In the ever-changing landscape of business, characterised by disruptions like supply chain challenges, inflation, and economic uncertainty, finance leaders find themselves grappling with a daunting reality. What keeps them awake at night are not transitory obstacles, but a “new normal” that demands adaptability and innovative strategies.

In the face of these trials, one fundamental human trait comes to the forefront: hope. This isn’t just wishful thinking; it’s a beacon that guides us toward a better future, however faint that vision may be. Hope acts as a catalyst, motivating us to set goals and chart a path towards progress. As we implement these goals step by step, we witness small successes that fuel our determination and spur us to establish new milestones.

Doing Nothing is Not An Option

The Cost of Inaction:
The consequences of maintaining the status quo are stark. When Finance teams cling to traditional practices, a sequence of adverse outcomes unfolds: difficulties in collections, heightened credit risks, talent attrition, and mounting customer frustration. Collectively, these factors lead to dwindling profit margins. To flourish amidst these challenges, proactive measures, strategic shifts, and an embrace of change are essential.

Navigating the New Normal:
Adapting to the “new normal” necessitates a multi-faceted approach. A key aspect is optimising operations to curtail and mitigate credit risk. This entails streamlining the invoice-to-cash (I2C) process and establishing robust collections mechanisms. Notably, involving various departments such as Sales, Finance, and Logistics amplifies the impact. Faced with market indicators, businesses are turning to automation solutions that enhance credit risk assessment and cash collections processes. The push for these solutions, which bridge the gap between internal silos (such as multiple ERPs and CRMs) and external connections (AP/customers and regulatory portals), is evident.

Addressing Labour Market Challenges:
In the current labour landscape, securing qualified talent for roles laden with repetitive, manual tasks is a growing struggle. Read on for five pivotal tips aimed at empowering AR managers to evaluate their firm’s cash collections process and prepare for impending uncertainties.

Adapting to the New Normal: 5 Tips to Light Up Your AR Process

1. Reinforce Your Credit Risk Management:
A recent European Payment report underscores that late payments hinder growth for 41% of businesses interviewed, while 26% state that late payments imperil their very survival. Continuously assessing customer credit risk empowers dynamic adjustments to the collections process and informs broader business decisions. This entails simplifying customer onboarding processes and staying attuned to risk statuses via alerts and regular assessments.

2. Be Pragmatic with Payment Collection:
With global analyses revealing that 43% of invoices are paid late, and 7% of invoice balances are entirely written off, a pragmatic approach to collections is imperative. Aligning strategies with fact-based, measured figures enables flexibility in response to shifting customer circumstances or receivables situations. Key factors include monitoring customer credit risk status, payment behaviours, and the adaptability of collections procedures.

3. Connect Your AR Team to the Business Environment:
Prioritising consistent cash flow requires a cross-departmental collaboration that demands the right infrastructure. Ensuring alignment necessitates connecting all information flows—from internal teams involved in the I2C process to external stakeholders such as credit bureaus, insurers, and the broader business ecosystem. This fosters seamless collaboration and enhances internal visibility.

4. Pay Attention to Details: Small Things Matter:
While small discrepancies might seem trivial, their cumulative impact can be substantial. Recognising that habits can take root, it’s crucial to proactively address minor issues, particularly in the context of market volatility and inflation. This includes tracking invalid deductions, carefully managing small receivables amounts, and observing payment trends.

5. Keep Your Staff Happy:
Undoubtedly, employees are a company’s most valuable asset. To foster employee satisfaction and retention, provide tools that optimise visibility, efficiency, and morale. By removing disorganisation and monotonous tasks, businesses can better attract and retain talent, fostering a positive feedback loop that reduces turnover and underscores the company’s core mission.

Hope for a Resilient Future

As the world shifts into the digital age, it’s clear that antiquated methods—like relying on spreadsheets and phone calls—are inadequate. Just as we’ve left behind hourglasses in favour of digital timekeeping, embracing modern tools is paramount for efficient cash collections. Strategic investments in digital infrastructure, particularly AI-boosted I2C automation solutions, enable businesses to navigate evolving landscapes with agility. In a landscape of uncertainty, it’s those willing to innovate, adapt, and invest in the right tools who will thrive. So, despite the challenges that lie ahead, embracing hope and implementing solid steps will help illuminate the path toward a resilient future.

Esker’s Accounts Receivable solution suite is ideal for AR leaders wanting to accelerate cash collection and revenue recognition. Powered by Esker Synergy AI, it can be easily scaled to optimise and connect each step of the invoice-to-cash (I2C) process — improving overall efficiency, visibility and collaboration. The result is not only reduced DSO, but an enhanced experience for every user.
Contact us today and request a demo!

