Accounts Receivable is changing. What was standard practice 20 years ago, is obsolete today. New technologies are transforming every aspect of the invoice-to-cash cycle, from how we send invoices and accept payments, to how our customers expect to engage with us. Finance organizations across all industries need to evolve to stay competitive. IDC recognizes this change and in March 2019 released the inaugural MarketScape for Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Accounts Receivable Applications. The MarketScape is an in-depth analysis of the AR software companies that have taken great strides to address the challenges faced by today’s AR professionals. IDC has profiled and assessed the capabilities of these software companies and has named VersaPay as a leader - the highest possible designation.     The MarketScape report evaluated 8 accounts receivable software vendors across a number of different criteria, including how they addressed these top AR challenges: Data management Process management Time management Customer management Payment management Cash management The report noted that “AR is incredibly nuanced and extremely challenging” and provided the following advice for technology buyers: “Accounting applications are evolving rapidly as vendors are investing research and development dollars into bolstering, augmenting, and, in some cases, redesigning their AR applications. Read More

Each week, I speak to several accounting, collections and lease administration professionals in the property management and commercial real estate space. In all of those conversations, there is one question that I will always be sure to ask: Do you accept credit card? The answer usually falls on the spectrum of a ‘yes, but…’ to a resounding ‘no’. Many landlords and property managers are weary of accepting credit card for one primary reason: It’s too expensive. Why pay transaction fees on credit cards when tenants pay via check or ACH? Both, in theory, low-cost methods to accept payment. I urge you to think differently. How much does it really cost you to process a check? Lockbox fees, bounced checks, chasing short payments, “checks in the mail” delays and labor intensive cash application are just the start. Many tenants want to pay with credit cards and by not accepting them, you may be providing a poor tenant experience. I’d hate to think what “Sorry, we don’t take credit card” will cost you in the long run. So how do you reconcile the desire to be cost effective with the need to provide tenants with a great payment experience? Think strategically. Stop Read More

I’ve been through more budget planning cycles than I’d like to admit, and regardless of the company, the process is essentially the same. Teams scramble to generate ideas and put together decks outlining why their project should be bumped to the top of the priority list for the upcoming fiscal year, and paint a picture of doom for the poor executive team if they forgo the proposed project. It’s a painful process for all involved, and the jury is still out on how “scientific” the results are when it comes to choosing the right priorities. With those truths in mind, today I’m going to help you power-up your planning process. Maximizing your chances of success when it comes to pitching your project and actually helping your leadership team prioritize IT projects for the new year. Pitching to Win When it comes to pitching IT projects, I like Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez’s hierarchy of purpose because it forces a discipline around viewing and pitching projects through an organizational lens, as opposed to through a departmental lens (which is often where we start). Part 1 - Laying Strong Foundations The first two elements of this hierarchy will force you to step back and widen Read More

In celebration of the first annual National Accounts Receivable Appreciation Day, we wanted to shine a light on you, the AR professional, and the huge task you are responsible for delivering each and every day. 1. 49% of B2B invoices in America are overdue Nearly half of all B2B invoices in America are overdue and almost all of B2B businesses in America (93%) have reported receiving late payments. 2. 66 days is the average DSO 50% of global payments are made between 31 and 90 days with 66 days being the average DSO globally. That number is much higher when you look at industries with long manufacturing processes. The Electronics, Machinery and Construction sectors all have average DSOs of above 85 days. 3. 26% of payment delays caused by incorrect information on invoices Incorrect information on invoices is the reason for ¼ of payment delays in America and 21% of delays are caused by invoices being sent to the wrong person. 4. 400 billion invoices are produced each year It’s estimated that 400 billion paper and electronic invoices are produced around the world every year. When you include supporting documents and other “invoice-like” documents, that number grows by 5 to Read More

New technologies are transforming every aspect of business. From mobile to cloud, AI, IoT, RPA, blockchain and more, organizations who have undergone a digital transformation are experiencing more streamlined processes, unprecedented efficiencies, deeper insights and happier customers. As finance is traditionally considered a back-office function, it is often overlooked for cutting-edge digital projects. It’s up to the CFO to champion for change. But how can you, as that finance leader, be sure of the need? Here are 4 questions you can ask yourself to discover if your finance organization needs a digital transformation: 1. Am I armed for leadership table discussions? Of all the players who sit at the leadership table, only the CFO or the senior finance executive can speak to the company’s ability to handle the ongoing cost of doing business. In order to provide actionable insight, you need systems in place that arm you with accurate, real-time data. You require complete visibility over the organization’s working capital and receivables, including: days sales outstanding, accounts receivable risks, the cost of the collections process, customers at risk, and much more. Do your current finance systems provide you with the clear and concise reports you need to be fully prepared? Read More

