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

1. Make it easier for your customer to do business with you
   Offering multiple payment methods — such as credit cards and automatic payments, or an online option for customers to view invoices and statements — provides greater flexibility for the customer and improved cash flow for you. Are you making it easy for your customers to pay and communicate with you?
   
   
2. Tighten up your credit approval
   Are you performing credit evaluations on all new customers? Is your credit policy appropriate and followed by your sales department? Does your customer service department flag new orders that do not have a completed credit application? Do you update credit information on a regular basis?
   
   
3. Sharpen your invoicing process
   Are your invoices accurate and sent on time? Are payment terms and due dates clearly written on invoices and any other communication sent out to the customer? Have billing addresses and accounts payable email addresses been verified before bills are sent out? Do you provide incentives for early payment? Are you sending out automated payment reminders.
   
   
4. Utilise reporting and get to the bottom of root causes
   Are you measuring performance against goals? Do you regularly review aging reports? Are you reporting on collections forecasting? Do you have an understanding as to why customers are paying late (e.g., invoice discrepancies, product issues, etc.)?
   
   
5. Effective and efficient collections
   Do you have a collections process in place? Do employees have the tools they need to prioritise, call and email collection efforts? Do they have enough time to follow up on all past-due accounts? Are they able to efficiently keep sales and customer service in the loop on disputed invoices? Do you consistently follow up on customer disputes and late payments?
   
   
6. Incentivise your customers
   Do you offer incentives, such as early payment discounts? For example, you could offer a discount for paying within 10 days when your payment terms are net 30 days. This discount can be offset by speeding up cash flow, savings on loan fees and discounts from creditors.
   
   
7. Know when to walk away
   No one wants to walk away from a customer, but do you know which customers are routinely inconsistent, unresponsive or continually paying invoices late, despite offering outstanding services? Has your company considered dropping bad customers from your business list? DSO increases are often driven by a few large customers. Has your collection team worked closely with those customers to understand what is driving delays?

DSO is the most commonly used metric utilised by credit and AR professionals to analyse the success of their collection efforts. The more quickly you collect, the better your cash flow situation will be … and even a small improvement to reduce DSO can go a long way!

For even more ways to improve your cashflow situation download our free eBook:
8 Accounts Receivable Management Strategies to make your process Best-In-Class

Or visit our website for more information about our Order-to-Cash solutions.
Or feel free to contact us; our O2C experts would love to help you to transform your O2C processes.

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

These eight strategies are excellent starting points for any business interested in achieving best-in-class accounts receivable management.

1. Embrace technology This strategy is the linchpin that holds the other strategies together. Technology should not be viewed as a threat to existing staff members but instead as a highly specialised member of the team.
2. Track metrics beyond DSO Measuring KPIs beyond DSO enables your team to track performance, give them accountability, and achieve the results they’re searching for.
3. Move to e-invoicing Studies have shown that e-invoicing can result in cost savings between 60% and 80% compared to traditional paper-based methods.
4. Confirm invoice receipts The most common reason customers give for making late payments is never receiving the invoice. Harnessing an automation solution with e-invoicing functionalities means you no longer have to worry about this anymore.
5. Follow up early & often Automation tools allow you to easily receive on-time payments via automatic customised payment reminder emails so that no human involvement is required.
6. Optimise team efficiency As much as one-third of an AR representative’s time may be spent prioritising who to call and searching for their information.
7. Offer self-service tools According to Forrester, around 72% of people prefer self-service over phone or email support.
8. Use root-cause analysis Using automated AR management tools, your team can identify, track and categorise root causes for late-paying customers, disputes and other areas, so you can fix any problems that are making it hard for customers to do business with you.

The great news is this: Any organisation that wants to modernise its accounts receivable process can do so. All it takes is a little help from technology and a willingness to evolve beyond the status quo.

Download the eBook, 8 Accounts Receivable Management Strategies to Make Your Process Best-in-Class, so that, when you’re ready to transform your process, you have all the information you need to be successful.

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

Flexible working

Now more than ever, businesses are recognising the need for tools that enable workplace flexibility. Not necessarily just working from home, although that of course is now a key requirement, but the ability to stay connected whilst travelling, to events or customer/supplier offices is a necessity for many managers and employees. Did you know how automation can address many of the concerns of remote working, enabling AR professionals to stay on top of tasks from almost anywhere?

With data stored in secure cloud-based systems or online portals, critical information can be accessed in a controlled environment by employees from any location without compromising security. Also, with electronic workflows, teams can collaborate in real-time, gain approvals and assign tasks with just a few clicks – and from just about anywhere!