Claire Barker

As Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Claire is responsible for generating leads for Esker's business process solutions specifically within the area of Accounts Receivable through a variety of marketing channels. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

Read more insights from Claire Barker

Many accounts receivable and credit managers understand the advantages that Accounts Receivable (AR) automation has to offer. But it’s not as easy as simply selecting a provider and implementing a solution. Before an AR solution can hit the ground running, a critical hurdle must be cleared; getting buy-in from senior management and key stakeholders!

Today’s ever-evolving business landscape demands that executive management focus their attention on streamlining business functions as much as possible. This places greater emphasis on things like cash flow, reporting and analytics, regulatory compliance, and customer retention.

As a result, members of the C-suite have a greater interest in the purchasing of solutions related to financial and administrative functions. It’s the responsibility of AR and credit managers to demonstrate how automation will not only modernise the AR department, but translate into benefits for the entire organisation.

This is where the business case comes in, providing justification for undertaking the project and presenting the benefits, costs and risks of alternative options. Finally, it provides a rationale for the preferred solution.

By building a well-thought-out business case for AR automation, AR and credit managers will dramatically increase their probability of convincing the C-suite of the project’s value and importance and getting the green light to proceed.

But where to start? Read on…

Before you begin building your business case, take time to consider these four key questions and determine your key requirements for AR automation:

Ready to start?

Here are 5 key elements to include in a winning business case:

• An executive summary that concisely delivers the urgency in addressing specific issues, how it will be done, and what benefits will be realised in addition to the costs of inaction.
• A risk assessment, which identifies and mitigates key risks to the business.
• Defined project roles, responsibilities and established accountabilities agreed with each stakeholder. Laying out roles and responsibilities in a Responsibility Assignment Matrix — also known as a RACI matrix — specifically and clearly sets the project up for success.
• A timeline for project execution and implementation.
• Defined benefits and metrics to measure success. Include a cost benefit analysis based on easily defensible assumptions, accurate numbers and includes potential impact on the bottom line. Consider that benefits can encompass more than the ‘hard’ benefits and there are often many ‘indirect’ benefits that are not part of a potential project’s budget.

Soft benefits can be any positive factor that arises from carrying out the project. Whilst sometimes difficult to define, soft benefits can be extremely valuable and indirectly contribute to financial gain i.e. increasing workplace flexibility and improving employee morale contributes to lower attrition and a reduction in recruitment and training costs.

To learn more about how to build a great business case, the stages of strategic value that AR automation can deliver and how (when done well), AR automation impacts the bottom line. Hear more about this, view our recorded webinar.

Or, for more detail you can download the whitepaper to gain valuable insights on constructing a winning business case for AR automation.

Claire Barker

As Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Claire is responsible for generating leads for Esker's business process solutions specifically within the area of Accounts Receivable through a variety of marketing channels. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

Read more insights from Claire Barker

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, today announced in partnership with Grant Thornton Italy, that The Space Cinema, a leading cinema operator in Italy, is automating its accounts payable (AP), expense management and accounts receivable (AR) processes with Esker.

The partnership with Grant Thornton, a preeminent audit, tax and advisory firm, has provided pivotal support to the successful rollout of Esker’s solutions for The Space Cinema. The expertise of Grant Thornton’s consulting services played a central role in the development and management of Esker’s solutions. This successful collaboration accompanied The Space Cinema on its digital transformation journey by automating key financial processes.

Together, these three companies have achieved tremendous gains in efficiency, time, and cost. With Esker providing innovative solutions, Grant Thornton enhancing its consulting offer and The Space Cinema committing to digital automation processes, this partnership lays the groundwork for future projects in additional business departments.

“Teamwork is always a winning strategy. The professional relationship we have established and nurtured with The Space Cinema over the years is based on open communication, dialogue and mutual appreciation,” said Giovanni Gavioli, Managing Director at Esker Italy. “We are able to deliver the best solutions to meet our customers’ needs thanks to quality relationships, close collaboration and shared goals.”

The Space Cinema has achieved numerous benefits, including:

•           Improved AP and AR processes with AI-based intelligent data recognition

•           Decreased workload with touchless processing

•           Optimised electronic workflow

•           Seamless multi-ERP integration

•           Enhanced control over business expenses

According to Alessandro Leone, COO at Grant Thornton Digital: “Automating business processes through the adoption of an AI-based engine is a goal for many businesses worldwide. I am proud to say that we have made this a reality and our great results have been achieved through a true partnership between The Space Cinema, Grant Thornton and Esker. Each party brought passion and technical expertise to the project to ensure it was a real success.” 

