The cost of doing business is rising. The annual inflation rate for the United States was 3.5% for the 12 months ending March, compared to the previous rate of 3.2%, according to U.S. Labor Department data published on April 10, 2024. Coupled with rising labor costs, the supply chain roller coaster, and a steady increase in the cost of goods and materials, it’s more important than ever for today’s businesses to become more agile and efficient.
You need to anticipate customer’s reactions to changes in pricing, supply chain delays, and your overall engagement with them in order to continue to drive your business forward, retain clients, and accelerate growth. You need to dive deep into your data to understand leading indicators of success or failure, and adjust as necessary. And you need to better understand the tactics you can put in place today to immediately become more efficient and smarter with your resources and time.
A key area to start with is how you process payments. Every company, no matter the size, has to process payments from customers and vendors, making it a no-brainer to assess impact and efficiency in this area.
- Evaluate how much manual entry is being completed
- Do you have to manually hit print/send after posting an invoice?
- Are your customers paying by check, requiring additional manual work for you to process that payment?
- Do you have to create multiple entries in different systems to reconcile payments?
- Assess credit card fees
Accepting credit cards is the fastest way to speed up the payment process. However, it can also lead to a mountain of fees, cutting into your bottom line. If you don’t know what fees you’re being assessed, now is the time to dive in. Once you understand your fee structure with credit card processors, you can set a goal to reduce or eliminate credit card fees.
A key data point for you to track is time to payment. Are your customers paying on time? Or are they continuously breaking your contract related to time of payment? And is that a widespread issue or is it contained to one or two customers? If it’s a widespread issue, or if your time to payment is longer than you would like it to be, it’s time to evaluate your processes and identify areas of improvement. Consider how you can apply:
- Automatic payment at time of shipment
- Automated payment reminders and late notices
- Additional and preferred payment types
- Self-service online payment options
If you’re using Dynamics 365 Business Central, you’re already at an advantage. Out of the box it includes a lot of the features and functionality you need to better understand your data and your customers. Most Dynamics 365 Business Central users need additional functionality if they want to get serious about speeding their time to payment and driving financial success for their business.
Pretty much immediately after deploying iSolutions for Business Central, you can reduce or eliminate many of the manual processes that increase business cost and slow down time to payment.
- SABRE, a manufacturer of pepper spray and other personal safety devices, reduced credit card transaction fees by approximately 20% after implementing iSolutions. They also decrease average days sales outstanding, speeding up cash flow. Read more in the case study.
- Image Source, a branded merchandise and apparel agency, saved 20 hours per week in admin resource time by implementing iSolutions automated collections module. Read more in the case study.
- SDiFire, a provider of fire protection equipment, reduced the time their sales team spent creating quotes and turning them into sales orders by 50% and they estimate customers have reduced their time they spend paying invoices by a similar amount. Read more in the case study.
Reach out to iSolutions for help evaluating your payment processes. Our team of experts will help identify where you can eliminate credit card fees and speed time to payment.