The month-end close can be a major additional burden for your team, especially during the pandemic when you may be understaffed or have staff working remotely. It can keep them from collection activities and reduce cash flow.
Companies want to report as much cash as possible at month and quarter end. This can be problematic, however, if your AR team is fielding calls from customers, and performing needless clerical activities.
Self-service payments can relieve your team of needless manual tasks and unnecessary phone calls, freeing them up to focus on customer contact and collections.
Here is how to free up your AR team during month-end close.
Questions on Payments and Application
During the month-end close your customers need to reconcile and balance AP just as your team needs to do for AR. This can create an extra burden. Answering payment receipt and application questions for customers that pay by check or initiate payments electronically over the phone can burn up a lot of time.
Calls to find out whether or where a payment was received and applied no longer happen with self-service payments. Customers already know the payment details. They made the payment and application themselves.
Payments
With self-service customers don’t need to call your team to make electronic payments, or pay by check which requires more time to handle on your end. Self-service payments free up time that your team can spend more productively contacting customers to collect accounts receivable.
Documents
Customers can access documents including invoices or statements with self-service. This eliminates phone calls to get copies, and the time needed to send them.
Customers want the flexibility of self-service. It gives them the ability to work wherever and whenever they want. Customers don’t want to be tied to your hours, or have to call your team to answer payment application questions, make payments or request document copies.
Self-service is a logical extension of office automation. It gives your customers a stake in the business process, and saves time and reduces costs. Automating credit and collections activities helps to increase profits and cash flow.
With a connected accounting solution for your AR and AP teams to coordinate work with customers and vendors, you can go digital and enjoy the benefits of office automation.
Lockstep, a leader in cloud-based connected accounting solutions, can help you boost productivity and optimize cash flow with:
- Digital Onboarding – Collect master data directly from your customers and vendors
- Accounting Inbox – Make it easy to divvy up work and track progress
- Smart Automation – Automate menial task with accounting integration
- Online Accounts – Give customers and vendors online access to their accounts
Lockstep is an experienced software partner that can help you increase efficiency and accelerate cash flow.
If you would like to learn more about how you can benefit from connected accounting solutions, please contact Lockstep at www.lockstep.io
