Traditionally, the back office has been populated by the number crunchers: the men and women who used to be characterized by expertise in accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) via Excel spreadsheets and probably a lot of coffee. But that’s not the case anymore.
“The important thing to remember with AP and AR is that it’s not just about the business payment,” Evan Christopher, senior director of platform strategy at FIS, told PYMNTS. “It’s about managing relationships, purchase-related processes and tons of data, along with the matching and reconciliation process.”
Manual processes still abound in managing AP and AR — keeping track of money in and money out. Order-to-cash and procure-to-pay cycles are not infallible when the touch points are numerous and there are so many hands on deck.
“It’s a significant process for every company, and there’s no cookie-cutter approach,” Christopher said. “Each company has distinct needs” and industries.
Christopher is among those who believe that with AP and AR automation software, companies can turn AP and AR management from a logistics challenge into an endeavor that simplifies the entire operation. Ideally, technology contextualizes each payment and the surrounding information to then give executives the firepower to make strategic and intelligent decisions as software “pulls in” remittance data quickly. They can also analyze the payments to match any implications for cash flow and working capital.
Enhanced back-office functions “become a strategic lever that drives better economics for the business,” he said.
Although technologies have advanced through the past few years, there’s still room for improvement, and the B2B space is a vast arena, still dominated by paper checks and even paper invoices.
Newly launched Atelio is FIS’ FinTech platform that provides the building blocks for financial institutions, businesses and software developers to embed their financial services into their offerings. The platform encompasses Automated Finance, a comprehensive suite of payables automation, receivables automation and revenue optimization tools that modernize the office of the CFO.
According to Christopher, Atelio has already made impacts on its clients’ workflows, transforming cumbersome processes into streamlined, efficient operations. He shared an example of one client who converted 20% of its check volume over to card, which not only made the process more seamless and reduced the potential for fraud but also generated over $100,000 in rebates. The automation of these processes allows companies to reallocate resources required to manage AP and AR into other value-added areas, without compromising on efficiency. A manufacturing client reduced its resources required by about 15% to 20% using AR automation software, he said, and was able to reduce its overdue AR and collect more invoices.
Cash flow management and maintaining healthy vendor relationships are critical for any business. Atelio’s Automated Finance suite plays a role in this by using data and analytics to inform decisions.
“It’s all about being smarter, [faster] and really enhancing DSO and DPO depending on the side of the equation,” he said.
This means that companies can better manage their days sales outstanding (DSO) and days payable outstanding (DPO), optimizing their cash flow positions.
The integration of data models helps in predicting vendor and credit risks, which is essential for managing cash flow and maintaining vendor relationships. By providing insights into the best times and methods for making payments, he said Automated Finance allows businesses to extend their working capital positions and make informed decisions about their finances.
But it’s not one size fits all. Christopher stressed the importance of this flexibility.
“Each company is going to be distinct with their unique needs based on their size, ERP used, industry nuances, and specific relationships and touch points,” he said.
The Atelio platform offers functionality and scale that can meet challenges across different company types and industries, he said. This configurability ensures that the solutions are tailored to the specific requirements of each business.
“It’s all about making the journey smoother and taking some of these challenges off their plates,” Christopher said, highlighting the platform’s bespoke offerings.
The integration of automation and artificial intelligence into Atelio’s solution is a key differentiator. For instance, Atelio’s automated finance tool, GETPAID, handles end-to-end process automation from credit management to collections to reconciliations, reducing manual tasks. On the artificial intelligence (AI) side, Predictive Metrics forecasts payment trends and company behaviors, helping businesses identify risks and optimize working capital.
“AI comes up in almost every FinTech company at this point, but I think B2B payments is one of the most prime applications for it,” Evan said. “Without AI on top of all this data, I don’t think we could provide those kinds of insights.”
Data generation and analytics are integral to the benefits provided by Atelio. The platform’s ability to quickly analyze payments, match and allocate them correctly helps businesses make informed strategic decisions.
“Data and analytics are crucial in the process, helping contextualize each payment and the surrounding information to then make it strategic and intelligent,” Christopher said.
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