The Space Cinema’s digital transformation was accomplished in three phases. In 2011, the company implemented Esker’s on-premises Accounts Payable solution to achieve greater visibility of its supplier invoicing process, before moving to a cloud model in 2021. Based on the success of the first project the company introduced Esker’s Accounts Receivable solution in 2018 to automate another substantial part of its accounting processes. And in 2021, The Space Cinema added Esker’s Expense Management solution to efficiently manage its employees’ expenses.

“Our partnership with Esker now spans over a decade, and their expertise in AI technology and touchless processing, enabled us to greatly improve our AP and AR processes which also created more time for our teams to devote to higher value activities,” said Gianpiero Nese, Finance Director at The Space Cinema. “Esker has also enabled us to keep employee expenses under control while simultaneously helping us improve our sustainability, as we no longer need to print and store thousands of expense reports.”

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

Read more insights from Esker UK

Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, announces that it has been selected by Sanden International (Europe) GmbH, a manufacturer of automotive and electrical equipment to some of the world’s leading companies, to automate the processing of its accounts payable, accounts receivable and procurement documentation through AI-driven technologies.

Implemented as a cloud service, Esker’s Accounts Receivable (AR) Accounts Payable (AP) and Procurement automation solutions have given Sanden International (Europe) GmbH the ability to streamline its accounting and procurement processes and benefit from eliminating manual inefficiencies.

Sanden International (Europe) GmbH was keen to streamline its AR processes and wanted to create a web portal to help facilitate communications initially between themselves and their customers. This would allow real-time joint visibility and access online to any invoice status, plus, freeing up internal financial and IT resources dedicated to managing this process. 

Also, having the ability to automatically send invoices in customer-preferred formats (either paper or electronic), reduce internal support for AR invoice delivery, archiving invoices and associated documents, would all be of benefit, as well as the advantages gained by being able to easily adapt when more customers adopt electronic invoicing.

Having implemented the solution quickly and realising the benefits to be gained, Sanden International (Europe) GmbH soon turned its focus to the AP function to see if this could also be improved through automation. Like many organisations, Sanden International (Europe) GmbH experienced slow invoice processing times because of manual routing and sign-off requirements, reduced accuracy with manual data entry, a lack of visibility as to whether an invoice had been received, processed or paid, and the difficulty of retrieving manually stored invoices.

Esker was able to allow Sanden International (Europe) GmbH to automatically capture, route and prioritise its invoices according to predefined rules matched to particular attributes on the invoice, such as supplier, amount, buying entity, etc. Intelligent data capture would then extract the information for multi-level approval across multiple European countries, including mobile approvals. Upon the data being validated, this was then pushed into their SAP system automatically. Once the invoice was paid, the invoice status was updated before an electronic copy of the original document image, corresponding audit trail and history of modifications were created, should the information be required at a later date. 

The Finance General Manager, Sanden International (Europe) GmbH, says, “The benefits of having a single platform to manage three key business processes were huge. We gained faster response times to invoice status calls, improved accuracy of our data entry, less time required to process invoices with automated and mobile multi-level approval, as well as increased visibility and heightened security with electronic archiving”.

Sanden International (Europe) GmbH will also use the Esker Procurement solution which allows different departments (e.g., purchasing, accounting, marketing, etc.) and different users (e.g., requester, budget owner, buyer, manager, etc.) to better manage indirect purchasing through an automated workflow. Every spend gets the required authorisation and every invoice can be matched with a purchase order (PO) all of which generally takes place outside of the ERP system. Any business, regardless of order volume or number of employees, can automate its entire purchasing cycle in a relatively short period of time.

“This allows us to control our budgets in real-time with greater process control and more efficient cash flow management. It’s great to have these key processes automated, using a single cloud solution”.

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

Read more insights from Esker UK

Here’s a quick rundown of how Esker can automate the areas of AR that matter most to your business;

Manage your customer credit risk
Esker’s automated Credit Management solution optimises the entire credit approval and risk monitoring process, empowering credit teams with actionable data to make the best credit decisions possible. By transforming credit management into a more secure and efficient process, revenue is secured and customers are prevented from slipping through the cracks.

Deliver invoices efficiently
Our Invoice Delivery software solution was designed to automate the delivery and archiving of customer invoices via any media (e.g, paper, e-invoices, EDI, etc.) — all without forcing your customers to change or sacrifice compliance and all while providing real-time visibility into invoice delivery status.

Collect cash intelligently
Thanks to automated collections, all your AR-related documents can be automatically generated and sent according to your rules and/or your customer preferences. Meanwhile, tasks requiring action are automatically assigned to the right person at the right time — it’s that easy!
What’s more, enhanced collections capabilities ensure that your customers’ payment habits are permanently analysed to provide predictions on invoice most likely pay dates, priority customers to contact, accurate AR collections forecasts and more.

