance Team

Providing your accounting department with the tools to effortlessly match payments to the correct customer invoices will allow them to focus on more value-added activities. In an article from Business Insider, 49% of office employees reported that they were unable to leave the workplace on time because of the hassle of everyday administrative tasks. Redundant manual entry tasks, like AR payment matching, lead to wasted employee hours and can be easily substituted for more efficient automated options.

10. More Secure

A secure built-in solution like SK Global’s significantly reduces the risk of internal check fraud. Through decreasing the amount of staff exposed to payment information, automating your cash application process heightens security.

Fully Automate your AR Processes within Microsoft Dynamics 365

Through robust technology embedded into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, our AR Cash Application module requires zero additional data entry to match payments or process direct debit file transmission to the bank. Additionally, your business can automatically import payment files from any number of banks and bank accounts. Our module will seamlessly process, map, and apply incoming payments to the correct customer invoice all within your D365 environment.

We guarantee the coverage of any bank, and any bank specific file format, required to automate your accounts receivable process. Our solution also includes ongoing maintenance across any bank integration type such as BAI2, EDI820, NAI, Symcor, and many more.

For more information on how our AR Cash Application Solution can help your business, contact us today.

How Supply Chain Financing Benefits Both Suppliers and Buyers

With its direct impact on company success, customer satisfaction, and vendor relationships supply chain management plays a vital part in most businesses. According to a 2021 report, 70% of businesses believe that supply chains are a key driver for quality customer service. With this in mind, it is important to have an efficient financing method to prevent potential supply chain disruptions that can be detrimental to the success of your business.

If you have a higher credit rating than your supplier, implementing a supply chain financing solution (also known as reverse factoring), can be an excellent way to strengthen your organization’s financial process. Leveraging this type of technology helps eliminate the negative effects of longer payment terms through allowing your vendor to receive a timely payment without putting pressure on your business. This advantage truly makes supply chain financing a win-win situation for all parties involved.

Benefits for Buyers

With the supply chain financing solution being initiated by the buyers, we understand that you will want to ensure that you are making a profitable investment for your organization. A supply chain financing solution can benefit your business in the following ways:

Improve working capital

A reverse factoring solution helps prevent your working capital from getting stuck in your supply chain. Utilizing a third-party finance provider helps keep your operations running smoothly by delivering efficient access to financing.

Reduce supply chain disruption risks

Providing your suppliers with convenient financing allows you to reduce the risk of potential issues in your supply chain. A 2022 article from the New York Times predicts it will be unlikely for businesses to have no disruptions within their supply chain. Unfortunately, this fact will not change over time. Combating these problems with financing technology is an effective way to help strengthen your supply chain disruption plan and prevent these drawbacks from occurring.

Foster business development

Supply chain finance will allow your business to better adapt to unexpected demand surges. Without the proper financing assistance from the intermediary, it can be difficult for your vendor to accommodate sudden order quantity changes.

Easy bookkeeping

An efficient supply chain financing solution, like SK Global’s Supply Chain Financing Module, will keep the payable on the record with the original vendor during the initial invoice term. On the due date, the original vendor’s invoice is resolved and the liability is shifted to the SCF provider for immediate payment. If your business has multiple invoices with the same due date, the payments to the SCF provider can be grouped by currency alone or by vendor and currency.

In addition, SK Global’s supply chain financing module is embedded in your Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP, keeping all your supply chain financing invoices in one centralized system. This makes it simple for your organization to track accurate records of your financial affairs in real time.

Develop a stronger relationship with suppliers

Considering all the vendor benefits that come with adding supply chain financing technology, your supplier will likely be thrilled that you are implementing a reverse factoring solution. Fostering a strong relationship with your supplier may give your procurement team an advantage when negotiating contracts.

Benefits for Suppliers

When a problem arises on your vendor’s side, it negatively impacts your whole supply chain. With this in mind, you will want to make a decision that is not only profitable for your business but is also advantageous to your supplier. Adding a reverse factoring solution to your financial process offers the following benefits to your vendor:

Receive payments earlier

If your vendor agrees to a supply chain financing solution, they will receive their payment much faster. Typically, invoices have a 30-to-60-day turnaround, leading the supplier’s funds to be held up in received products. This can be a huge inconvenience to your supplier, especially if you habitually pay right at the deadline.

Optimize cash flow

With reverse factoring, the financing intermediary will pay your supplier early, allowing them to maintain a healthy cash flow without putting a strain on your business. When the due date approaches, your business pays the third-party finance provider.