By assigning a checklist of tasks to complete and a dashboard to track progress, managers can rest assured that productivity will not drop, and monitor performance throughout the day.

Improved collaboration

AR automation can dramatically improve the way information is shared within an organisation. This is as vital as ever with more teams employing flexible working practices, but sharing information effectively can also really benefit company performance.

Take the relationship between Sales and Credit Management, for example. It’s one of the most important relationships in an organisation and key to securing lucrative deals with the right customers. The issue here is that it can sometimes feel like these departments are working at odds with one another. Sales can be a highly competitive environment and teams invest great time and effort in identifying and securing new deals. Which is why it can be so frustrating when the credit management department advise stopping a sale in the closing stages. Although when you think about it, is a sale really worth closing if there’s a high chance that you won’t get paid?

AR automation can be leveraged to bring departments closer together, through improved communication and mutual understanding, creating a unified – and formidable – force.

Sales teams benefit from visibility of a customer’s payment behaviour. If a customer is consistently paying late, or not at all, they can hold back from trying to grow a troubled account, or even assist in the communication process to help identify alternative ways to bring cash in more quickly. Conversely, if a customer has favourable credit there may be an opportunity to increase sales without exposure to greater risk. Having visibility of common data means credit teams can conduct initial investigations earlier to ensure that sales are spending valuable time and effort pursuing valid prospects.

Access to customer information 24/7

Customer experience has become the new competitive battleground for business; today’s customers care more than ever about their experience and the ease of which they can do business with a company. Automated AR solutions offer online self-service portals to enhance the customer experience, allowing customers to do everything from view statements and apply credits, to manage online payments or file a dispute.

Having the right technologies in place can ensure organisations can not only meet but exceed their customers’ expectations across the end-to-end AR experience. Instant access to the information that customers need, allows them to serve themselves quickly and accurately, making confusion created by manual processes a distant memory. According to industry research, when customers need support for a product or service, 55% are most likely to try self-service options versus using chat (20%), email (16%) or phone (8%).[i]

End-to-end visibility

Successful AR teams need access to consistent, accurate and real-time information. By moving your customers to e-invoicing you can send invoices regardless of external factors, mitigating the impact of postal service disruption and absenteeism too. In addition, with real time invoice delivery via a portal you can track invoice status from creation to receipt to final payment.
With AR automation, managers and collectors can keep track of critical KPIs with scheduled and custom reports allowing discrepancies and bottlenecks to be addressed quickly. By reporting on specific customer segments (industry, payer rating etc.) dashboards can help assess your own risk exposure and focus your collections efforts where they are needed most.

Savvy sustainability

In an electronic workflow, everything is just that: electronic. No paper, no printers, ink, fax machine, or other costly equipment needed to enable teams to work from home. That means no longer having to rely on all those things being available in order to execute your AR process in the office, either! That’s a huge plus for companies and for our planet. The less material you consume to get a job done, the better for our environment. Plus it’s faster and more efficient!

Watch our 90-second video and discover how AR automation empowers a remote workforce: https://videos.esker.com/watch/eiD5ihMrKQgcJDbYJnPz5S?

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

AR automation allows managers to create, assign and monitor tasks directly from the CRM-like solution, collaborate with your team and co-workers as if you were in the office (minus the free coffee!). It also helps keep stakeholders up-to-date and ensures management can oversee team performance and ensure the collections strategy is correctly adapted to the situation.

Tip 7. Take care of your team!

Maintaining positivity and engagement within the team is not easy when people work remotely from different locations. Why not motivate your team with small challenges on cash collected? Reaching a goal as a team can be a great way to keep them motivated and make them feel part of a team.

Use internal forecast team goals to set up an amount to be collected weekly or monthly. Follow team activity and adjust workload as needed to help those who may be having difficulty.

You can be creative with your goals! Motivate your team with fun challenges. Set up rewards according to the percentage of achievements. If goals are 100% achieved, you can compensate the team when everyone’s back in the office!

For more tips on how you can effectively manage your AR process in challenging times download our eBook now  https://info.esker.com/eBookAR7Tips

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 can help you to ensure your customers transition smoothly to e-invoicing and automate your invoice delivery process to meet both customer and compliance requirements.

Tip 4. Facilitate customer payments

In order to help customers who are struggling with cash flow, you may have to extend payment terms. Or, if you’re having cash flow issues, you may wish to offer early payment discounts to help motivate customers to pay you in advance. Anything that can help you get your cash back in is welcome.

