Accounts receivable processes are central to an organisations’ financial health – it’s vital that they are as visible, streamlined and dependable as possible.

Automated cash collection is proven to save accounting staff one hour a day, save organisations €13 per invoice, and pay themselves back within six to eighteen months.

They can also provide more accurate financial reporting. Financial Directors need accurate data at their fingertips at all times, with total visibility of cash flow and outstanding invoices. This helps them and other senior decision-makers to make important business continuity decisions.

We’ll look at reasons why now is a good time to review manual accounts receivable processes.

Financial management

Central to effective accounting is managing cash flow and reducing the amount of time it takes for you to get paid.

Cash flow problems make it harder for businesses to ‘ride out’ unstable market conditions. They can also damage your creditworthiness and make it impossible to pay staff, suppliers, and creditors.

Automated cash collection makes accounting processes more efficient and less error-prone. Removing time-consuming tasks will help your team to focus on maintaining the financial health of the organisation. Improving the performance of accounting processes, instead of issuing, sending and chasing invoices.

Accurate and centralised reporting

If you don’t have trust in your data, you can’t make the right decisions. Being able to provide the Board, C-Suite and, lines of business with accurate financial reporting is essential.

Your reporting is only ever as accurate as your financial data. Automation removes the human element in accounting processes, making the data less error-prone and more accurate. It can also help analyse the data, spotting trends, identifying problems and quickly exporting reports. Making it easy for stakeholders to understand and use.

Improved reporting can also help organisations control and reduce their spending by providing a single, centralised view.

Enhanced business continuity

Automated cash collection tools are more operationally resilient than processes that rely on hardcopy documents and people being in the office. It’s vital that accounts receivable processes keep moving, even when ordinary working processes are disrupted.

Cloud-based platforms are accessed on a range of devices from any secure location. As a result, this helps to ensure that your accounting processes won’t grind to a halt if something unexpected happens.

What’s the answer?

Shifting to automated accounts receivable will not only help your organisation through a crisis, but help protect it for the future. It’s a sensible investment with a clear and immediate ROI.

Our Accounts Receivable Assessment gives you a clear picture of your current situation and a roadmap for the steps you need to take in order to implement an automated, digital solution.

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If you’d like to learn more about Ricoh’s automated accounts receivable processes, check out the document above. Inside you’ll find guidance on how to minimise the risks of manual account receivable processes and how Ricoh can help you find a better solution.

And if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us on LinkedIn.

The post Automated cash collection: a reality or wishful thinking? appeared first on Insights.

Many forward-thinking organisations are looking to the future and working on plans to facilitate growth. Yet to make mission-critical decisions in a challenging world, leaders with a growth mindset need a clear financial picture. Without a real-time view of their cash position, investment decisions are difficult to make. A manual accounts payable process cannot provide CFOs with this vital information in real-time.

Automating the accounts payable process will not just provide immediate access to cash visibility, forecasting, and reporting. It will also transform what has historically been a very manual, time-consuming business administration process. 

Staying competitive in this new economic environment requires smart practices in all areas, even the unobvious ones. This is where our automated accounts payable system comes in.

Where’s the real value in accounts payable? 

Most likely you have a dedicated accounts payable function or employees who take care of this process. It is their job to receive purchase orders, delivery notes, invoices, process payments, and remittances. In some organisations, this all still exists on paper with records kept in messy in-trays and bulging filing cabinets.

Neither of these approaches provides you with a real-time view of what’s really going on in your business and an actual cash position that you can rely on getting, anytime you need it. And this is exactly what’s required if your business is to make better quality investments, see better ROI on those investments and make better savings.

What can Ricoh’s automated accounts payable system offer you?

Investing in a robust and resilient accounts payable system now will unlock massive value within your business. Helping you to scale up your internal operations for a robust future. And if the quantum leaps made in digitisation recently have proven anything; transformation doesn’t take as long as we may think.

Within each step towards digital accounts payable, there are also opportunities to save money, time, and resources. Costly mistakes and miscalculations are the last things any growing business needs. Especially if a slip-up leads to an easily avoidable risk.

Complete visibility for your executives 

Automated accounts payable revolutionises cash visibility, forecasting, and reporting. Users are given access to a dashboard, which offers a real-time view of their cash position, allowing leaders to make high-level business decisions with all the knowledge at their fingertips.

The system implements seamlessly with business operations within a few weeks at no delay – a big selling point for your C-Suite. Finance teams are also trained ahead of the system going live, giving the right people immediate value.

All-around cost saving

Investing in an automated system means a lower cost across the lifetime of your business. There may be an upfront price to pay, but in the future, it will cut processing time and labour requirements. We found our system makes the process twice as fast, from 48 hours plus to under 24 hours.

Having a system in place can also empower accounting staff to focus more on strategic business goals and cost-saving activities. Which can only stimulate growth and fill individuals within your organisation.

Streamlined remote working

Suppose your accounting team has been fighting a losing battle with paper-based remote working. In that case, our secure cloud-based solution can offer you flexibility and continuity, no matter where your team members are based. And let’s be honest, it seems unlikely that we’ll be 100% office-based ever again.

As the system uses self-learning technology it also automates live feeds and batch approvals, easing workloads for your team. Task lists, notifications, and recorded version control also make the process faster and easier to manage from multiple locations. Keeping the entire team updated and on task.

The technology 

Our process automation allows you to digitally receive and process invoices and purchase orders with complete efficiency. With a powerful search function for instant retrieval of information when needed regardless of the source. The technology makes it possible for everyone to access the exact version of the same document anytime and anywhere.

The self-learning data input also means the system is able to auto-extract and populate invoice data. Therefore, it can be indexed against its original purchase order. No scrolling through endless records, no scope for human error, and certainly no need for staples.

And it doesn’t stop there if the system works well in your accounting department. You can also consider integrating the same solution to other departments within your organisation. In manufacturing, and especially sales, this technology provides huge potential for growth.

Integrating automated accounts payable into your business

We’re confident our solution can help a range of sectors. But we don’t operate with a one-size-fits-all approach. We tailor the solution to you and put together a package that fits your needs.

Once we have the solution in place. Our team will provide training to all who require the use and visibility of the system. And if issues and queries pop up, there will be reliable, and reachable after-sales care on hand.

Find out more 

Are you ready to ramp up those processes that are ‘done that way, because they’ve always been done that way?’

The gap between those keeping up and those falling behind is growing. It’s time to match your internal operations with your external growth ambitions.

Use our ROI calculator and find out what this means to you

The post Why automating accounts payable should be your next strategic goal appeared first on Insights.