Improved cash flow forecasting

The timing of payments is more predictable when using a reverse factoring solution. Providing your vendor with the tool to have greater visibility over their cash flow will allow them to make better educated business decisions.

Increase working capital

With a reverse factoring solution being organized and funded by the buyer, your vendor does not finance through their own working capital. Additionally, receiving early payments will allow your supplier to reduce their days sales outstanding, leading to further working capital gains.

Lower interest rate

Due to fees being based off your business’s credit rating and not your suppliers, the interest rate will be significantly lower when compared to other forms of financing. Lowering financing expenses for your vendor will grant them the ability to better invest the funds saved.

Supply Chain Financing with SK Global

Whether you’re coming from the buyer’s or vendor’s perspective, supply chain financing is beneficial to all companies involved. Efficient supply chain modules, like SK Global Software’s, work to automate your communications with your supply chain finance providers. Our reverse factoring solution is directly embedded into your Microsoft Dynamics 365 environment to streamline and support the entire supply chain financing process.

If you’re considering a reverse factoring solution, we would enjoy discussing the next step with your business. Contact us today sales@sksoft.com.

Finding ways to streamline your financial operations is more important than ever. Luckily, the use of advanced solutions and evolving technology is growing across industries, which can make optimization significantly easier. If your business works with multiple legal entities, a multi-company EFT might be the capable solution you need to save valuable time, money and effort.

Read on to learn more about how multi-company EFTs for Microsoft Dynamics 365 can help your business simplify some of your most arduous financial processes.

Implementing multi-company EFTs

Over the years, the Treasury Automation Suite within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations has offered the functionality for automating vendor payments and direct debits — as well as streamlining the creation and communication of those payment files to the bank. This solution has been a vital feature for businesses, considering at least 66% of organizations have started to automate processes in at least one or more business functions, per a report from McKinsey.

However, the Treasury Automation Suite was missing a key aspect for businesses with multiple legal entities. Previously, these financial processes had to be done per legal entity, which involved creating and sending multiple payment files. This is inevitably expensive, time-consuming, tedious and error-prone.

Now, the Treasury Automation Suite's Multi-Company electronic funds transfer (EFT) can help eliminate the need for this monotonous process. With advanced solutions and robust technology in place, the module provides a means of combining payments initiated from multiple legal entities into a single file going to the bank. Additionally, this upgraded system fully automates the management of response files that are sent back from the bank — effectively streamlining this procedure significantly.

Built into Microsoft Dynamics 365

To simplify this process even further, our Multi-Company EFT solution is seamlessly embedded into your Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP system. This upgraded module is a valuable way to keep all of your financial operations in one accessible location, making it easier for your business to:

Effortlessly maintain accurate records.
Centralize your file transfer process.
Provide greater visibility for your finance team.

Supports any file format

When working with multiple legal entities, you need robust solutions that are equipped to handle multiple file formats. This efficient Multi-Company EFT upgrade is well-adept to support any file format you utilize with secure automation. This highly functional module is designed to support any file format around the globe such as ACH, BAI2, BTRS, and more.

Reduce transfer costs

If your organization works with multiple legal entities or financial institutions, there is typically a "per file" charge from banks on each file transmission. These costs are seemingly inconsequential at first glance, however, when you review your annual expenditure, these fees add up considerably! With a Multi-Company EFT at your disposal, your organization can eliminate these charges — allowing your team to better allocate these unnecessary file transfer expenses.

Key features and benefits

This robust solution not only offers key features that your organization can leverage moving forward, but also provides a host of valuable advantages as a result. The pivotal features and benefits of a Multi-Company EFT module include:

The ability to combine vendor EFT payment journals, or customer direct debit journals, from multiple legal entities into a single file for transmission to the bank.
Cost savings on "per file" charges from the bank.
Allowing process owners of vendor payment and direct debit operations to be kept per legal entity.
Centralizing and simplifying the administration of creating and sending combined files for separate legal entities.
Validation functionally, to ensure only compatible payment types are combined.
Working within the confines of any bank format where the financial institution supports multiple accounts in one file.
Offering field validation of payment content to be done at the legal entity level — which allows process owners in those legal entities to correct exceptions.
Automatically handling response files that are being returned from the bank.

Optimize your financial operations with SK Global

The Treasury Automation Suite from SK Global exists to empower your finance teams and optimize your systems in the process. Considering 50% of business leaders claim they're planning on accelerating the automation of repetitive tasks within their organization, per a report from the World Economic Forum, this automation will also be a necessity to keep pace with competition moving forward.