Offering your customers the ability to renegotiate payment terms and/or spread their debt with you over a longer time period, helps create a relationship where customers are more likely to meet their payment obligations and, in turn, your business eventually secures revenue. Additionally, by providing early payment discounts to customers who are able to pay earlier, you maintain a healthy cash flow. By being customer-focused and easy to deal with, your customers will most likely want to do more business with you in the future.

Esker AutoPay plans give customers longer payment terms and you are more likely to receive payment at each installment due date — a win-win situation for both you and your customers.

For more tips on how to effectively manage your AR process in challenging times download the eBook https://info.esker.com/eBookAR7Tips

Continue reading our 7 Tips with Part 3 in this series of blogs.

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

We’ve compiled 7 tips to help you adapt your collections strategy, continue collecting cash, take care of your customers, empower your team, and come out on top (without being impacted too severely) and will be sharing a series of blogs over the coming few weeks with advice to help companies manage their receivables and collect cash in difficult times.

Tip 1. Reassess your receivables situation

While some customers have seen little change to their operations, others have been heavily impacted and, as a result, are struggling to pay their invoices. Fast action is imperative, but before diving in headfirst, you must take the time to analyse your business and understand what cash can be realistically collected, what customers you can talk to and who is at risk.

Start by analysing your customer portfolio to understand:

• Customers by industry – who are the customers most impacted?
• Outstanding balance by industry?
• Outstanding credit covered by insurance vs. uninsured total (evaluate potential loss)

Assessing your customers’ profiles and situations will help you better manage your credit risk and focus your resources where they need to be.

With an automated collections management solution customers can easily be grouped into categories such as industry, profile or other criteria that you may need, so you can create lists and reports on specific customer groups. This can be particularly useful to;

• Gain visibility on the total cash tied up within specific customer groups by creating aged balance customer listings
• Share reports internally to provide visibility to other stakeholders
• Get in touch with customers using appropriate methods

Having completed your business analysis you can begin to adjust your collections strategy.

Tip 2 . Adjust your collections strategy

Your collections strategy was established in the context of ‘ business as normal’. If the situation changes, your strategy must be adjusted to continue to bring efficiency to your cash collection process.

• Review the need for sending payment reminders vs. making collection calls and adjust your strategy accordingly
• Defer any calls that can be deferred (depending on customer situation and outstanding balance)
• Prioritise the largest amounts to collect or the riskiest customer groups
• Send dedicated messages to specific customers or group

With an automated collections management solution you can easily review and edit your collections strategy to better adjust to the situation at hand, for example:

• Enable or disable payment reminders for all or certain groups of customers
• Change the thresholds (value or days outstanding) to trigger an action such as calls and emails
• Refine your collection calls needed list by disabling low balances or low-risk customers
• Defer calls that can be deferred
• Use bulk messages to address more tailored communications to specific customers or groups

You and your team need an efficient collections process, especially if you are operating with fewer people. Your immediate objective is to collect all the cash that you can and help ensure all efforts are focused on achieving this you can suspend usual activities and switch to special collections mode with specific actions.

For more advice on how to effectively manage your AR process during these unprecedented times download the eBook here https://info.esker.com/eBookAR7Tips

Continue reading our 7 Tips with Part 2 and Part 3 in this series of blogs.

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’s Accounts Receivable solution removes obstacles preventing today’s businesses from optimising their invoice-to-cash process. By offering automated invoice delivery via any media (e.g., paper, e-invoices, EDI, etc.) and in full compliance with numerous national regulations, Fuji Xerox customers benefit from increased process efficiency, reduced invoice delivery costs, real-time visibility into invoice delivery status and increased customer satisfaction.

As a certified Pan European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) Access Point, Esker processes, sends and receives invoices to any recipient within the PEPPOL network. This accreditation is key to Fuji Xerox customers in Singapore, where the government has adopted PEPPOL for B2G document exchanges.

Read full press release here.

Esker UK

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New and emerging technologies have the potential to revolutionise the Accounts Receivable function.
Esker has launched an important piece of research into the current digital transformation landscape and we would value your input.

Please tell us what you think about AR digital transformation and help provide insights on current industry trends as well as key drivers and pain points for organisations as they consider their digital transformation strategy.

We hope that you can spare a few minutes to complete this important survey.
In return for sparing a few minutes of your valuable time, we’d love to share the preliminary findings with you this June.

Click here to take the survey now

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