Quickly process claims and deductions
Esker’s Claims & Deductions automation solution helps businesses efficiently manage their claims and protect margins. Thanks to Al-driven data capture and electronic workflow capabilities, Esker manages both customer claims associated with products (product shortage, damaged products etc.) and customer financial deductions (e.g. trade and promotional invoices etc.)

Simplify payment
To get paid quickly, today’s businesses need online payment capabilities at different steps of the order-to-cash process — pre-order, deposit, at the due date or during the collection process. Thanks to Esker’s advanced online payment capabilities, your customers will have no reason not to pay and can even benefit from early payment discounts by paying before the due date.

Accelerate cash application
Managing multiple payment sources and formats (e.g. banks, lock boxes, emails, PDFs), not to mention the different levels of data in each document, can be a real pain for AR teams trying to allocate cash in a timely and effective manner. Esker’s AI engine automates the manually intensive process of matching payments received from all incoming payment information sources so your team can focus on higher value tasks and control cash flow in real time.

To find out more about how Esker’s automation solutions can optimise your AR processes download our new eBook here.

Here at Esker we know a ‘one size fits all’ approach to process automation doesn’t work, so whether you’re focused on a specific area of AR, or looking for a seamlessly integrated end-to-end automation solution contact us today, we’d love to hear from you!

Claire Barker

As Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Claire is responsible for generating leads for Esker's business process solutions specifically within the area of Accounts Receivable through a variety of marketing channels. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

Read more insights from Claire Barker

I wonder if, many years ago, the way of collecting payments from customers involved someone riding their bicycle from customer to customer to ensure payment was received in full? Or have I just been watching too much Call The Midwife?

Even now Collections Management can still be a long, complex and frustrating process. Unpaid invoices, late payments, time wasted on collection calls and emails are a cyclist’s equivalent of pedalling squares¹; punctures, gear issues and the ultimate pain of falling off your bike!

For Trek Bicycle, the largest bicycle company in the US, the Global Director of Financial Services, Andrew St Clair, said, “We didn’t have a standardised collections tool before Esker. Everyday tasks, like sending reminder letters, were all done manually… there was no real consistency in our process.”

With automated Collections Management, Trek Bicycle achieved:

• Reduced past-due percentage by 4%
• Improved productivity; several staff members were able to be reallocated to more business-critical positions
• Higher satisfaction; customers now have access to a self-service portal to make payments, manage preferences and more
• Reduced Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
• Improved collaboration; users can now go into Esker, choose an invoice and assign tasks to other departments (e.g., cash application, etc.)
• Enhanced visibility; customisable monthly management reports can be accessed directly from the dashboard

Automating the management of the collections process is the cycling equivalent of souplesse²; to cycle with high cadence and ease. Or perhaps, even, for those of us who are slightly lazy, a ride on the back of a tandem with someone else pedalling extremely fast in front, or an electric bike?

Summed up by Andrew St Clair at Trek Bicycle, “The discipline that Esker drives in the credit and collections process is phenomenal. In my 20-plus years, it’s the best product I’ve ever used based on its simplicity and ease of navigating.”

You can find out more about Esker’s Collections Management solution here. Or alternatively, I’d love to hear from you, and to help you on your journey to Collections success.

_{¹ Pedalling squares means the cyclist is floundering, pushing a big gear with no élan and generally struggling, https://cyclinguphill.com/cycling-terms-explained/
² Souplesse means to pedal at a high cadence and with seeming ease, https://cyclinguphill.com/cycling-terms-explained/}

Johanne Musson

Johanne is an Internal Account Manager for Esker UK. She has been part of the Esker family since 2022.

Read more insights from Johanne Musson

It’s an age-old saying, but cash really is the lifeblood of any business. It’s what enables businesses to cover their day-to-day costs and ultimately keep trading. It’s also essential to fund investments and ensure future growth.

So it’s obvious that cash should be collected from customers as quickly as possible, but it also needs to be allocated to customer accounts quickly to maintain an accurate view of your accounts receivable (AR) situation and ensure the smooth running of of your entire order-to-cash process.

At a time when many AR teams are focused on collecting cash, it can be easy to miss opportunities to identify and address shortfalls in their cash allocation processes.

This short test will help you make a quick and accurate ‘health assessment’ of your cash allocation processes. Find out in 6 questions how many common symptoms you could be suffering from!

Take the test now

If your business could benefit from improving its cash application process, it might be time to consider automating. Esker’s Cash Application automation solution allows businesses to quickly eliminate routine tasks in the cash allocation process by auto-matching all types of incoming payments to open invoices.

Additionally, Esker’s recognition engine intelligently captures remittance data to provide 3-way matching and accurate reconciliation. As a result, team members can focus on exceptions, cash is allocated faster, and businesses benefit from optimised cash flow, receivables visibility and collections efficiency.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how automation can improve the health of your cash application processes, contact us today!

Claire Barker

As Marketing Specialist for Esker UK, Claire is responsible for generating leads for Esker's business process solutions specifically within the area of Accounts Receivable through a variety of marketing channels. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

Read more insights from Claire Barker

When it comes to collecting customer cash, efficiency can make all the difference. That’s where Esker comes in. By automating what can be automated in the AR process via our AI-driven solution, your team is free to focus on the activities that really matter to the business — customer relationship building and optimising cashflow.

We asked Esker’s own Finance and Administration Department how they use Esker’s solutions, and how this is benefitting both Esker and our customers.

A discussion between Esker’s Head of Marketing, Sam Townsend, Esker’s HR & Admin Manager, Samantha Carr, and Esker’s Finance and Administration Assistant, Laura Cook.

This discussion is also available as a podcast . Listen here.

ST          Hello everyone, my name’s Sam Townsend, I’m Head of Marketing for Esker Northern Europe, and in today’s podcast session we’ll discuss how Esker uses its own solutions to enable some of the key benefits of automating financial processes within both the order-to-cash and procure-to-pay cycles. For those of you who are a little unfamiliar with Esker, we’ve been developing solutions for more than 35 years now, and our main goal is to unlock the strategic value for finance and customer service professionals, as well as strengthening the collaboration between companies by automating the cash conversion cycle. Basically, in this ever more increasingly uncertain world, companies must build stronger relationships across their eco-systems if they are going to sustain future growth. This is why we always strive to help strengthen those relationships between companies, their suppliers, customers, and employees. So, let’s get started. Today, I’ll be speaking with Samantha Carr, who is the Finance and HR Manager for Esker Northern Europe, and also Laura Cook; Finance and Administration Assistant for Esker Northern Europe. Hello to you both. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedules today. Would you mind just introducing yourselves and telling us a little bit more about your job roles and the functions that you cover?

SC          So I’m the Finance and HR Manager for Esker, started back in 2007, so seen a lot of changes within the business, manage the accounting, HR and Admin functions for the Company, and this primarily involves looking after accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll and management accounting. These are the functions within the accounts that I look after.

ST          Thanks Samantha; and Laura?

LC          Well, I’m Laura, and I’m an Administration Assistant at Esker, and I didn’t join until 2019, so I still consider myself a little bit of a newbie. As well as helping Samantha with the general admin tasks, the main part of my role is looking after the accounts receivable function, so I’d say that’s what I spend 90% of my time doing, focussing on cash collection, liaising with customers.

ST          So, I suppose you’ve got quite a few years of experience. In terms of what you’ve seen, Samantha, over the years with Esker, has that changed over the years, such as those main accounting processes? What are most important to you on a daily basis?

SC          Definitely within the accounting function, I believe that cash collection is one of the most important functions of the business. As Laura’s already said, she dedicates 90% of her time to this role in order to reduce the cash cycle, minimise risk of bad debts, and obviously, increase the cash flow for the business. So, without this cash flow, the business would not be as healthy as it is today, we wouldn’t be able to make future investments, and we also definitely wouldn’t be able to provide the security that we can provide now for our employees. One of the main benefits that we’ve seen is a tool, it’s an Esker solution, and it’s been so valuable in helping us to prioritise and perform these functions.

ST          Okay, that’s good.

LC          So, my daily routine, really, goes as, first thing I’ll do is to check the bank every day to see what cash is coming in, and update all the information. So, once I’ve put the information into SAP, that automatically transfers on within an hour, and then I’ll head there, and to me it is my one-stop-shop for all things cash collection. So, it gives me a dashboard at the start, so, each day it will give me daily tasks to complete. They are organised, they are prioritised, and I’ll action those on a daily basis. Everything I need to do is within the solution, so I can contact customers, I can respond to customer messages, send invoice copies, it sends automatic reminders based on the information we’ve put in, I can send statements, I can create tasks. It really is just a one-stop solution for everything that I need to do.

ST          So does that show, so each morning, do you have a dashboard that you can use?

LC          Yes, so I have a dashboard, and on that dashboard, it’ll tell me any collection calls I need to complete that day, so which customers I need to chase up or follow up with, anything that’s outstanding, anything that’s overdue, which statements I need to send, again, based on the information that it’s got. So, yes, it’s all there for me to action on a daily to-do list.

ST          Right, and do you have full autonomy on what you see? So, you can make changes to that dashboard if you want to?

