Streamlining AR for staffing firms, part 2 – A technology framework for staffing firms

By Jim Ackerman, Billtrust Sr. Sales Executive

In my previous post, I discussed ways for mid-to-large staffing companies to leverage technology to stand out from the crowd across two dimensions: cash flow and customer experience.

This time around, I’ll outline a technology framework that will help staffing firms evaluate their current process needs based on who their customers are. Then, we’ll take a look at the benefits a staffing firm can see from using the right technology solution for their AR needs.

Large businesses

If you sell to large businesses (VMS), your order-to-cash process likely faces challenges with:

• Manual data entry of invoice data into VMS Billing Portal.
• Customer deductions, disputes, & short pays.
• Payments affiliated with web portal remittance advice requiring log-in to receive.

One-time emailed credit card payments (virtual cards) which present a trifecta of pains: they (1) require manual labor to open, retrieve, and process, (2) they are the costliest payment channel in the marketplace – fees are often above 3% on these cards, and (3) they represent a significant security risk if employees are being exposed to credit card data.

The best solutions for VMS suppliers will:

• Leverage Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate the delivery of your ERP data into VMS Portals.
• Leverage RPA and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate the scraping of web remittances and matching to payments.
• Leverage machine learning models tailored for your firm, your unique customer invoices and your VMS invoices.
• Automate Cash Application from all payment channels.
• Automate the intake and processing of all virtual card payments and ensure Level II/III interchange rates in a secure environment.

When one staffing firm adopted Billtrust’s Cash Application solution, it was after comparing it to BlackLine and High Radius offerings to see how well it fulfilled the framework I’ve just laid out.  For this firm, the level of automation our solution delivered was a tipping point in making the decision. 

With one competing platform, for example, they would “always going to have to be maintaining something.”  The level of AR automation Billtrust Cash Application provided made it far simpler for the firm to engage with new AP portals.

This more advanced level of automation allowed the Billtrust system to retrieve remittances from portals, saving them an enormous amount of time. It was another benefit they didn’t find with competing solutions.

If it seems like I’m stumping for our own product, that’s true. That’s because it delivers meaningful advantages and benefits for staffing firms that other solutions haven’t yet been able to offer. After all, the goal should be to meet the many varying needs of different staffing firms. Those benefits are what matter most, no matter which provider is achieving them.

Missed Part 1 of the series? Catch it here: Achieving a World-Class Billing Experience.