1. Speed Up Invoice Processing
Automating your cash collection process begins with accelerating invoice processing. Using cutting-edge technology enables quick and accurate invoice creation, approval, and distribution. By reducing manual intervention, you can minimise errors and ensure that invoices reach your customers promptly, facilitating faster payment turnaround.

2. Enhance Payment Visibility
Visibility into your payment process is essential for effective cash collection. The ability to provide real-time tracking and reporting features, allowing you to monitor payment statuses and identify any bottlenecks is crucial. This transparency empowers your team to take proactive measures, improving overall cash flow management.

3. Implement Secure Payment Gateways
Security is paramount when it comes to financial transactions. Ensure secure payment gateways, safeguarding your organisation and customers from potential threats. With encrypted payment channels and compliance with industry standards, you can instill trust and confidence in your payment processes.

4. Minimise Manual Data Entry
Eliminate the time-consuming and error-prone task of manual data entry. Automation tools can seamlessly integrate with your existing systems, reducing the need for manual intervention. This not only increases accuracy but also frees up valuable resources, allowing your team to focus on more strategic tasks.

5. Personalise Customer Communication
Effective communication is key to successful cash collection. Esker empowers you to personalise and automate customer communication, sending tailored reminders and updates. This not only improves customer relationships but also encourages timely payments.

In conclusion, embracing automation in your cash collection process is a strategic move to consider for the new year. By focusing on these five key areas, you can enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and ultimately boost your organisation’s cash flow. Make 2024 the year of streamlined processes and increased success .

Ready to embark on this journey towards a more efficient cash collection process? Contact Esker today to learn more about our cutting-edge automation solutions, and how they can benefit your organisation.

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend

In the intricate tapestry of modern business processes, Procure-to-Pay (P2P) and Source-to-Pay (S2P) stand as pivotal threads, weaving efficiency and transparency into the fabric of procurement strategies. While these terms might sound similar, they denote distinct stages in the procurement lifecycle, each bearing unique characteristics and challenges. In this comprehensive exploration, we delve deep into the realms of Procure-to-Pay and Source-to-Pay, unraveling the intricate differences that set them apart.

As Esker quickly identified the benefit of moving towards a more strategic outlook of procurement, the acquisition plan to bring in Market Dojo’s eSourcing cloud solution was brought in to address the need for structured and digitised processes in procurement. Designed by procurement professionals, Market Dojo’s unique on-demand solution enables users to centralise information, negotiate the best value for goods and services, and select the right suppliers — all without requiring a complex and costly implementation process.

So let’s take a look at what sets both P2P and S2P apart.

Procure-to-Pay (P2P)

Procure-to-Pay encapsulates the entire procurement process, spanning from the initial requisition of goods or services to the final payment. It’s a systematic approach that organisations employ to streamline and automate their procurement activities, ensuring seamless coordination between various departments and stakeholders. The P2P process typically encompasses the following stages:

1. Requisitioning:
The process commences with a requisition, where internal stakeholders identify the need for goods or services. This requisition is then submitted for approval, ensuring alignment with budgetary constraints and organisational policies.

2. Supplier Identification and Evaluation:
Once the requisition is approved, the procurement team identifies potential suppliers. Rigorous evaluation criteria are applied to assess suppliers’ capabilities, quality, pricing, and reliability, ensuring the selection of the most suitable vendor.

3. Purchase Order (PO) Creation:
Upon selecting the vendor, a purchase order is generated. This document outlines the details of the transaction, including quantity, specifications, pricing, and delivery timelines. The PO serves as a legal contract between the buyer and the supplier.

4. Goods Receipt and Inspection:
Upon delivery, the receiving department inspects the received goods or services to ensure they meet the specified requirements. Any discrepancies are documented and addressed with the supplier.

5. Invoice Verification and Payment:
After successful inspection, the received goods or services are matched with the purchase order and invoice. Once validated, the invoice is processed for payment. Timely payment processing is crucial for maintaining healthy supplier relationships.

