We are over half of the way thorough 2022. It’s nearly a year since I wrote my last blog which looked at new features in O2C. 2022 seems to be going faster than ever, and I feel that the world is getting back to some sort of normality. My diary has certainly been filled with web meetings but I have ventured out on the M40 motorway on a couple of occasions. I enjoy meeting people for real and taking a break from the web cam. It’s a shame however, that the traffic has returned to its terrible pre-Covid levels.

Cashing in with new automation features

2022 has been a busy, interesting, and sometimes challenging year. We continue to go-live with a number of projects but I have certainly found that the popularity of our cash solutions has increased across Credit Management, cash Collection Management and Cash Application processes. My last blog talked about the number of ‘under the hood’ features that I have found with our Order Management solution. The same is true for our ‘cash solutions’ which are now fully integrated, giving our customers an end-to-end O2C solution. The list below is certainly not exhaustive, but I have seen some key changes and improvements in the following areas;

Credit Management – Enhanced workflow rules and mobile approval capabilities for customer onboarding.
Collections Management – Salesforce integration, improved views of historical (and future) ageing information and a projected view of future collection activities.
Cash Application – Enhanced discount handling, seamless SAP connectivity and enhanced templates for more efficient customer communication.

The above features are certainly creating a buzz and I’m excited to see further changes. Customers can check out the ‘What’s New’ section in our product documentation.

On a personal note, I am delighted to be starting a new position within Esker. From the 1^st July 2022, I have taken up the position of Sales Manager and have responsibilities for our expanding UK team and a handful of key customers. I look forward to a new challenge after over 15-years of direct sales.

If you’d like to learn more about using Esker’s solutions to improve your O2C processes with automation, please contact me and my team – we’d love to help.

Paul Stevens

Paul is the Sales Manager for Esker UK. He has been part of the Esker family since 2006.

Read more insights from Paul Stevens

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

Having been exposed to the world of claims and deductions in Order-to-Cash over the last 8 years, the complications and nuances involved with companies that supply to large retailers still never fails to astound me.

Every time I get engrossed with companies that operate in this industry, it reminds me of a childhood TV show. For those of a certain age, you might remember a show that originally started in the US called Supermarket Sweep. For those in the UK, it aired on ITV with the ever enthusiastic Dale Winton.

The aim of the game was to fill your supermarket trolley with as many goods as you could within a certain time frame. If you picked up certain highlighted items, then bonuses were awarded, but if you damaged some of the goods with the trolley dash, penalties were applied.

The similarities between this and Order-to-Cash Claims and Deductions are comically similar. They tend to fall into a number of categories;

• Trade Promotional Pricing – (Dales’ Sales Manager Specials)
  • Legitimate deductions based on Sales and Marketing promotions
  • Agreed discounts based on product placement with retailers
  • Marketing & Rebate promotions contractually agreed in advance

• Trade Deductions – (The Penalties)
  • Preventable deductions
  • Damaged or defective supplied goods
  • Pricing discrepancies between the agreed contract and the invoice
  • Incorrectly supplied products

Those who play the game the quickest and in the most efficient way by minimising mistakes and taking advantages of the promotions will win.

The Impact
Whilst the complexities exist, they are a necessity for doing business with retailers with strong brand exposure to the market and the public.

However, if the process is managed inefficiently and ineffectually, the cost to margins can be high, unexpected and therefore painful.

The cost to research and resolve an unauthorised deduction according to an ARO2C white paper¹ is $200-$300 (£150-£250) per deduction.

Even worse, with average margin in space being around 10%, 3.7% is lost to preventable and erroneous customer deductions.

In addition CRF* reports that deductions can account for 10% of sales revenue.

How can Esker Help?
Esker’s fully integrated Order-to-Cash solution ensures that deductions can be managed and controlled in a much more effective way. It does this by;

• Centralising deduction information and automating from all receiving channels such as:
  • Emails and attachments
  • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
  • Customer portal
• Automatically extracting key information from any document type
  • PDF, Jpeg, Png, Tiff, Word, Excel, body of an email, and more
  • Auto extraction of data using Esker’s Synergy Neural Network of document types
  • Auto recognition of claims type based on key work recognition
• Facilitate Cross Department Collaboration
  • Customisable workflow to ensure the right document is triaged to the right department
  • Approval limits and authorisation by line level information and ability to append supporting documents such as proof of deliveries
  • Internal conversations with teams to aid resolution times
• Visibility and Root Cause Analysis of Claims
  • Visibility by department, customer and business unit on progress of deductions against resolution targets
  • Configurable Dashboards detailing the average processing time per customer, authorised vs. disputed claim amounts, claim amount by claim type, open claims by customer, and many more.

In addition, the Esker Claims and Deductions solution integrates with our Cash Application solution to raise claims quoted on remittances, and cross check any claims already in progress or processed. This further automates and reduces effort and cost from the process.

The Outcomes
With cost of living increasing and the subsequent impact on revenues and margins, reducing the impact of unauthorised deductions has a direct impact on the balance sheet.
Esker’s Claims and Deductions solution will impact margin erosion, cost of sales and DSO whilst at the same time improving customer service, ensuring a positive-sum-growth for customers and suppliers alike.

¹ Automating the Management of Customer Deductions – An Esker/ARO2C Network White paper

Matt Tipper

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

Read more insights from Matt Tipper

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

According to a 2018 survey on digital transformation conducted by the Hackett Group, 57% of businesses manually apply a majority of payments they receive. Companies struggle with applying payments due to inconsistent channels, formats and data with payments and remittances. Accounts receivable (AR) teams spend more time downloading remittances, linking them with payments and matching those payments with open AR, than on managing exceptions and higher value tasks.

By automating the manually intensive process, Esker improves the speed and accuracy when capturing and reading data from remittances. Cash is allocated faster, AR teams can focus on more strategic tasks and businesses benefit from optimised cash flow, improved receivables visibility and collections efficiency.

“The launch of our Cash Application solution comes at an opportune time, as now, more than ever, cash and cash collections are vitally important to businesses,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. “With our integrated Accounts Receivables financial suite, Esker will play a bigger role in financial technology (fintech) and continue to provide tangible value to our customers’ business.”

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