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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sam Townsend

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

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• Retrieving invoices or documents from customer or supplier portals
• Processing transactions
• Passing documents to other systems, e.g. sending invoices for approval or logging them in an ERP system

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is the theory and development of computer systems to perform or enhance tasks normally requiring human intelligence. AI improves speed and accuracy within document processing by completing tasks such as:

• Perceiving and interpreting documents
• Matching PO invoices with corresponding PO lines and goods receipts
• Identifying anomalies and predicting outcomes

Machine Learning
Based on input from users, a solution such as Esker’s learns how to process new document formats and expand its knowledge base. The more it learns, the more the recognition rate increases and the system can process documents of the same format without any input from users (touchless processing).

Deep Learning
Taking machine learning one step further, deep learning is a neural network using algorithmic software to train itself to perform tasks based on a large set of data. Put simply, the software analyses data to find patterns in the data so it knows what to expect and what to do with a new document when it comes in. Esker’s own deep learning technology, Synergy, has been trained by the millions of documents processed by its solutions over more than a decade, allowing businesses to benefit from high recognition rates from day one.

The Benefits
A digital solution such as Esker uses a combination of these technologies to automate manual inefficiencies and low-value tasks in the P2P and O2C cycles. This frees up teams to focus on more value-adding tasks, increases efficiency and reduces cycle times, benefiting not only your business, but your customer and suppliers too. Businesses set their own pace, choosing to automate one process at a time (Procurement, Accounts Payable, Order Management or Accounts Receivable), or automating entire cycles to unite their operations across a single, integrated platform.

Find out more
If all this technology talk has you buzzing to update your systems, take a look at the following resources for a more in-depth look into the benefits of process automation for the procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles:

AI & RPA: The Technology Powering P2P Digital Transformation

New Technologies for Order Management – Increase Your Competitiveness

Jennifer Ball

As Marketing Co-ordinator for Esker UK, Jennifer manages Esker UK's marketing campaigns and events for S2P solutions. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

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Let’s dig into what they are, how they can help and where processes fall short.

Robotic Process Automation

Often seen as a stand-alone solution, RPA is a “robot” that is programmed to push or pull information from one place to another. RPA has strong benefits for simple business processes because it can eliminate repetitive, manual steps. In short, if you can draw a virtual line from one point of a process to the other, RPA may be a good fit for it. An example of this would be: logging into a portal, downloading a document, then pushing the document to a folder for someone else to review. Sometimes, if the data is perfect, that data can be pushed reliably into a database/system of record after it has been downloaded by the RPA/robot.

There are even some cases where a robot can be programmed to read the data it’s pulling and make a simple determination about where that information goes. These are often times referred to as “if statements.” “If statements” are variables that determine where information should go but not necessarily validate if that information is correct. Changes occur on either end of the process where the RPA identifies any weakness. What happens if login information for a portal expires or the process changes on the other end? Consider the downstream effects of these changes and ask yourself, “Are there some areas in my business that would benefit from a simple and effective automation process?”

Artificial Intelligence

AI is considered a technological “brain.” Often construed as a technology for extracting data, AI is really just a technology that assists in handling data and information. In other words, it’s a group of technologies and algorithms that help solutions make accurate decisions based on trends and past decisions. But not all AI is the same — some AI technologies are complex and others are rather simple. Overall, if a technology is helping to make a decision — without a user forcing or programming it to — it can be classified as artificial intelligence.

So, what is AI most useful for? Most experiences suggest that AI “decisioning” technologies are best used to cut down on time-consuming, manual tasks. AI mimics decisions that otherwise take additional time for humans to make. The ROI calculation is a simple equation. Here’s an example: if one step in a process takes 10 seconds to complete and is repeated 100 times per day, AI intervention can save 16.6 minutes a day on that single step. It’s easy to see how ROI can grow to be substantial as these seconds can turn into minutes (or even hours) of time savings. Complex processes seem to benefit the most from this technology.

Machine Learning

In its truest form, machine learning is a variation of robotics in which the solution is manually told what to do. These are forced or programmed decisions based on what a user recommends. Despite all the promises that technologies like RPA and AI make, there are still situations where specifically telling a solution how to handle a piece of an example is necessary. Think of this as the technology that will handle the “details” of a business process.