Source-to-Pay (S2P)

Source-to-Pay, on the other hand, is a broader strategic approach that encompasses not only the procurement process but also strategic sourcing and supplier management. It represents a comprehensive view of procurement, focusing on optimising costs, mitigating risks, and fostering collaboration with suppliers. The S2P process includes:

1. Strategic Sourcing:
Strategic sourcing involves analysing the organisation’s procurement needs, identifying potential suppliers, and negotiating contracts. The goal is to secure the best terms and conditions, ensuring quality and value for money. Strategic sourcing often involves in-depth market analysis and supplier collaboration to drive innovation and competitiveness.

2. Procurement Execution (P2P):
The procurement execution phase in S2P aligns with the traditional Procure-to-Pay process, encompassing requisitioning, supplier identification, purchase order creation, goods receipt, invoice verification, and payment processing.

3. Supplier Performance Management:
S2P places significant emphasis on evaluating and managing supplier performance. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are established to measure suppliers’ quality, delivery timeliness, responsiveness, and adherence to contractual terms. Supplier feedback mechanisms are implemented to foster continuous improvement.

4. Contract Management:
Effective contract management is essential in S2P. Contracts are meticulously drafted, detailing all terms and conditions. Continuous monitoring ensures compliance and facilitates renegotiation or termination if necessary. A well-managed contract landscape enhances transparency and reduces legal and financial risks.

5. Spend Analysis and Optimisation:
S2P incorporates spend analysis tools to scrutinise procurement expenditures. By identifying patterns and opportunities for consolidation, organisations can optimise their spending, negotiate better deals, and enhance overall cost-efficiency.

Key Differences and Significance:

While both Procure-to-Pay and Source-to-Pay involve procurement activities, the primary distinction lies in their scope. P2P focuses on the operational aspects of procurement, emphasising transactional efficiency and accuracy. S2P, on the other hand, adopts a strategic perspective, integrating procurement with sourcing, supplier management, and cost optimisation strategies. S2P provides a holistic view of the procurement lifecycle, enabling organisations to make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and drive long-term value. This is why Esker has made the move to offer a more strategic solution of the procure to pay cycle to organisations looking to increase their strategic outlook which includes sourcing.

In conclusion, understanding the nuances between Procure-to-Pay and Source-to-Pay is crucial for organisations aiming to enhance their procurement processes. By embracing these methodologies in tandem, businesses can achieve a harmonious balance between operational efficiency and strategic foresight, ultimately fostering sustainable growth and competitiveness in the dynamic global market landscape.

Watch the video below for a brief overview of Esker’s Source-to-Pay suite.

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend

The New Era for the Office of the CFO
As we all know, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) provides critical financial leadership for an organisation. The CFO is responsible for creating and executing the financial strategy of the company, as well as managing the financial risks associated with running a business. So with a CFO having such a profound impact on a company’s bottom line it’s essential that they have the right tools at their disposal.

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, the role of the CFO is becoming increasingly critical. CFO’s are responsible for not only managing financial operations but also providing strategic guidance to drive business growth. With the advent of advanced technologies, process automation has emerged as a game-changer for the office of the CFO. By leveraging automation tools, CFO’s can streamline financial processes, enhance efficiency, and unlock a multitude of benefits for their organisations:

Streamlined Financial Operations
Traditionally, financial operations have been burdened with manual tasks, such as data entry, reconciliations, and report generation. These tasks are not only time-consuming but also prone to human error. Process automation enables CFOs to automate repetitive tasks, reducing the risk of errors and freeing up valuable time for finance professionals. By implementing automation, routine processes like invoice processing, expense management, and financial reporting can be streamlined, allowing the finance team to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Enhanced Accuracy and Compliance
The accuracy of financial data is paramount for informed decision-making. However, manual data entry and reconciliation can lead to errors, jeopardising the integrity of financial information. Automation tools eliminate the need for manual intervention, ensuring data consistency and accuracy. By implementing intelligent automation solutions, CFO’s can enforce compliance with financial regulations and internal controls. Automated workflows can be designed to follow predefined rules, flagging potential issues and mitigating compliance risks.

Improved Financial Planning and Analysis
Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) play a vital role in driving organisational growth. However, traditional FP&A processes can be time-consuming and hinder agility. Automation enables CFO’s to gather real-time data from various sources, integrate it seamlessly, and generate accurate and timely reports. By automating budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis, CFO’s can accelerate the decision-making process and provide valuable insights to key stakeholders. This empowers the CFO to make data-driven decisions, optimise resource allocation, and drive strategic initiatives.

Cost and Time Savings
The office of the CFO can benefit significantly from cost and time savings through process automation. By eliminating manual tasks and reducing the need for extensive manual intervention, automation tools reduce operational costs. Finance professionals can utilise their time more efficiently by focusing on value-added activities instead of mundane and repetitive tasks. Additionally, automation enables faster and more accurate financial closing processes, resulting in shorter reporting cycles and improved operational efficiency.

Data-driven Insights and Strategic Decision-making
Data is the lifeblood of the modern business, and CFO’s play a critical role in extracting insights from financial data. Automation tools enable CFO’s to gather, consolidate, and analyse vast amounts of financial data in real-time. This empowers them to identify trends, perform scenario analysis, and make informed, data-driven decisions. By leveraging automation, CFO’s can become strategic advisors to the executive team, offering actionable insights that drive business growth and optimise financial performance.

Embrace the Technology
Unleashing the power of process automation is revolutionising the office of the CFO, offering numerous benefits that enhance efficiency, accuracy, and strategic decision-making. By embracing automation tools, CFO’s can streamline financial operations, improve compliance, and generate valuable insights from financial data. Moreover, automation enables cost and time savings, freeing up finance professionals to focus on more strategic initiatives. As technology continues to advance, the CFO’s role will continue to evolve, and embracing process automation will be crucial for success in the digital age.

Esker’s Worldwide Chief Operating Officer, Emmanuel Olivier, recently delivered a presentation on the future of the digital CFO: Being an architect of value, strategy and resilience, at the Gartner® CFO & Finance Executive Conference 2023

Contact us for more information

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend

As a keen amateur cyclist, I ride between 8-10,000 kilometres per year, so I can understand a little about what it must take to plan, prepare and participate in one of the most difficult challenges in the sporting calendar – the Tour de France!

How does this equate to drawing parallels to the use of AI and RPA technologies in the order-to-cash process?

Well, in the exhilarating race of the order-to-cash process, where businesses strive to swiftly convert orders into cash, two powerful allies have emerged to conquer the challenging terrain: artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA). They are the dynamic duo that resembles the teamwork and determination seen in the prestigious Tour de France. Let’s dive into this analogy to understand how AI and RPA are revolutionising order-to-cash automation.

Imagine a bustling start line at the Tour de France, where teams of cyclists eagerly await the race ahead. Just like these cyclists, businesses have teams dedicated to the order-to-cash process, consisting of departments such as sales, finance, and customer service. Their goal is to efficiently process orders, generate invoices, and collect payments.

At the forefront of the peloton, we have AI, the leader of the pack. AI acts as the brain of the operation, leveraging its machine learning capabilities to analyse vast amounts of data. Similarly, in the order-to-cash process, AI can examine customer information, transaction history, and market trends, providing valuable insights that fuel smart decision-making.

AI’s intelligence comes to life as it anticipates customer behaviour, predicts demand patterns, and identifies potential risks. Just like a skilled cyclist, AI navigates the road ahead, enabling businesses to make informed choices that optimise the order-to-cash process. It ensures the right products are available at the right time, minimises inventory costs, and maximises customer satisfaction.