In this age of seemingly endless "disruptive" finance technologies, there are a number of areas where CFOs can choose to invest. The key is to invest in the technologies that will benefit your customers, your end-users, and your organization not just now, but over the long term. One area that bears heavy consideration for those disruption dollars is your customer experience. Though not normally considered the responsibility of the AR or finance teams, keeping customers happy must be a shared duty. Why? Because today’s customers demand it. For a customer to be truly happy - to the point where they part with money, repeatedly, and recommend others to do the same - they require a great experience with every interaction, including post-sale billing and payments. The accounts receivable process has a vital impact on the customer experience. If it’s easy, seamless and quick, the customer will remember it as one part of a great experience. If it’s long, complicated and cumbersome, the customer will remember it instead of the great experience. Investing in ways to provide a pleasant and predictable accounts receivable process is vital to organizational success. Customers want to pay you in full and on time but become Read More

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. The key to increasing cash flow on a consistent basis is to collect payments faster, decrease Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and reduce business expenses. Although an area of finance commonly overlooked – and in large part because it has been overlooked for so long – the Accounts Receivable department can achieve these goals by creating efficiencies in the invoice-to-cash process. And the fastest and most effective way of doing that? Automate. How AR Automation Increases Working Capital Automating the accounts receivable process: Allows B2B buyers to pay online using secure electronic payment options, thereby reducing the business expenses of processing paper transactions, Optimizes the invoice delivery channel so that invoices can be accurately tracked as received and read, providing greater visibility for the collections team so they can apply their time more effectively, Optimizes the invoice delivery timing so invoices are sent out right away (and the faster an invoice is sent out, the faster a payment is received), Ensures communications with the customer are routine and consistent, thereby enhancing the relationship with the customer so they pay on time or early, Automatically alerts customers when payments are due, past due, or Read More

VersaPay was featured in the December 2018 issue of CFO Tech Outlook. In the cover story, our CEO Craig O’Neill explains the idea behind VersaPay, how VersaPay ARC empowers organizations through automation, and the many benefits of a holistic platform. Click here to download and read the full story.

I’ve been away from the accounts receivables automation space for the past 15 months and, now that I’m back, it’s clear that a lot has changed in that short amount of time. Electronic payments are not only becoming top of mind, but becoming a core customer requirement. The popularity of topics such as migration to electronic payments, getting clients to participate, and tools available to help facilitate the transition was evidenced at a recent CRF show. Through discussions at that event, one issue began to stand out: most companies wanted or were being asked to transition, however, few had outlined a clear path toward the migration. This blog was written to help those companies who were starting down the path of transition, by outlining the considerations to look for, and the items to avoid. First, I feel compelled to share that I have heard virtually every excuse in the book for why clients won’t join in electronic payment transformation, including: My biggest clients won’t do this Our clients don’t have computers We are a hand hold customer service business The list goes on and on. Although I find all of these to be true in some sense, it’s important to Read More

I was cleaning out the top drawer of my dresser the other day and came across a sealed box of check books. Isn’t it amazing how the world has changed to a point where in our personal lives we pay for nearly everything electronically? I rarely visit the bank to get cash, and truly can’t recall the last time I wrote a check (as evidenced through the untouched bank of checks I found tucked behind my socks). So, if paying electronically is the norm in our personal lives, why is it so different in our professional lives? While many companies recognize the value of electronic payments (the benefits of which include automated cash application, faster settlement, and more visibility), they have generally failed to materially change how their customers pay them. Writing paper checks is still the most common form of payment in B2B. Further, when business customers actually do pay electronically, it is likely that they are pushing the payment from their bank via ACH or EFT without the valuable remittance data (i.e. naked payments) needed for the billing company to realize the benefits. The challenge all boils down to convenience. In our personal lives it is simple and Read More