Let’s say, for instance, you have a customer that consistently changes a material number when placing an order. As a CSR, you know what the customer is trying to order, but the change happens far too often for the cognitive functions of AI to intervene. In this example, machine learning can step in and force the system to defer to the correct change — just as a human would do given a manual process.

Think about your business process and ask, “Is my process complex or is it simple? Does the business process have variables that require constant change? If changes aren’t corrected in a timely manner, will it negatively affect my customer or supplier relationships?” In answering these questions, you may be able to determine what technology is best for your business process.

When it comes to customers and suppliers, leveraging all of these technologies has proven to produce the best outcomes. Solutions tied to these areas of focus should be flexible and retain the ability to grow and change with a business. Customers and suppliers are arguably the lifelines within a business and should be treated with the utmost care.

Written by Chris Wadley, Business Development Manager for Esker

Esker UK

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

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• Robotic process automation – programming applications to do basic human tasks
• Process automation – using intelligent technologies to integrate systems across the business
• Machine learning – Artificial Intelligence (AI) using algorithms to learn how the business managers orders, invoices, etc., and handle exceptions
• Deep Learning – A subset of machine learning applied to complex tasks – automatically processing documents even if the solution is seeing them for the first time

According to research, more than 80% of organisations with SSC’s have already implemented RPA technology to automate routine, repetitive, rule-based activities.¹

Reap the benefits
The strategic benefits of automating business processes in SSC’s are countless. Here’s a few for starters:

• Better communication – both customer and supplier relationships benefit from a transparent environment. Online portals can be a fantastic tool to give convenient self-service access to documents, payments, orders etc.
• Enhanced visibility – Give executive management a quick and easy route to analyse the company data. The right solution can provide metrics on day-to-day and long term performance, to monitor SSC progress and identify areas of improvement
• Employee satisfaction – a happy employee is a productive employee. By implementing a solution that saves time on manual tasks, staff are freed up to do more on creative and value-add activities.

It doesn’t stop there
Esker’s eBook, 9 Ways AI & RPA Can Transform Your Shared Services Centre, has an extended list of benefits that can turn your SSC into a Centre of Excellence through automation. Or watch our video for a bite-sized snapshot.

If you’d like to know more about how Esker can help your business, get in touch, we’d love to hear from you!

¹ 5 Characteristics of the Best Shared Services Centers; February 2019; Sharon George for Gartner https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/five-characteristics-of-the-best-shared-service-centers/

Jennifer Ball

As Marketing Co-ordinator for Esker UK, Jennifer manages Esker UK's marketing campaigns and events for S2P solutions. She has been part of the Esker family since 2019.

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To raise even more money, I donated some paintings for their summer auction. Hopefully people will be kind enough to part with their cash generously!

Speaking as an animal lover and a vegan, I was struck by how hard animals, such as donkeys, work for us. As living beings, like us, they get old, tired and need to take it easy. Happily, such considerations do not apply when deploying a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) which is designed to work 24/7 if required.

RPA is the buzz word for software that can be easily programmed to do routine, repetitive human tasks, quickly, accurately and tirelessly. Relying on structured data, RPA automates workflows or clerical processes by emulating human interaction within a graphical user interface (GUI) with great benefits. The benefits include consistently swift, accurate data management at a much lower cost than manual processing of any documents, typically sales orders and supplier invoices. Manual processes are streamlined to facilitate business security and increase scalability.

What does RPA do for your most important resource, i.e. your employees? Certainly staff are empowered to be more productive and professionally fulfilled because they are free of the mundane, repetitive and valueless tasks.

What of the other buzz word, Artificial Intelligence (AI)? AI is not to be confused with RPA. True, both deal with automation. However, a key difference is that RPA is not “self-learning” and only works with structured data. AI technologies, on the other hand, respond to changing environments and data and rewrite themselves.

What both RPA and AI have in common is that they automate manual processes and usher in great efficiency. Both technologies work 24/7 so you don’t need to. This is good news for staff, who are now able to work smarter rather than harder. Let RPA, and AI (with its machine learning and deep learning capabilities) take the strain of today’s a fast paced, IT driven environment. For me, that means more free time to serve our clients better and of course, paint more pictures and visit our adopted donkeys in their pasture lands!

Raj Sahota

As Internal Sales Manager at Esker, Raj looks after customers and prospective customers. She has been part of the Esker family since 2011.

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