A successful selling point for MSPs is that you help your customers grow their business by maintaining their IT infrastructure. While you’re taking care of cybersecurity and updating hardware, they’re free to better serve their clients and grow a successful company.
Automating your accounts receivable (AR) process provides you with the same benefits. The right platform handles time-consuming tasks, giving time back to your employees while expediting billing and getting you paid faster than ever.
Here are five ways AR automation helps MSPs save time:
1. Automated reconciliation
Reconciling invoices is essential when it comes to accurate cashflow management. But reconciliation done right requires a lot of time, especially if your process is done entirely by hand. Repetitive work like this also burns out and bores employees.
AR automation seamlessly and efficiently matches invoices to payments. Completed invoices are stored digitally in a secure, tokenized platform and can be accessed in seconds. That way, you won’t have to waste time rummaging through paperwork when looking up payment histories or resolving issues with clients. AR automation is completely scalable and grows along with your business, eliminating the risk of overwhelming your staff as your volume increases.
2. Data availability
Technology is always evolving. Competing in the MSP space means providing customers with the most modern, cutting-edge products. That requires capital and the data necessary to know when it’s the right time to spend.
The right AR automation platform offers a clean, easy-to-read dashboard that updates crucial metrics – Days Sales Outstanding, AR aging, etc. - in real time and puts them right at your fingertips. That way, you don’t have to waste time crunching numbers or outsourcing cashflow analysis and waiting weeks for the results. AR automation presents the info you need right when you need it, enabling you to make quick, well-informed financial decisions that keep you ahead of your competitors.
3. Enhanced customer communication
You can empathize with your customers about the hours and energy it takes to run a successful business. Owners can’t afford to waste time waiting for a response, especially if they have a question about a specific bill or balance.
Real-time customer collaboration tools are available with AR automation, enabling you and your customers to chat directly and bring a swift resolution whenever issues arise. Your employees will no longer waste time sending emails or making calls that go unanswered. With AR automation, you’ll be able to attach pictures, receipts, and other documents to customizable instant messages that address the needs of each of your clients. That way, your customers immediately get the information and answers they need to make prompt payments, solidifying the buyer-seller relationship and letting them know you truly care about their business.
4. Versatile payment methods
Check usage may be declining but it’s still a popular payment method, especially in the B2B space. Waiting for checks to arrive can increase your Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), especially if national holidays and weekends get in the way. Employees need to deposit that check and manually reconcile it with the correct invoice. From a security standpoint, relying heavily on check acceptance makes you and your customers susceptible to check fraud.
AR automation provides myriad options that save you time and gets you paid faster. Digital payments made through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) and card usage are far speedier than paying by check and don’t require your employees to take time out of their day to head to the bank. These payment methods are transparent and have clean audit trails, enabling you to access information quickly should your customers have any questions about outstanding balances or their payment history.
5. Eliminates human error
Mistakes happen but that doesn’t mean they hurt any less. They ruin relationships with customers, cost you money, and take time away from daily and strategic tasks.
AR automation is precise when entering data such as customer names and IDs, order numbers, prices, services, etc. This eliminates the risk of typos, omissions, and duplicates, and saves time typically spent contacting customers and resolving billing and payment errors.
Bill360’s AR automation platform was designed specifically to help B2B companies like your MSP get paid faster, increase cash flow, and relieve your employees from labor-intensive accounting chores.
Experience the Bill360 difference yourself. The Bill360 platform and our exclusive features are yours for only $10 a month.
