A/R technology: 5 things to evaluate before investing

Cloud-based A/R is rapidly becoming a must-have for businesses of all sizes. But where is A/R technology heading, and what should you expect it to do?

Here are some key trends where this fintech is evolving.

Can your A/R tech do this?

When narrowing down vendor offerings, draw a circle around:

A/R solutions that are tools for predicting future cash flow. Real-time dashboards and other tools provide transparency across the A/R process, providing instant access to critical data like delivery status, amount owed and payment due dates, which optimizes cash forecasting and delivers insights on opportunities for improvement.

Request a demo for any cloud-based A/R solution that uses AI, machine learning and/or benchmarking to be a single source of data for informing accurate cash collection predictions.

Software that covers more of your A/R cycle. Because A/R tech providers are aiming to serve the broadest spectrum of businesses possible, automation platforms can get involved as early as the quote stage and cover every step along the way, ultimately to cash application.

Features like autonomous dunning and robotics can replace time-consuming manual tasks to free up staff for more strategic duties. This is especially important if you’re having a hard time finding and keeping experienced Finance pros.

End-to-end A/R automation can cut labor, printing and mailing costs, as well as improve invoicing efficiency, security and compliance.

Platforms with system integration and syncing as primary functions. Delve deep into this with any vendors on your short list. If a solution can’t connect A/R with your accounting, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management or data warehousing services, it probably isn’t worth the investment.

A/R tech that mines customer data to provide new insights. Data mining can reveal customer trends which can be leveraged to boost the bottom line that your team may be missing. Today’s fintech can automatically perform deduction analysis on specific customers to provide useful information, such as servicing costs, profitability and growth potential.

A program that performs credit quality analysis. Because businesses are facing higher financing costs and a potential recession, you may require a deeper credit risk analysis than what was needed the past few years. Solutions are on the market that keep an eye on trends like credit default swaps and downgrades of debt by agencies such as Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch.