Accounting is no easy task, as suggested by the challenges of receivables payment management, which includes bad debt write-offs, making the accounts receivable staff more productive, and portfolio risks.
It is, therefore, important for a finance team to delegate tasks and do more despite having the minimum number of employees in the department.
Processes to Automate
Payment automation is beneficial for any company, especially in its finance team, as it significantly reduces the time usually spent on repetitive and tedious processes.
Moreover, the process ensures the transparency of financial transactions. You can make your finance team work faster with these processes:
- Collections: Collections give you accurate results to help you identify who has not paid while automation of collections gives you information in real time, along with regular reminders. Your team can easily write reports and oversee collections through payment automation.
- Invoice Creation: You can generate customer invoice quickly through the automated process. It does not matter if your company has to produce a multitude of invoices, as they can be stored and managed with just a click of a button. It is employee-friendly as well, allowing you to devote more time to other, less mundane tasks.
- Financial Reports: Give your team a break from complicated and confusing spreadsheets with a systematic customer database that processes sales and customer billing information. Reports are more accurate and easily managed.
- Billing: Save more time and make billing an easier task for your team with automation. You not only finish within an hour, but you reduce the risk of making copious errors.
Best Practices for Automation
Although automation is beneficial, it must be implemented systematically. No matter how interested you are in driving your team towards productivity, you cannot achieve it if you do not practice time-tested approaches.
Annette Gardner believes that the following are the best practices a finance team should have:
- Trust your automation partner. You will be shelling out money in automation, and it would be best if you trust the company you are working with. Such company should adhere to business ethics, be trustworthy, and have an impressive track record.
- Analyse your processes before you decide to automate them. Evaluating your processes prior to automation gives you a clear starting point. You can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your team, so you know which area to focus on. There are apps to help you manage your tasks.
- Know your goals. Automation will be easier and more systematic once you have identified what you want to achieve. Be specific with your goals to get the service that you paid for. Don’t forget to ask your team for any inputs as well.
- Stick to your plan. It is easy to get swayed by the endless possibilities brought by automation. However, clearly communicating your goals will help your team prioritise and focus on tasks that need immediate addressing.
- Provide incentives. Keep your team motivated by giving them incentives for a job well done. Finance and accounting are stressful, and your team needs an instrument (or a reward) to keep them going.
- Implement Agile Development. Analyse each department and assess what needs to improve. This is done in short cycles, which will help you see small errors even before they snowball into an uncontrollable disaster.
- Benchmark yourself. Define success. Compare your team’s performance and the revenue you recovered. Use this valuable information to perform better in the next automation project. This survey will help you identify benchmarking standards.
- Enjoy your success. Your finance team has done a good job, and there is no reason for you not to reap the rewards. Give yourselves a well-deserved break. There is nothing to be worried about automation. Technology can help you navigate systems and dashboards more easily, thus, learning this should be a cinch.
Start using your time wisely and leave repetitive tasks to apps and databases. Embrace the change now!