LC          Absolutely, yes, it’s completely customisable, so you can select the things that you want on there. It’s personalised really to what you want to focus on, it can be amended, and it’s really quite easy to do.

ST          Right. So obviously we talk about the current economic climate, and as we know, a lot of businesses are; it’s so important for them to collect cash. Cash is still king. We still understand that being of prime importance to a business. I was going to ask what the typical process is for using Esker and its Cash Collection, and how that might differ from what was previously used, and ways you collected cash before automation and after. Samantha, do you want to kick off with that one?

SC          Yes, so this was back in my time, when I was doing this role myself. So, it was a very traditional method, it was the pen and paper I’m afraid. There was no connection between the ERP system and the process of cash collection. Everything was recorded on paper or Excel, so you had different solutions going on, which made it not as visible to other members of the team. We were unable to send statements to our customers which is not really good practise for cash collection. So, in total, it was just a more time-consuming process, and much more labour intensive. So, having the solution has enabled us to automate the process, so that now the whole team has complete visibility of the solution and the customers are updated in real time, so you can be checking on them any minute of the day, and obviously with the dashboard as well, we’re able to produce reports, we’re able to have better visibility, and it just gives us a to-do list. So, every day we are given a to-do list of what tasks need to be completed, so it’s just making our time more efficient.

ST          Right.

LC          Following on from that, like Samantha said, it’s that all the information is there and it’s really user friendly, and we can both use it when we need to. So, say I’m on holiday for a week, and Sam’s taking over, she can literally just pick up from where I left off, we’re not having to share email folders and spreadsheets, she can see when I’ve contacted customers, what I’ve said, what the response has been, so it gives that transparency between both of us, to communicate what’s happened, and it’s just so easy to pick up from one person to the next which is great!

ST          I presume that with traditional paper-based processes before, this would be impossible to do really, or it would just take a very long time to collate all that information and then hand it over and then talk about it.

LC          Absolutely, I can only imagine what it would be like if I had to hand all of this over to Sam before I went on holiday. I can just go now and she can see what collection calls need to be carried out whilst I’m away, and also anything that’s been said previously. I think trying to relay all of that information through emails and notes would be very time-consuming so it saves a great deal of time.

ST          So, I guess if we come onto the solution benefits now with automation, we touched upon a few there. Some to kick off with, we hear a lot about customer information management, and certainly Esker has a feature for that, giving you the 360-degree view. How does that work in daily practise? Laura, is that one for you?

LC          Yes, so all of the information we can see is there, it’s user friendly, I can click on an account, I can see the contact details, I can see current invoices if I want to, past invoices. Any communication between myself and the customers is there to see.

ST          Does that show you historical information as well? Can you start to build a picture of the customer?

LC          Absolutely, yes, it can even give you expected payment dates, based on when customers pay, it gives you a good overall view of their payment patterns. So, it flags up to me if there’s an issue, or if this is quite normal for this customer, which then enables us going forward to group our customers into different risk groups, and it builds up that history; it’s very clever really.

ST          And I guess that helps you, Samantha, in terms of reporting and what’s required at that level for our Managing Director, and reports above that?

SC          Absolutely, so just by having this dashboard, we can see at a glance, exactly which customers are over 90 days old, for example. At the click of a button, we can produce a report, we can send that report to any of our account managers, so we can involve other people within the business, and again, it’s great because it means that we can involve non-accounting employees in the process of cash collection very easily, and we can share that information with them, whereas before it was more tricky to do that.

ST          Yes, that’s a great benefit now then that, perhaps before, we’ve heard it where departments were siloed, and don’t have that connectivity between the different departments, certainly within order-to-cash and procure-to-pay. Accounts receivable departments never really spoke to those people who were taking the orders and processing the orders, so I guess that gives you that ability now?

SC          It does, and it’s all about customer relationship, and obviously we can take it so far, but ultimately, it’s the account manager that’s got the absolute relationship with the customer, and if we are struggling to get a payment date, then it’s great that we can call on other members of the team as a whole and include them in the cash collection process.

LC          And again, creating the task for the account manager, they can then see all the dialogue previously that’s gone on with myself and the customer; all the chases I’ve sent. So, instead of me having to type it all up in an email and try to explain what I’ve done, I can create the task and they can then see the chases I’ve already sent and the dialogue, which makes it easier, to have all the information right there.

ST          That’s great! Coming on to the solution, the technology that Esker has been developing over several years in terms of artificial intelligence, and RPA, and we hear these terms now, Robotic Process Automation. With those processes I guess we’re talking about from manual to automated, but then beyond automated, and how those technologies will help the financing function, have you seen any of those advantages already?

SC          It’s definitely time saving.

ST          And what kind of things have you seen there?

