How Customer Portals Within Integrated Receivables Help Expedite Payments

This article is the final in a series of four detailing how an Integrated Receivables (IR) system functions and transform the way a business manages their receivables.

First in Series: How Integrated Receivables Increases Cash Flow for Businesses

Second in Series: Cash Application Replaces Manual Processes with Automation

Third in Series: How Integrated Receivables Reduces Past-Due Payments and Disputes

Benefits of Portals

Customer Portal

Having a dedicated customer portal directly connected to IR, and your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, can be a great benefit. A customer self-service portal is often a feature, and it allows your clients to access documents, see copies of invoices and make payments directly on the site. This expedites the receipt of payment and provides accurate payment matching.

Sales and Service Portal License

One of the most significant pain points for companies today is the issue of collaboration on work processes for teams who rely on different applications and information resources. The IR solution can address this with “light” licenses that allow users of different departments to access the platform in a way that is appropriate for their role.

Often, an IR Sales and Service portal connects internal Sales, Accounts Receivable (AR), and Collections staff so that each is operating with the same source of truth and issues are brought to the surface immediately. In this type of portal, each team has access only to the data they need. Further, when needed, a ticketing system allows for automatic task assignment to the appropriate team, escalation and tracking. Communications between teams during issue resolution could then be automatically recorded in the system, consolidating the workflow and increasing effectiveness. This means better efficiency for many processes and lower resolution times, which are both beneficial for cash flow.

Remote access allows team members to complete work processes easily even when they are not in the same office. It also allows managers better visibility into workflows, higher quality reporting capabilities, and easier problem diagnosis and resolution. Two-way Application Programming Interface (API) integrations for Customer Relationship Management systems may also be available.

Credit Management

Credit risk management is an often-neglected area of a company’s operations. Many businesses lack the staffing or time to regularly evaluate the credit terms they extend to their customers. This increases the likelihood a customer may miss a payment. An Integrated Receivables (IR) solution with a credit module can help to mitigate this risk.

The credit module within the IR platform often includes these features:

• Online customer credit applications
• API integrations with all major credit bureaus
• Configurable credit analysis scorecards
• Automated approvals with configurable thresholds
• Predictive AI to accurately determine the future risk of delinquency
• Scorecards

If you use a credit reporting service today, some IR systems can harness that data to make it part of your credit workflow within the platform. Your company would then be able to identify and mitigate risk in your portfolio by leveraging internal data and external credit bureau data. When you have full visibility to the relevant data, credit term decisions become clearer and more consistent.

Advanced Reporting

IR’s advanced reporting capabilities are a major part of the credit management process, but they also extend well beyond that domain. In some IR platforms, users may have access to configurable dashboards, real-time daily operational metrics, and ad-hoc report and dashboard creation. As a result, visibility into the financial performance of the business is greatly increased.

You can use up-to-date charts and tables to assist with decision making. Your team will be able to easily view and understand what work was completed yesterday and what needs to be done today. Advanced search and query capabilities will reduce the amount of time your team spends gathering the data they need to do their job.

Now that you have seen the benefits of modernizing AR systems and processes, we hope it is becoming clearer how IR can save on operating costs, drive efficiency and enhance collaboration in your organization.

Contact me or your Treasury Sales Officer to learn more.