With our Multi-Company EFT solution for Microsoft Dynamics 365, your business can improve efficiency, eliminate the need for repetitive, error-prone tasks, and simplify your financial operations as a whole. Quickly optimize some of your most burdensome and unnecessary financial activities with SKG's embedded solution today!

For more information on how SK Global can help you intelligently streamline your financial systems, contact us today.

Implementing advanced software from SK Global is an effective way to manage and streamline your financial processes — specifically through the Treasury Automation Suite for Microsoft Dynamics 365. This includes your procedures for customer reimbursement. We’re taking a closer look into the reimbursement process and how the latest version of software available is mitigating challenges and complexity to ensure a more efficient system.

Customer Reimbursement

The reimbursement process originally involved removing the credit balance for the customer account and creating a balance due for the vendor account that corresponds to the customer. While this was a sufficient option to reimburse customers within Microsoft Dynamics 365, enhanced software and solutions from SK Global exist to simplify this process even further.

The main issue found was Microsoft Dynamics 365 customers wanted to avoid the hassle of setting up and maintaining vendor bank accounts to simply reimburse a customer. SK Global version 11 aims to help customers bypass these unnecessary steps to optimize their reimbursement systems.

Upgrading Your Process With Advanced Solutions in Microsoft Dynamics 365

The original procedure only supported customer reimbursement through the accounts payable process — which required both the customer and the vendor to be set up, with bank accounts maintained on both ends. This means if a customer changed their bank account information, it would be necessary to maintain that on the vendor side while pushing invoices or reimbursements from accounts receivable to accounts payable.

Advancements in SK Global’s software allow customers to reimburse directly from their own side, which is advantageous to evade the complications of involving the vendor along the way. Instead of pulling from a vendor bank account number and routing number, the information will be pulled from the customer.

The central features for an improved process in your SK Global software include:

Customer bank account approval for customer reimbursements.
Supporting inbound acknowledgment files.
Customer details and customer bank accounts are used.
No vendor is reacquired.

In the electronic funds transfer section of the software, you’re able to set customer reimbursement parameters in the Treasury Automation Suite. This allows you to establish your:

Default method of payment.
Default payment specification.
Minimum amount to reimburse.
Minimum days for reimbursement.

Specifying how your customer reimbursement will work can help you optimize your process even more. This section also provides you with the option to include customer invoices or allow overrides on payment proposals. After defining your general guidelines for these procedures, you can continue the process with the customer reimbursement journal in your accounts receivable section.

Creating and sending customer reimbursement files in the treasury automation suite can help you rest assured the process will be efficient and successful. Once a bank sends the inbound file back, the process will automatically complete in the software for you, and if there are any complications along the way, you can easily reverse the posted payment if necessary.

The Benefits of a Streamlined System

According to a report from Statista, the use of online and mobile banking is estimated to steadily increase from 2020 to 2024. Finding ways to make online reimbursements and overall financial operations more efficient will be extremely valuable in the coming years. Advanced solutions from SK Global and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are not only an option to streamline customer reimbursement, but also to save time and money in the process.

Evolving technology enables you to identify redundant operations that can be effectively diminished or cut off altogether. Direct customer reimbursement can help you save time and money while you avoid going between multiple accounts as well as the possible errors involved with a more complex system. While this improvement might seem simple in nature, the culmination of inefficient processes can cost companies as much as 30% of their revenue, as reported by Towards Data Science. Taking steps to employ the most efficient systems possible throughout your operations is the best way to maintain long-term success.

Optimizing Your Financial Processes With SK Global

With solutions from SK Global and the latest software update, you can easily and efficiently manage your customer reimbursements. This is a boon to your overall business, allowing you to avoid any unnecessary, arduous or time-consuming tasks to complete the process.

Moreover, with the Treasury Automation Suite add-on for Microsoft Dynamics 365, you can quickly automate and improve a majority of your most intense financial processes. Enjoy cash payment, vendor payment and customer payment automation, all while increasing your risk management for the most successful and efficient results. These upgrades and solutions exist to empower your finance teams in key functional areas where they might need help the most.

If you’re ready to streamline your customer reimbursement and host of other financial operations, contact SK Global today to get started.

While organizations continue to navigate changes and uncertainty across industries, the need to put more efficient systems in place is quickly becoming a priority — and your financial operations are no exception. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics AX, your organization can take advantage of valuable automation tools to keep efficiency and productivity high, while providing you with a significant leg up on the competition.