SC          Well, definitely from our accounts payable function, I can definitely see some time saving benefits. Now, actually inputting the invoices is a much quicker, streamlined process where the system is able to remember previous inputs that we’ve done so it’s less keying in, the system is remembering more of our actions, so if you are a business that’s got a lot of AP invoices, it’s definitely going to be a time-saving solution for you.

ST          Right, so over time does that start to learn different invoices that are coming in?

SC          Yes it does, so it will learn where to find the date, the format of the date, the narrative of the invoice, and it learns those positions on the invoice, so it means less keying in, and more copying and pasting which is much quicker.

ST          Right, so I suppose it brings us to thinking about your thoughts on tips and tricks for a successful cash collection. We talk about all the different benefits, but is there anything that you’ve found really useful with automation that you think, actually, this is the one thing that has really helped me?

SC          Well, I think that the system is only ever going to be as successful as the information that goes into it. So, I think it’s really important that you review and update your collections strategies as needed. It’s important to make sure that the data is correct, so for example, if you are sending your invoice to a specific person, you need to make sure that the contacts are up to date, as you don’t want to be sending your invoices to an incorrect person. And really to make sure that you are using the system. Once, you’ve got it, make sure that you use it, to get the full benefits from the system. Use your dashboard every day, use that dashboard like a to-do-list, and then you will find that the system will just make your process so much easier. I don’t know if Laura wants to add to that because she’s using it more on a daily basis?

LC          Yes, it’s all about the dashboard. I use my dashboard as my to-do-list and I like to see it clear every day. I find it really satisfying when I see all the ticks going down the side, and I find doing that, it never builds up, so just keeping on top of those daily tasks, and actioning them when you need to keeps on top of it all. I never come on and find that I’ve got 40 collection calls. If I’m doing it every day, like Sam said, inputting all the right data, keeping it up to date, that’s key to it all working smoothly.

ST          And have you found that that has helped with better customer relationships, Laura?

LC          Absolutely, I think so because, as well as that, the system is clever, so it knows when to send reminders, and as much as it’s important to chase things and keep on top of things and communicate, you don’t want to be bombarding and going over on that, so it’s a great tool for building those relationships, definitely. You can also message and respond to messages and emails, so most of my customer dialogue is through this, and that’s part of my daily dashboard, so again, as part of my daily tasks, I will always clear through those messages and keep on top of them, so we’ve not got customers waiting for responses or things getting missed. I can’t miss it. I’m not having to filter it out of my normal emails, it’s there for me to action. So, I definitely think it builds good customer relationships. I think we’ve got really good relationships with our customers to be honest. And again, when they want things; their account statements, their invoice copies, there’s no delay on that, I can send that in seconds. It’s instant, the message is there, it tells me which customer sent me the message, and I can click on there, and click send invoice or send statement, and it’s as quick as that.

ST          Fantastic.

SC          I think, to add to that as well, I mean, definitely within business, I’ve noticed that people prefer dialogue more with messaging rather than the telephone. Before, all of my cash collection was done primarily through telephone, and that was quite a time-consuming process because you didn’t always know if it was the right time to ‘phone that person. Did they have time to talk to you? Were you going to get through to the right person? Whereas now, I find that we get much more communication from our customers because they’re able to respond when they are ready to respond, rather than you are interrupting their day. We get a lot more interaction with the customers now. I think that’s the same with your personal life as well, I think the way the world is at the moment, people prefer the messaging solution rather than the speaking solution.

ST          Yes, and on their own terms.

SC          Exactly! There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a task and someone ‘phones you, and it’s just not the right time because you are right in the middle of doing something that’s quite important or you’ve got a deadline to meet. Whereas, most people will set aside a part of their day where they are actually checking their emails or their messages. They sort of dedicate that time to that, so I think that’s what works better for the cash collection. We do seem to get customers that are much more interactive with us now. Do you find that Laura?

LC          I find that, yes, absolutely, and with the automatic sending out of our reminders and statements, that’s just a way of keeping in check, and then a lot of customers like to get back to us then and give us an update. I suppose, if you weren’t sending those statements, you wouldn’t be getting that update. They can give me an update before the end of the month, and I can then log that note or that update against their invoice. So, then we know what’s happening with that and we don’t have to over-chase them, they can give us the promise to pay, and it’s all really visible. I think if we weren’t doing that, and like Sam said, picking up the ‘phone.

ST          Such a slower process.

LC          Oh gosh, yes, and I think, again, coming back to the visibility element, through the solution I can log any notes and issues, any notes from the account manager. I can log it against accounts and invoices and it’s really easy for me to see. So, when contacting a customer, if, for example, I’ve been given a message from an account manager or I was made aware of a PO problem, I can see what’s happened previously that I’m contacting the customer about, instead of just blindly chasing things. So, I think that’s good in the way of building relationships.

