Having worked for Esker for quite a few years now, (far too many that I care to remember, as it shows my advancing age, or should that be, shows my increased knowledge of the multifaceted business benefits that can be realised through the automation of the cash conversion cycle?), one thing I know for sure is that the commitment from Esker to enable organisations to be resilient through tough economic times has always been one of the main areas we continually strive to improve. Enabling this resilience has never been more evident than in recent times. Who would have imagined that a global pandemic would have been so detrimental to the survival of so many businesses (not to mention the lives of those affected directly).
Over more than 35 years, Esker has always endeavoured to find better ways for organisations to communicate with each other and overcome barriers that quite often make business difficult to conduct. So when times of adversity strike the business world they require the reassurance that they can carry on regardless, or probably more importantly, learn ways to improvise, adapt and overcome such hardships, as and when presented.
Esker has always tried to encourage organisations to adopt the obvious advantages of streamlining processes and automating repetitive manual tasks, that add little to no value to an organisation’s ability to effect its bottom line growth. However, as we have seen with historic economic turmoil, it is simply not enough to just focus purely on your own survival by concentrating solely on scrutinising financial gains. Now, more than ever, with the increased symbiotic relationship between organisations, their customers, suppliers and partners becoming even more intertwined through common, shared challenges, it’s imperative to develop harmonious business ecosystems.
One way to do this is through the power of collective effort. If organisations start to understand each other better and the different working practices are adopted, then they will all begin to enable positive sum growth. Once people within organisations understand this, then processes can be changed to bring advantages to all business relationships involved. Inevitably this must also be aligned with having ‘the right tools for the job’ and making sure that they are correctly aligned as necessary. This can be achieved by looking both internally and externally at the technologies used.
Esker has always been at the forefront of simplifying business transactions between organisations through the development of the latest technologies. Our goals have always been to help streamline business processes, eliminate non-value added manual tasks as well as improve interdepartmental communication and the relationships between different stakeholders, through digitally transforming an organisation’s transactional operations.
This has now extended beyond that of the internal coercion of people, process and technology to a much wider ecosystem. Every action and reaction now has a direct impact on the way business is conducted and influenced, whether that’s giving you the ability to communicate with your suppliers 24/7 or allowing your customers to engage with you, how and when they wish to (or indeed not at all, through the increased use of self-service portals).
Furthermore, if an expectation is set to create a culture of continuous value, then the benefits will be maximised throughout every area of business with everyone involved all pursuing a utopian business excellence, from employees, customers, suppliers and partners feeling valued, understood and engaged.
I look forward to the coming years to see how business relationships continue to embrace a more harmonious view of working together (especially through turbulent times) and understand the ways in which Esker can help to enhance this through our end-to-end, process automation solutions.
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING
Executive Insight by Emmanuel Oliver, Esker Worldwide Chief Operating Officer