Now, let’s turn our attention to RPA, the trusty support team behind AI. RPA is akin to the support crew that follows cyclists, tirelessly working behind the scenes to provide assistance. With its automation capabilities, RPA eliminates repetitive, rule-based tasks that often burden the order-to-cash process. Just as the support team relieves cyclists from mundane duties, RPA frees up valuable human resources, allowing employees to focus on more strategic activities.

RPA pedals its way through the order-to-cash journey, seamlessly integrating systems and applications. It captures data, validates orders, generates invoices, and even initiates payment reminders. By automating these tasks, RPA accelerates the entire process, reducing errors and enhancing efficiency. It ensures a smooth relay between departments, enabling information to flow swiftly, just like a well-coordinated cycling team.

As the race intensifies, the collaboration between AI and RPA becomes even more crucial. AI’s ability to analyse data, combined with RPA’s automation prowess, creates a formidable force that conquers obstacles in the order-to-cash course. Together, they spot anomalies in payments, flag potential risks, and even propose optimised pricing strategies.

Much like a well-orchestrated cycling team, AI and RPA synchronise their efforts to achieve a common goal: enhancing the order-to-cash process. By reducing manual errors, increasing speed, and improving decision-making, they propel businesses to the finish line faster than ever before.

In this thrilling race, businesses leveraging AI and RPA gain a competitive edge. They harness the power of technology to transform their order-to-cash process into a well-oiled machine. By seamlessly blending human expertise with automation, they can focus on building strong customer relationships, expanding their reach, and accelerating revenue generation.

Just as the Tour de France showcases the triumph of teamwork and determination, AI and RPA bring order-to-cash process automation to new heights. They are the champions of efficiency, accuracy, and agility, propelling businesses towards success in the exhilarating race of modern commerce.

Read more about how you could leverage the benefits of AI and RPA in your order-to-cash process!

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend

As the global economic turmoil continues to challenge even the most positive of people within the Accounts Payable (AP) department, the ever-increasing difficulties of feeling totally overworked has already seen many people ‘burnout’.

As the work pressures continue to build within AP (increased workload under the same working conditions and practices) there now seems to be a new concern with those working on monotonous, repetitive and labour intensive AP tasks which have to be completed over and over again throughout the day. Those working on these types of boring manual processes are now known to be suffering from work ‘boreout’.

So what does this mean for those workers suffering from ‘boreout’ and what are the effects upon the AP department and the company as a whole?

Well, according to the Udemy Workplace Boredom Study¹, those bored at work are causing decreased productivity rates for an organisation, leading to higher costs, fewer growth opportunities and having a negative impact on company culture.

How can you spot if your AP Team are bored and stopping your company from being as productive as possible?

There are four key areas:

1. Manual Data entry

The majority of tasks performed by the AP department is repetitive, such as manually entering data and invoice verification. This means more opportunities for mistakes to be made and even greater errors due to peak periods such as month-end closing.

2. Invoice Approvals

When manual AP processes involve the same task to approve invoices then this quite often leads to lost invoices or delays in approvals. This can then lead to disagreements with suppliers which can further induce yet more stress to an already overworked department.

3. Matching Process

Incoming invoices need to be matched with the corresponding POs and goods receipts. However, this process quite often involves multiple different departments taking a long time to complete. Should the sales increase, then the volume of work will too. This leads to possible new team members having to be taken on and trained by existing members, who are already exhausted by trying to manage their own monotonous workloads.

4. Performance Indicators

The number of invoices that contain PO references, reception methods, or other KPIs like Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) remain obscured when undertaken by tedious manual, paper-based processes. The repercussions of this means depriving staff from understanding their own performance, and thus not being able to identify in what ways they can improve their personal development, in achieving a better performance. Also not knowing the performance of the business as a whole, can cause problematic repercussions.

So what can be done?

Well, quite simply, these boring, repetitive and manually intensive paper-based processes can be automated.

