Put Bills on Autopilot
A payment automation solution helps businesses put bills on autopilot. This includes pre-authorised Direct Debit payments, debt repayments (for mortgages and credit cards), and recurring transactions.
Less manual processing of invoices means more time to focus on customer service and a better record-keeping process for accounts payable. It also enables AP to reduce lag times and take advantage of early-payment discounts.
Reduced Costs
Managing payments can be a time-consuming, costly process, especially when done manually. Using payment automation eliminates the need for manual data entry, document printing and mailing, and reconciliation. It also reduces costs associated with sending paper checks. Payment automation can cut processing costs-per-invoice by 80%-90%. This helps companies to save money on processing fees, as well as reducing the need for employees to handle exceptions invoices. The less human involvement in a business process, the fewer opportunities for errors. This includes duplicate payments, input mistakes, and missed payments due to oversight.
By automating payments, companies can often qualify for early-payment discounts that wouldn’t have been possible when invoices were manually routed for payment. It also makes it easier for finance executives to capture more financial data to support advanced analytics and process improvement.
In addition, many of the manual tasks that AP departments typically spend the most time on are eliminated by implementing an automated billing system, including approvals, PO/bill matching, and integration with accounting systems. This helps to reduce days sales outstanding (DSO) and improve relationships with suppliers. In fact, some treasury management solutions can provide suppliers with real-time visibility into their transaction statuses, which can further enhance cash flow forecasting and working capital optimization. Ultimately, payment automation reduces manual processes that often lead to inefficiency, misalignment, fraud risk, and fractured vendor relationships.
Increased Efficiency
In a manual payment process, invoices can get lost or bottleneck in the approval workflow, information is entered incorrectly, payments may be sent late or for the wrong amount, and other issues. With the right automate payments tools, AP teams can eliminate manual processing, increase efficiency, reduce risk of fraud, improve supplier relationships, and save money on unnecessary work hours.
In addition to automating ACH transfers, checks, and virtual card payments, the right payment solution provider can also set up pre-authorized Direct Debit agreements for recurring transactions. In this way, businesses can avoid the high costs associated with printing and mailing paper cheques and reduce their carbon footprint. This is especially beneficial for small businesses with many recurring transactional customers, such as subscription and membership companies.
The increased visibility associated with electronic payments is another benefit of payment automation. This makes it easier to access and analyze financial data to improve processes, analytics, and cash flow forecasting. It also allows for the capture of additional discounts on invoices, including supply chain financing and dynamic discounting.
Moreover, when a business automates payments, it can also offer its suppliers self-service through real-time transparency into their transaction statuses via a digital portal, which will cut down on the time spent by AP teams answering queries. This will help to foster stronger supplier relationships, which is especially important during periods of disruption.
Improved Customer Service
Payment automation involves the use of software tools to manage and complete the process of paying vendors through various payment methods such as ACH transfers, checks, wires, virtual card payments, etc. It also reduces human error and wasted work hours that could be better spent on other business tasks.
When businesses automate their payments, they are able to offer customers more flexibility with how they pay invoices. This can result in better customer service and increased satisfaction with your company as a whole. Additionally, customers that have the option to pay how they want may be less likely to make late payments which can save your business a significant amount of money in interest and fees.
One of the most important things to remember when using payment automation is to ensure that all processes related to payments are in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. This includes verification of payment information to ensure that the correct account number and routing number are used to send funds. It is also essential that all processes are backed up in case of any audits or regulatory issues.
There are many benefits to automating your payments, such as reducing costs, improving efficiency, and providing improved customer service. If you are interested in implementing automated payments, it is important to do your research and compare different providers to find the best solution for your company.
Reduced Late Payments
The main benefit for consumers is the peace of mind that comes with taking payments off their to-do list. They no longer need to worry about forgetting or missing a payment and are less likely to be hit with late fees, which can negatively impact credit scores and business relationships.
For businesses, automating payments can reduce invoice processing times and eliminate the need to manually collect payments, which can improve cash flow management and customer service. It can also help to increase visibility and provide a more accurate picture of financial data for analysis and decision-making.
Some companies offer their customers the ability to set up automatic recurring payments for certain charges, such as utility bills, credit card payments or a subscription service. For example, a client might choose to pay for a social media management fee each month through a company’s automated billing system that will automatically withdraw funds from the client’s debit or credit card on the first of every month.
While automation can help to reduce manual processing errors, it’s important to remain vigilant and make sure there is enough money in the account when the bank or card processor withdraws funds each month. Otherwise, overdraft and insufficient funds fees can quickly add up and hurt the bottom line. It’s a good idea to review and update payment details each time you receive a new card or your payee needs to change the amount of a recurring charge.
