AI is at the forefront of many of today’s business conversations – how it is currently being used, what is coming next, and is it worth the investment. What is missing from many of these conversations is the discussion around what business challenges are core problems that AI can solve. Once you understand the issues in your business, you can better evaluate if the right answer is truly AI or if the solution is automation or process change.
It’s no secret that manual accounts receivable processes cost money. What’s harder to see is their full impact: payments that arrive late or never arrive, tighter cash flow, more staff time spent on repetitive work, and an AR workload that becomes harder to manage as the business grows.
Will AI Solve My Accounts Receivable Problems?
AI can help make predictions of late payments, answer natural language questions, or help to detect fraud or suspicious transactions. But a lot of the typical functions that are assumed to require AI are automations available today built directly into apps like iPayments for Dynamics 365 Business Central. These automations can help eliminate manual processes and keep the AR process moving faster.
- Automate recurring payments
- Automatically reconcile credit card payments to the GL
- Prioritize email sends
- Automate collections reminders with escalated messaging
- Streamline collections by marking promise to pay complete upon invoice payment, note records automatically added, or when automatically assigning alternate collectors
By shifting your AR processes from manual to automated, you’re able to take advantage of tools that help your team work faster and allow the system to do much of the work for you.
AI v Automation
| If your team struggles with | Start with | Solution for Business Central |
|---|---|---|
| Sending the same reminders every month | Automatic email sends | iPayments |
| Applying and reconciling payments manually | Click to pay links for ACH and credit card that automatically reconcile within Business Central | Click to Pay links in iPayments |
| Finding answers across a large volume of AR data | AI assisted analysis | AI |
| Sending reminders on past due invoices | Automatic messaging for past due reminders based on aging buckets within Advanced Collections Management for Business Central | Advanced Collections Management in iPayments |
| Predicting who will pay late | Predictive AI | AI |
| Manual payment application | Automate cash application through online payment portals and automatic reconciliation to accounts. | Customer Portal and Click to Pay links in iPayments |
| Customer payment friction | Provide a customer portal with access to invoices, ability to make full or partial payments, visibility to orders and shipping information. | Customer Portal in iPayments |
Do you Need AI in Accounts Receivable?
AI will most certainly be a helpful tool in Accounts Receivable. But starting with immediately actionable items will help you better understand where AI will be more effective, and where you can employ automations to streamline the manual or repetitive work that your team manages today.
By evaluating the steps that delay payment, are the most time consuming or create the most customer frustration can help you create a baseline for what adjustments you should consider now.
Opportunities That Come from Automation in Accounts Receivable
Automating repetitive work gives your team more time for tasks that require their expertise. With fewer manual steps, your accounts receivable team can handle growing payment volume without adding the same amount of work. AI can help where it solves a specific problem, but automation alone can make a meaningful difference.
Take the Quiz – What’s Slowing Down Your AR Team