Automating the many AP processes within an organisation can bring the real focus back to what leads to the success of the business – its employees!

Automation shouldn’t be seen as a way to replace workers completing monotonous tasks, but rather a way to enable them to spend more time on helping those that are most important to the business surviving and thriving – its customers!

So how can automation help?

1. Eliminates the boring AP tasks

AP automation speeds up the AP process and reduces the errors of some of the most common of AP tasks. This leads to AP staff becoming free from the mundane tasks that cause ‘boreout’ and have more opportunities for internal skills to be enhanced and to make advances in their careers.

2. Using analytics to empower your team

With intelligent dashboards, real-time KPIs can allow AP teams to produce their own metrics with customisable reports. This can enable a more strategic view of tasks and actions required to further empower them in their daily activities.

3. Nurture collaboration

Online supplier portals and mobile apps let AP staff converse more easily internally (with colleagues) and externally (with suppliers), freeing up time for higher value tasks within the AP department.

So, although the AP processes can be fraught with tasks that are tedious and time consuming, leading to boredom and feeling underwhelmed within their roles, automation can be the key to giving them the opportunity to rectify this, quickly and easily.

From eliminating boring tasks, understanding key metrics more clearly and being able to concentrate on more value-added tasks, AP teams can feel a greater sense of achievement, empowerment and satisfaction.

You can read more in our eBook: Beating AP Boreout: How to re-engage your team with automation

¹ 2016 Udemy Workplace Boredom Study, Battling Boredom Blues: How to Engage Today’s Workers. Udemy for Business (2016).

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend

Over more than 35 years, Esker has always endeavoured to find better ways for organisations to communicate with each other and overcome barriers that quite often make business difficult to conduct. So when times of adversity strike the business world they require the reassurance that they can carry on regardless, or probably more importantly, learn ways to improvise, adapt and overcome such hardships, as and when presented.

Esker has always tried to encourage organisations to adopt the obvious advantages of streamlining processes and automating repetitive manual tasks, that add little to no value to an organisation’s ability to effect its bottom line growth. However, as we have seen with historic economic turmoil, it is simply not enough to just focus purely on your own survival by concentrating solely on scrutinising financial gains. Now, more than ever, with the increased symbiotic relationship between organisations, their customers, suppliers and partners becoming even more intertwined through common, shared challenges, it’s imperative to develop harmonious business ecosystems.

One way to do this is through the power of collective effort. If organisations start to understand each other better and the different working practices are adopted, then they will all begin to enable positive sum growth. Once people within organisations understand this, then processes can be changed to bring advantages to all business relationships involved. Inevitably this must also be aligned with having ‘the right tools for the job’ and making sure that they are correctly aligned as necessary. This can be achieved by looking both internally and externally at the technologies used.

Esker has always been at the forefront of simplifying business transactions between organisations through the development of the latest technologies. Our goals have always been to help streamline business processes, eliminate non-value added manual tasks as well as improve interdepartmental communication and the relationships between different stakeholders, through digitally transforming an organisation’s transactional operations.

This has now extended beyond that of the internal coercion of people, process and technology to a much wider ecosystem. Every action and reaction now has a direct impact on the way business is conducted and influenced, whether that’s giving you the ability to communicate with your suppliers 24/7 or allowing your customers to engage with you, how and when they wish to (or indeed not at all, through the increased use of self-service portals).

Furthermore, if an expectation is set to create a culture of continuous value, then the benefits will be maximised throughout every area of business with everyone involved all pursuing a utopian business excellence, from employees, customers, suppliers and partners feeling valued, understood and engaged.

I look forward to the coming years to see how business relationships continue to embrace a more harmonious view of working together (especially through turbulent times) and understand the ways in which Esker can help to enhance this through our end-to-end, process automation solutions.

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend

The first event described as “Everesting” was by the grandson of mountain climber George Mallory who ascended Mount Donna Bufrang in 1994, having ridden 8 repeats of the 3,507 feet hill.

