Top 5 benefits of SaaS solutions for accounts receivable

Accounts receivable professionals are undergoing a rethinking of their processes and are embracing software as a service (SaaS) solutions at a growing rate. Disruptive world events and breakthroughs in technology are fueling the trend, but AR pros are in the driver’s seat.

As more and more AR professionals become aware of the benefits of SaaS solutions for accounts receivable (AR), they’re using that knowledge to help their companies make investments that increase cash flow, streamline processes and grow the positive impacts that accounts receivable teams can have on their businesses.

Read on for the top 5 benefits AR teams have discovered in SaaS solutions.

Accounts receivable teams need to be just as flexible as the businesses that they serve. Paper or office-based processes are by their nature, inflexible. For modern AR teams that wish to serve with business continuity in mind, SaaS solutions offer many possibilities. 

SaaS solutions can be leveraged to automate many manual processes. The use of emailed or downloaded PDFs in credit applications can be transformed by using customizable, web-based forms with built-in automation that guides the customer through the application process. 

Additionally, robust, supplier-hosted customer self-service portals allow customers to view their invoices and pay from anywhere, reducing call pressure on your AR team.

At the end of the day, the biggest reason to move in the direction of SaaS accounts receivable technology is improved financial management across the board. Automated reconciliations not only help to reduce aspects of human error that may pop up otherwise, but are also highly effective for speeding-up operations, improving overall accuracy and taking pressure off of individual team members. If your organization tends to run into AR issues on a rolling basis, SaaS solutions may serve as the fix that’s needed.

Anyone who works in accounts receivable (AR) knows that the faster a payment can be processed, the more quickly cash will be realized and usable for a business. Expediency is one of the advantages of SaaS solutions in the cloud. Payments processed in the cloud are typically completed three-times faster than through alternative processes — a significant difference for companies that process many payments each day.

In the world of business finance, time is always of the essence. SaaS solutions increase cash flow and access to working capital while helping a company keep current on all of their obligations – avoiding the need for unnecessary financing.

Piles of paper invoices, envelopes and checks are a common sight in accounts receivable departments. Processing paper documents is slow, prone to error and very difficult to track.

When you place accounts receivable in the cloud, you can drastically reduce the amount of paper that crosses your desk or ends up in a customer’s mailbox. The speed, flexibility and insights gained by adopting SaaS processes deliver both tangible and intangible benefits to businesses and AR professionals.

The time it takes to cut a check, mail it and have it processed by the recipient can be the difference between an on-time and a delinquent payment. Because SaaS accounts receivable (AR) solutions allow customers to pay their bills online with ACH, wire or a credit card payment, the time between a customer’s payment and cash application is almost instant.

The future of business will be built on flexibility, efficiency and technological progress, terms that haven’t always been associated with the accounts receivable department. 

But all of that is changing fast as forward thinking AR professionals embrace technologies that will allow them to work smarter and more strategically. With modern tools, accounts receivable (AR) pros are delivering more value for their companies than ever before.

Find the right full-cycle AR SaaS solution, and sit back while your AR processes become far more simplified than you could’ve ever imagined.