Link to the original Forbes article
Thomas Aronica is the founder and CEO of Biller Genie, a solution that automates accounts receivable to get businesses paid faster.
When it comes to automating your business protocols, the mere thought of making any changes to something so essential can often send many business owners spinning. How much does it cost? How long will it take? How will it impact my BAU workflow? And many end up settling on the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” paradigm.
But in today’s digitally dominated landscape, if it hasn’t been automated, it’s most likely broken — even if it doesn’t seem that way.
The truth is, automating such crucial touchpoints in your business workflow is actually much easier than you may think — and more beneficial than you may know. Let’s take your accounts receivable process, for example. Multiple research firms indicate that the average cost of manually processing invoices ranges from $16 to $22 per invoice. Now, it’s no secret that you have to spend money to make money, but in this example, you could actually be negatively impacting your bottom line each time you scale to the next threshold in your customer portfolio.
Accounts receivable is a process that can be easily automated and benefits smaller organizations as well as larger ones. It’s not about how much revenue you generate or the size of your business, but more about the number of invoices you send and the amount of time you could be saving using A/R automation instead of a manual process.
The Mishaps Of Manual
So many business owners are required to wear so many hats, it’s hard to keep a balance. And oftentimes, they wind up doing everything themselves because it’s the only way they can ensure the task gets completed to their standards and satisfaction. But what they fail to account for is the undeniable potential for human error.
The amount of time you spend creating, sending and following up on payments is substantial. Not to mention, manual processing opens the door for mistakes, like sending incorrect invoices, inconsistently late reminders, wrongful allocation of payments and failure to collect altogether. And this impacts not only your sanity but your capacity to effectively scale and generate revenue.
So, what if you could automate this process altogether?
Just How Much Autonomy Can Automation Give You?
Research validates that the average company will witness savings anywhere between 60%-80% just by automating their A/R processes. Not to mention, it lowers the average cost per invoice to $5, as opposed to the $16-$22 range that typically comes with manual processing.
This not only positively impacts your sanity and your bottom line, but it also gives you one of the most important ingredients for any successful business model: autonomy. The more independence you can create for yourself from your back office, the more time you have to dedicate to the things that help you scale and succeed.
Automating Your A/R
When it comes to automating your A/R, the most important features to look for are customization and consistency. In short, you want to ensure your customers are receiving customized correspondence that looks and sounds like it came from you — with your brand imagery and brand voice. And you want the solution to ensure the kind of consistency that only automation can.
Coherent branding is crucial for a seamless user experience — especially when it comes to invoicing. That last thing you want is for one of your customers to receive a request for payment for your goods and/or services via a medium that doesn’t even look like it’s associated with your company. This can cause cognitive dissonance and have a potentially negative impact on your credibility. No one likes any reason to question the security or legitimacy of any payment transaction. If it comes from you, it should look like it.
And from a consistency perspective, automation is infinitely scalable and undeniably dependable. After all, software never falls asleep, doesn’t get sick and absolutely never forgets. The functionality available in automation allows you to proactively turn on features that remind your customers when invoices are due, gently nudge them when they’re overdue and even close the loop once they’ve been taken care of — consistently.
The most essential thing besides delivering your product is getting paid for it. Switching to an automated A/R solution that can consistently send invoices, reminders and payment updates is one of the most effective ways to future-proof your business and secure your bottom line.
The Strategic Solution
Now, as we know, digital invoicing won’t be the answer for everyone. If you’re only sending a very minimal number of invoices per month, there’s no need to automate it. But for those business owners who are attempting to run a back-office operation based on traditional invoicing and wasting valuable time they could be using to nurture their business, going digital with A/R automation will offer a significant improvement to their ability to scale efficiently.
Ultimately, it’s never too early or too late to improve any process in your business that directly impact your cash flow. And one of the benefits of automating your invoice process is the ease of turning it on. After just a few steps, the automation is ready to handle any number of invoices. And with automation, you’ll be in control of your process flow, which means fewer manual tasks, confidence in the accuracy of your A/R, increased cash flow and fewer late payments as your business continues to grow. And, most importantly, absolutely zero time spent chasing invoices!