We’re hearing a similar tune from many ERP systems and various vertical management software companies we speak with regarding electronic payments. They are constantly looking for ways to differentiate their products, all while creating more stickiness within their client relationships. One such way that these platforms are taking an opportunity to evaluate this is through the functionality and support they provide clients around their accounts receivable tools and process.
The problem with accounts receivable workflows often begins at the supplier level or with a direct business customer of your software platform. Here we find that many legacy processes are still in place and include inadequate tools to manage these processes. This results in inefficiencies and manual work around the cash collection.
For example, issuing and sending client invoices (both electronic and paper), providing clients with an easy and on-demand method to collect payments, and establishing a process around tracking metrics within collection are all key parts of the accounts receivable process that clients struggle with. Many just don’t have the tools in place to support them around these tasks.
While many ERP platforms and management software may have one or more of the accounts receivable tools needed by their customers, most don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. This leaves many finance and accounts receivable departments searching for additional resources to increase their efficiency.
This is evidenced by roughly 65% of B2B suppliers within our client portfolio that have decided to leverage additional accounts receivable tools beyond their core ERP/management software platform. Software platforms search for outside resources because they find that building out their own toolkits from scratch can takes years to perfect, and the ROI for such initiatives can take even longer due to the expensive nature of these projects.
Fortunately, there are ways to seamlessly leverage and integrate already established tools to solve these supplier level challenges. The benefits to your platform are as follows.
- Enhanced Value Proposition – Solves key business problems for clients and increases their overall satisfaction
- Increased Revenue Opportunity – Up-sells clients on additional products and services that generate additional MRR
- Greater Stickiness – With increased client satisfaction, client retention is easier on your organization
- Reduced Costs – Less time and overhead around maintaining a module outside your core competency
Clients of your platform also realize several benefits of integrating stronger accounts receivable tools within their processes.
- Gained Efficiency – Automates the pieces of the AR process that are currently manual, freeing up staff time for strategic projects
- Improved Payment Experience for their Customers – On-demand portal with vast payment options to allow payments to be made on the end-clients’ schedule
- Increased Cash Flow – Enables your clients to collect their outstanding cash and get paid faster
- Reporting and Analytics – Goes beyond metrics like Days Sales Outstanding and establishes key KPIs to make stronger collection decisions
Wind River Financial provides several tools to help round out your account receivable products offering within your platform. Integrating these tools will create less pain for you and your clients. We’d love to share how we’ve helped other ERP systems broaden their accounts receivable offerings and generate higher revenues. We’d also like to demo our robust accounts receivable toolkit and show you how it can be easily interfaced to any core ERP product or vertical management software.
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