Read on to learn more about payment matching and how automation can optimize your systems and benefit your financial teams overall.

What Is Payment Matching?

Payment matching typically involves processing and posting payment files, which are statements from a bank or other source that contain financial transaction data. This often includes data for accounts receivable transactions, such as payments or payment cancellations.

Traditionally, payment matching entailed a hefty manual workload for your accounts receivable team. Not only is this work arduous and time-consuming for your financial operations, but there are inevitable errors along the way. However, as digitization and automation continue to increase across industries, there's a better way to elevate and streamline your payment matching process.

Improving Your Process With Payment Matching for Microsoft Dynamics 365

With advanced solutions from SK Global, you can quickly optimize and automate your payment matching process. This software instantly recognizes customer payments and applies them to the correct invoices within your Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Microsoft Dynamics AX system. Automating your payment matching can significantly increase your efficiency by helping your financial teams avoid time-consuming and tedious manual processes that were a necessity before. This effectively provides the opportunity for your employees to focus on what's most important while letting SK Global software do a great deal of the hard work for you.

The amount of data and information handled by your financial teams can quickly become overwhelming and is inevitably error-prone without an intelligent system in place. However, with help from automatic matching payments, your accounts receivable team can easily and competently handle large volumes of incoming data.

It's important to keep in mind that achieving significant automation can be difficult, considering your systems or processes require the ability to manage a multitude of exceptions. These might include customers providing limited information with their payment or working with a payment amount that doesn't match. To most financial teams' dismay, the possibilities of exceptions are endless and varied.

This means implementing a robust and intelligent financial system that can adequately handle and process large volumes of payments, along with any exceptions, is more important than ever. Luckily, payment matching in the Treasury Automation Suite has the capabilities your organization needs to do this successfully. Your teams can manage considerable amounts of data and configure the automation rules down to a customer-specific level with one upgraded solution.

Rest assured that you can apply this solution across any number of bank accounts in which you receive customer payments, and this automated payment matching in your Microsoft Dynamics 365 software will process incoming payments according to your own configured rules. Not only will this greatly reduce the manual workload on your accounts receivable team, but it also can provide your organization with a host of advantages as a result.

Key Benefits of Automated Payments Matching

According to Camunda's State of Process Automation report, 51% of automation initiatives are aimed at boosting efficiency, and this certainly includes your payment matching. While a seemingly simple solution at first glance, automated payments matching with SK Global is a major boon to your performance and productivity while providing a number of other key benefits along the way.

The main advantages of advanced payment matching from SK Global include:

Automatically importing large volumes of payment files from any number of banks or bank accounts in your Microsoft Dynamics 365 enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
Instantly processing incoming payments you receive, which are mapped and applied to the correct customer invoice in your system.
Specifically configuring your automation rules to deal with typical exceptions.
Significantly increasing your efficiency through automation.
The coverage of any bank and any bank-specific file format — along with ongoing maintenance across any bank integration type.

The culmination of these benefits is an effective way to save your accounts receivable and financial teams valuable time in the long run. In fact, Salesforce has found that 73% of IT leaders report automation technology saving employees between 10% and 50% of the time they previously spent doing manual tasks. By alleviating the burden of manual work done by your workforce, they have the ability to focus on the work that truly requires human attention and intervention.

Solutions from the Treasury Automation Suite in Microsoft Dynamics 365 are also an effective way to give your organization a valuable competitive edge when you might need it most. Efficiency, productivity and accuracy are always a priority, and utilizing advanced options for automation is a great option to get you there. Unlock your team's full potential with help from SK Global.

Implementing Advanced Solutions From SK Global

Solutions from SK Global provide your teams with the robust financial intelligence you need to optimize your payment matching. Substantially increase your efficiency and save valuable time, all while mitigating the manual burden on your accounts receivable team. With automation, you can quickly streamline your payment matching process.

The Banking and Treasury Automation Suite add-on for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics AX is advantageous to more than just your payment matching. Enjoy a host of invaluable automation tools for cash management, vendor payment and customer payment, and rest assured your data is highly secure with top-tier protection included. Implementing automation and improving your systems is more important than ever to keep pace with demand and competitors, and solutions from SK Global exist to empower your finance teams with seamless integration and to drive your operational efficiency moving forward.

If you're ready for more intelligent payment matching or simply want to explore your options for automation, contact SK Global or schedule a demo to get started.