When it comes to accounts receivable (AR) management, Workday is a valuable tool. Users can leverage it to:
- Create and send invoices electronically
- Strategically manage collections through an informative dashboard
- Prioritize customers based on risk scores
- Schedule and send customer communications
- Perform cash application
With such an impressive set of features, it’s tempting to think that you don’t need another solution to successfully navigate the AR process. But when it comes to your finances, good can often be the enemy of great. Especially when there are external factors impacting the success of your accounts receivable team.
The International Monetary Fund predicts that GDP will decrease through 2023, while Dun & Bradstreet warns that the recent easing of inflation may have only been temporary. In addition, international conflicts continue to leave supply chain and energy costs in a vulnerable position. This means it is vital that companies still look for ways to stay ahead of economic challenges.
Pairing Workday with Quadient Accounts Receivable by YayPay is a simple and effective way to combat these issues and optimize the accounts receivable process, ensuring that your organization maintains a steady cash flow.
"...among the firms that have deployed AR automation, 87% reported faster processing speeds, 79% said it improved AR teams' efficiency, 75% said it resulted in a better customer experience and 72% said it reduced operating costs."
- PYMNTS
Advanced reporting and real-time insights
When it comes to finances, you need to be able to track customer behavior, view outstanding balances, and monitor communications — all while making strategic plans. That's a lot to juggle if you don’t have the right tools at your disposal.
Quadient Accounts Receivable integrates with Workday, as well as tools such as your customer relationship management (CRM) software, to ensure that you have immediate access to all relevant customer information. Because the systems communicate, your data is displayed in real-time, which means you’re never working with outdated information.
The software helps you create customized reports based on the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter most to your team. Unlike other automation solutions, you don’t have to pay extra to have custom reports built or spend lengthy amounts of time waiting for a third party to create them for you. With just a few clicks, you can create the detailed report that you need.
All that data is then contextualized through charts and graphs that make the information easier to analyze, providing actual insight from the numbers. Because the platform allows for an unlimited number of users, anyone who needs access can be set up on the system at no additional charge. All reports created in the system can be scheduled and delivered via email to anyone within your organization, from AR managers to C-suite leaders.
Intelligent collections management
When it comes to collections, it’s important to have a strategy. Accounts that are at greater threat of paying late, or high dollar invoices, may require more contact touchpoints or different styles of communication. That’s where intelligent collections management comes into play.
Quadient AR provides customers with automated and customizable workflows, as well as a configurable “rules engine.” This last feature allows you to create settings that generate automatic activities when certain circumstances occur, such as a dispute being opened, or a payment declined. Based on the event, it may send out an automatic email message to the customer, create a to-do item and assign it to a team member, or simply add a note to a customer account (the choice is yours).
With the system handling these routine tasks, your team members can focus on the relationship management portion of accounts receivable.
These relationships can be further enhanced by the software’s ability to assess and recommend the best tools at your disposal to encourage on-time or early customer payments. Using machine learning, the system can recommend that a given account be offered early payment discounts, or that specific punitive action be taken for past-due payments. By analyzing how customers have responded to these measures in the past, it automatically provides you with the most effective solution going forward.
Industry-leading cash prediction
As long as there are customers, there will be late payments. But that doesn’t have to cloud your cash forecasting. Quadient AR gives you the ability to anticipate when accounts are likely to pay, doing so with 94% accuracy.
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, the software analyzes past payment behavior and account activity to make predictions about when payments are likely to be made. Not only does it inform you if an account is likely to pay late, but it also assesses when it will most likely pay, be it 1-30 days late, 31-60, 61-90, or over 90 days. The same process also studies customers and assigns them a color-coded letter grade that rates their creditworthiness. By using real-time data, it can adjust for changes in customer payment behavior, so that you are always working with the latest information.
By tracing potential changes in payment behavior, your AR team can take proactive steps with accounts that look likely to fall behind, getting ahead of problems before they have a chance to develop.
Faster disputes and payments
It’s an inescapable fact. The easier and more convenient it is for customers to manage their accounts and resolve invoices, the more likely they are to do so on time.
Quadient AR provides customers with a self-service payment portal that allows them to access their accounts, view open invoices, and make payments using their preferred method; whether credit card, ACH, or wire transfer. Organizations with cross-border customers can also pay using their currency of choice. In addition, the payment portal is available anywhere, at any time, so they can act at their own convenience.
The portal also provides the ability to ask questions or raise disputes about an invoice within the system. The software assesses the nature of the question or dispute and directs it to the correct team member for resolution. By integrating with the rest of your tech stack, the data needed to resolve the dispute is never more than a click away, meaning faster resolution.
Once payment is made, Quadient AR automatically synchronizes the data with your ERP, so accounting always has access to the latest customer activity.
The next evolution in accounts receivable
As organizations continue to face the challenges of an uncertain economy, it’s clear that business as usual will no longer be enough to maintain positive cash flow while ensuring the long-term happiness of customers. Thriving amid challenges demands an innovative approach.
Combining Workday with Quadient AR provides the tools necessary to speed up the collections process, improve customer communications, and make smarter decisions based on hard data.
To discover how one Workday customer optimized their AR process with Quadient Accounts Receivable, read OneSpan’s story.
