How many hours do you need to process accounts receivable and send the overdue reminder? With hundreds -or even thousands of data, it might even take several days to finish. But now, you and your team can do it 3X much faster with cognitive automation! See how.
Why Automate Accounts Receivable (AR)?
Accounts receivable is money your business owes for your products or services. Since the order-to-receive cycle is highly dependent on your AR, you need to provide critical functionality such as ensuring efficient billing, fast dispute resolution, and more.
Saving time and human effort
The main function of automation is to build the logic of the accounts receivable process, including which customer to charge, how to charge, when to charge, and what to charge.
For example, suppose a customer has a one-year contract. The first quarter went smoothly, but the customer wanted some changes in the second quarter (like additions, upgrades/downgrades, etc.).
Then you will manually change the subscription price. But, imagine hundreds or thousands of customers instead of just one – no company can do it efficiently.
Predictable Cash Flow and Lower Bad Debt
Another key benefit of AR automation is predictable cash flow for your business. Without automation, your forecast can be completely different from what you actually collect.
You can automate payment notifications, reminders, and emails to ensure timely collection. Automation helps you stay on top of the collection process by ensuring stable cash flow and reducing bad debt.
How does Accounts Receivable (AR) Automation Works?
In short, AR Automation is a way to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks for your account team. This will save you time and avoid mistakes that are common in invoices, most of which are due to human error.
In order for your AR team to consistently send correct invoices, they need to check documents multiple times. But besides checking amount and company information, there may also be requirements from customers, for example, about specific distribution methods.
That’s a manual process, but how is it going if you use automation do to the process? Actually, the steps are totally the same. The automation ‘bot’ will mimic everything you do, and then it will do it automatically with superb accuracy. Here’s a simple infographic for your better understanding:
Read how we implement this idea to our client’s accounts receivable process.
What to Consider When Choosing An Automation Provider?
Many different vendors offer AR automation these days, but not all are the same. So what should you look for when choosing software for your business? Make sure all these checkboxes are checked.
Make sure it has a global presence
Do you do business abroad or are you planning to enter new markets? Choose a platform that is present in as many markets as possible. In this case, Gleematic has been present to help companies across Asia. You can see our customers here.
Make sure it supports local requirements
A growing number of countries require invoices to be sent electronically and through local centers or platforms. Make sure you meet these requirements. In this case, Gleematic team can help you in the language you work in. We have representatives in Singapore, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.
Distribution in all formats
Most businesses have switched to some form of digital billing. Make sure your software can read and process invoices regardless of the format, even if they are printed. In this case, Gleematic has a built-in OCR and can read semi-structured data or even unstructured data.
Seamless integration
Finally, AR Automation should be able to easily integrate with your ERP without adding new interfaces and ordering systems. In this case, Gleematic can work with any existing technologies with a very fast and easy integration.
By: Elsa Ajarwati
Attribution: Computer photo created by pressfoto – www.freepik.com
