Is AR Ready For A Digital Revolution?

The switch from physical to digital – especially for long-standing manual processes like accounts receivables – can be tricky for companies to put into practice.

But sometimes digitization has the power to completely transform how a business operates.

“Businesses today have access to a wide variety of game-changing technologies that boost operational efficiencies and automate processes which would otherwise cost thousands of dollars and hours in manual labor,” the latest eBook from Billtrust explains, adding how imperative it is that organizations adopt digital best practices as part of their strategic initiatives.

Digital revolutionaries have left customers with the expectancy of intuitive user interfaces and around-the-clock availability. Those companies that can’t answer the call by incorporating speed and automation into their business practices may just be left in the dust, the eBook noted.

But the good news is, Billtrust explained, it’s not too late to digitize.

For many businesses, accounts receivables remain a lagging piece of the puzzle that has yet to catch up to the digital revolution. In most cases, these departments are still printing and mailing invoices in-house, and then manually processing checks and applying cash.

“The truth is that AR teams are in dire need of a ‘Netflix Solution’ – an electronic answer to manual mailings, inefficient remittance processing and the lack of customer self-service,” the eBook explained.

With the ability to stream content to its more than 81 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix has become synonymous with the ability to binge watch movies and television shows across a growing list of digital devices.

But it hasn’t always been that easy. Before introducing its online streaming service in 2007, the company relied solely on manual practices to process and deliver its physical DVDs. It’s no wonder the company was dealing with slowing growth and a stalled stock price.

In what Billtrust describes as Netflix’s digital revolution, the company was able to embrace digitization and automation, leading it to become the streaming giant most consumers know today.

According to the eBook, titled “The Digital Revolution: What Netflix Teaches Us About Digitization and Automation,” Netflix’s digital success story is one that many other businesses can learn from.

Unfortunately for companies like Blockbuster, Kodak and Borders, either not embracing the digital revolution or being too late to the game ended up contributing to their downfall.

Netflix’s move to digital opened up the door for its customers to have instant access to the content they wanted to see – without the worry of keeping up with DVDs or worrying about them getting lost or damaged in the mail.

Customer satisfaction is another important takeaway from Netflix’s journey to digital.

Thanks to companies like Netflix and Amazon, customers’ expectations have evolved almost as quickly as the advancing technologies entering the marketplace.

Billtrust pointed out the five best practices that every company should keep in mind if they want to implement a digital AR strategy – one that is not only cost-effective but has the right strategy and technology behind it.

The eBook suggests that companies should leverage their existing ERP system, maximize efficiency with 100 percent automation, keep user experience top of mind as a key factor to success, digitize data reporting, and migrate consumers to electronic solutions with the right marketing and education.

Billtrust’s Payment Cycle Management solution is looking to help companies start their own digital revolutions through the automating and digitizing the invoice-to-cash process.

“To get all of the cost and resource saving benefits of automation, you need an end-to-end digital strategy that automates not some, but all of your AR processes,” the eBook added. “Automating the only part of AR process will make your system inefficient and hold up your cash flow, defeating the entire purpose.”

With digitization and automation in place, along with the right seamless experience and incentives to get customers on board, companies can be well on their way to jumping on the digital bandwagon and possibly having their own “Netflix success story” to tell.

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