Since then over 2,000 other cyclists have taken on the challenge and completed the same feet of endurance on other hill climbs all over the world.

However, with a failure rate of 90%, why haven’t more succeeded?

On the face of it, the challenge seems almost too much to endure in a single day but with the right amount of planning, preparation and a focus on taking bite-sized chunks, the task can be achieved.

Similar to any large-scale business decision that an organisation considers taking, with many perceived fears, uncertainties and doubts, it‘s only by understanding all of the elements for the required outcome, can you truly succeed.

Therefore, when looking at trying to improve the Order-to-cash or Procure-to-pay cycles you must decide on which particular area of the business you wish to concentrate on first. Then once chosen, focus all of your attention on reaching your required objective before moving on to the next area.

This way you can have the ability to not only prove the model works but also be flexible enough to have the agility to be able to change if required.

This is exactly what we try to promote to our customers at Esker. With our agile approach, we give the customer the flexibility to not only have control over the management of the project but also to be able to change it quickly, and with consummate ease, if something is not working as expected.

So, just as I had a fixed plan to achieve my objective, to reach the equivalent height of Mount Everest, it was only down to my approach to handle it in smaller chunks (of time and necessary refuelling stops), with the ability to be agile, that allowed me to overcome any unforeseen difficulties and choose the optimal route to succeed.

To understand more about agile working practices, take a look at: https://www.esker.co.uk/business-needs/challenge/agile-global-operations/

For more information on my charity cycling challenge visit:  https://www.justgiving.com/companyteams/everestingsam

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend

We increasingly hear that the next industrial revolution of robotic process automation, machine learning and AI is upon us and with this in mind, a certain amount fear, uncertainty and doubt seems to have set in. Just as history has shown with the very first industrial revolution, many people initially opposed this change due to the fear of large-scale manufacturing leading to the deskilling and replacement of the workforce.

Of course, some work practices were replaced and lower quality items initially produced but for the large majority it actually meant a surge in workforce employment and improved practices to supply the increased demand for goods. In fact, one study from Gartner Research states that while 1.8 million jobs will be lost by 2020, 2.3 million new ones will be created.

So, we should probably embrace the new industrial revolution and view it as a positive step towards improving our work and lifestyles yet further. Yes, there may well be some short-term implications concerning job replacement but in the end, the impact will be minimal just as it was with the first industrial revolution.

Therefore, following our own philosophy at Esker, whereby we embrace technological advancements such as AI to enhance the way our customers can go beyond business as usual, we have been pleasantly reassured to continue our investment in the development of such solutions.

For example, one area in which we help organisations to improve their business practices through these technological advancements is the processing of incoming customer orders. When an order arrives in the system, the data is automatically extracted with machine learning and any exceptions are flagged for review.

Approvals are then made through an automated workflow with accurate order data integrated into the ERP system. A copy is then archived for a complete electronic audit trail. Custom dashboards display data like the number of open issues or processing time, while a customer portal allows for orders to be placed from an online catalogue and for staff to quickly communicate with customers.

This allows benefits to be quickly realised, such as increasing the accuracy and efficiency of the processed data as well as improving the visibility of the workload. The result of these benefits does not diminish the skills of the workforce as perhaps perceived, but actually enables them to allocate more time to assisting customers and providing a better overall customer experience.

With this, plus the various seminars and events I’ve attended over the past few months, I have been further reassured that this new era is not the apocalyptic end to the way we do business and won’t see humans being the puppets on the strings of a far superior robotic mind intent on taking over the world!

The fact is that technological advancements should be embraced and be viewed as a positive move towards enhancing our current working practices, improving the business world and making our lives even more positively interconnected to reap the rewards it will bring.

Written by Sam Townsend – Esker Head of Marketing, Northern Europe

Sam Townsend

Sam is Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe and has been part of the Esker family since 2003.

Read more insights from Sam Townsend