ST          Right. So, sort of instant access to information as well.

LC          Yes. Instead of fishing around looking for it, it’s there, but again, back to the tips and tricks, keeping all information up-to-date is key.

ST          Fantastic. I think that covers most of it. Is there anything else that you wanted to say?

SC          Just about how we measure success, and I suppose every business will measure it differently, but for us, we measure it by looking at the DSO, or Days Sales Outstanding, and obviously we want to keep that figure as near to the standard terms as possible. So, I think the key to all of this is, the shorter the cash cycle, the less risk there’s going to be. And ultimately, we want to maintain good customer relationships whilst we’re achieving our goals.

ST          Excellent. Well, thanks once again for taking the time to join us on this podcast today, and for letting us know about some of the ways in which you’ve benefitted from automating your financial processes with Esker. It’s been really interesting and very much appreciated.

SC/LC    No problem, thank you.

This discussion is also available as a podcast . Listen here.

Esker UK

Unlocking Positive-Sum Growth with AI-Driven Business Solutions for P2P & O2C Cycles

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The recently published Gartner Market Guide for Integrated Invoice-to-Cash Applications acknowledges that “the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the demand for integrated invoice to cash (I2C) applications” [that] “enable organisations to improve their collections processes, drive cash flow and enhance the customer experience.”

We believe that the Gartner report provides finance leaders with market trends and evaluates the key solutions and digital capabilities for optimising I2C processes.

For a second time in less than a year, Esker’s Accounts Receivable suite is recognised among the leading solutions on the I2C market.

We are honoured to be named among the market players in this space, which validates our efforts to continually develop and innovate to advance our customers’ endeavours to drive efficiency in their cash collections processes, enhance customer relationships and keep their employees feeling valued and motivated.

Maud Berger

Maud’s career at Esker has been fully dedicated to Accounts Receivable. After nearly 15 years as Sales Administrator and Credit Manager, Maud brought her AR experience to the Product Manager role to oversee the development of Esker’s AR solution suite. She works closely with R&D in Lyon, France, and Madison, as well as sales and marketing teams worldwide to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction.

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So…. What’s your opening move?

Don’t spend all your time preparing to play. Research by Paystream Advisors shows that companies who use traditional accounting methods such as Excel, or basic ERP functionality in AR do the following;

• Spend 15% of their time prioritising their activities,
• Spend 15% of their time gathering information to make collections
• Spend 20% of their time actually communicating with their customers about payment

In contrast, companies using automated AR solutions do the following;

• Need to spend only as little as 6% of their time prioritising their activities
• Only 6% of their time gathering information for collections calls
• Benefit from spending 62% of their time communicating with their customers about payment.

See all your moves ahead

The receivables ledger is a goldmine of un-tapped opportunity. With the right platform in place, the insight it can give around your customers and their performance will enable businesses to make better decisions. For example;

• External risk and credit limit advice data can often be out of date
• The insight gathered from using a collections platform gives you real-time information on customer payment performance and credit worthiness
• This in turn can enable you to increase credit to customers backed by your own performance statistics, not an external provider
• This enables a closer relationship between sales and credit as well as results in revenue increases to existing customers

Boston Consulting’s research shows that;
‘Companies that deploy Order-to-Cash platforms and re-engineer the process boost revenues by 1% to 3% a year.

Be A Credit Grandmaster!

AR Collections platforms allow credit managers to do what they do best – give them the data to make better decisions and increase revenues whilst managing risk.
Multi-ERP environments are becoming more common with M&A activities. This has resulted in siloed data and increased risk through over exposure to the same customer in multiple systems. Automation platforms help solve this issue by;

• Becoming a single source of truth for AR data – fed by multiple ERP systems
• Allowing processes to be standardised across different systems, regions, shared service centres and GBS function
• Ensuring that debtor performance and risk are combined in the same platform and not in disparate systems
• Allowing credit insurance compliance by providing a full audit trial on dunning activities
• Reducing attrition through removal of mundane manual tasks and increased focus on value added activities

The Results

The results from AR automation speak for themselves.

• 15-30% savings in cost
• 30% reduction in Days Sales Outstanding
• Increase in customer satisfaction
• Up to 90% reduction in un-applied cash

Checkmate To Manual AR Processing

At a time where cash is more vital than ever for organisations, AR automation can unlock cash tied up in receivables, create a stronger balance sheet and make better decisions in un-certain times.

Matt Tipper

Matt Tipper is Partner Manager for Esker UK. He has been part of the Esker family since 2020.

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