SIMPLE   TECHNIQUES   TO  ENHANCE  YOUR  ORDER -  TO- CASH  PROCESS   EFFICIENCY

The order-to-cash/Accounts Receivables cycle in businesses is full of complexities. There are too many interactions that take place in the OTC/Accounts Receivables cycle and there is always room for efficiency enhancements in the process. The true setback comes from the reliance on the hackneyed manual processes and the absence of a smooth transactional information flow. These are the major impediments that contribute to the inefficiencies and the increased operational costs.

It is established that there are quite a lot of interactions involved in the OTC/Accounts Receivables cycle. It is significant to note that papers are an inevitable part of the information flow between the company and the third party vendors, thus being responsible for the inefficiencies and challenges in the performance. Computerized receivables have been in use for over 5 decades now yet there is an incorrigible reliance on the paper and manual-based processes. This is due to the fact that there is no connectivity between the internal functionalities besides the flow of accounting information and sales, inventory, shipping, and receivables. Things get exacerbated when there is an input is required from the customers or other third party vendors during the intermediate processes.

Manual tasks are still being used in bridging the gap between the Receivables processes and the external parties and this imposes the biggest challenge. Though there is software like ERP (enterprise resource planning) are widely used now to provide the integration that is lacking in the manual processes, manual processes are still being used. So, what is the result? A lot of time and labor are being invested in the OTC process, increasing the costs and operational inefficiencies.

How do we go about increasing the Order to cash/ Accounts Receivables efficiency?

You need to build strong connections between all the internal processes and wire them in an automatic process. The only hitch you might be facing is the expenses. Plus, it would also require some rewriting of the interfaces when you upgrade the systems. Luckily, cloud-based solutions increasingly seem to address the issue at hand. Cloud-based solutions also provide much stronger connectivity links between all the participants, be it internal or external. Now, this is more affordable than any other hosted or licensed solutions out there.

Advantages of Automated processing:

Customer payments can be accelerated due to instant accessibility of bills and other data

Invoice chasing can be streamlined

Customer disputes can be prevented

The need to re-key order information can be removed

Scanning and filing of invoices can be eradicated

Storage costs can be reduced

Office space will be freed