Automate collections and payments, within a company, is achieved using specific software. This automation allows for much more efficient invoice management. This is because they allow systematizing, streamlining and reducing certain tasks that are related to administration.
Let’s analyze how we can carry out this process optimally, and what benefits it will bring to our company.
What is automation? What guidelines should we follow to optimize it?
In traditional companies, invoices are issued by hand. That is, a person enters the company data, amounts, taxes, etc.
This can, of course, be misleading, but it also leads to excessive time spent on management tasks. To avoid this, we can automate all these processes.
In this way, it will be a tool that automatically generates those invoices. Or, if we talk about the ones we receive, it is about speeding up the payment. This is done by avoiding the associated process of checking to see if there is a line item intended for that line item, or if it had been approved in advance.
Guidelines to follow to automate collections and payments
Normally, it is not enough to implement management software to automate collections and expenses. We must establish a series of guidelines so that our income and collections are efficient. They are as follows:
- We must collect information. For example, the data of our customers. This includes which invoices have been issued to us or sent to you by us. But also your address, NIF or CIF, history as a client or pending debts, if any.
- In the case of expenses, we must enter the proposals we make and the allocated items into the system, that, when we receive an invoice, it is the tool that makes the pertinent checks.
- Associated with payments, we must also carry out a prior control of budgets, history and approval of the aforementioned invoices.
- Employee training. And, in general, to all those who are going to have contact with our new management system. Ideally, while learning lasts, they coexist with the traditional system.
- The implementation of new order systems is also important. This way we will not waste too much time looking for the necessary information.
- It is necessary to offer guarantees. Our customers or suppliers must perceive security during any change. Therefore, we must also implement a backup system, which will be useful so as not to lose anything in our accounting system.
- We must track collections and expenses, just as we did with our traditional system. Especially at the beginning, to make sure that we have correctly added all the information. And analyze the data, to see if our automation works.
Once we understand how it works and the implementation requirements, we are going to analyze what it will bring to our company.
6 benefits of automating collections and payments
It should be noted that this system is suitable for those companies and suppliers that accept the management of electronic invoices. In this case, we show you what are the five advantages that it will bring to your company:
- Cost savings. This is because the time that was previously dedicated to managing issued and received invoices can now be used for other processes.
- Improvement in our customer service. Payment automation speeds up waiting times, and automatic invoice issuance has the same result.
- Reduction of errors. By using a specific tool, possible human errors when entering data or making payments are reduced.
- It allows us to segment customers. For example, we can easily see who has outstanding debt, or those who produce the most income for us.
- We also have the option of integrating it with other systems. For example, with a CRM. This allows us not only to obtain more segmentation data, but also to carry out loyalty actions by sectors, income, etc.
- Automation of reminders. We can program them to remind us to take certain actions, such as non-automatic payments.