3 Companies Who Got Paid Faster by Putting A/R on Auto-Pilot

You don’t have to be a kid to love a good story; that’s why as adults we watch movies, read books, go to plays, and even read them to our own children. But stories serve a purpose that extend beyond pure entertainment, they teach us things too and when it comes to your business, there is no better way to understand the benefits of a new product or methodology than a good case study or success story. It gives you a chance to learn from your peers, not just the company behind the product.  We’ve written countless articles on the benefits of accounts receivable technology for business of all shapes and sizes, but today we’re going to let the stories do the talking.

So without further ado, here are the stories of three very different companies, with three different accounting solutions, in different industries, who all had one problem in common- getting paid on time- and how accounts receivable technology helped them streamline their processes and improve overall A/R performance.

MSPARK Improves Sage 100 ERP A/R and reduces past due receivables by 88%

With over 4,000 customers across the United States, Mspark, a national provider of direct mail, analytics, and digital marketing services, sends thousands of invoices out each month in an industry that is notorious for late paying customers.

ERP System: Sage 100 ERP

Challenge: Prior to automating their process with Anytime Collect A/R management software, the company’s collectors used a combination of their Sage 100 ERP system and spreadsheets to manually track and manage outstanding receivables which was extremely inefficient and keeping them from reaching their DSO and cash flow goals.

“It was very difficult to manage accounts receivable because we could not sort an aged trial balance by amount. That means collectors could have up to 200 pages of information to sort through and our highest dollar accounts were buried somewhere inside those 200 pages, not necessarily at the top where you would want it to be; making it a very long and tedious process.”

Solution: After finding Anytime Collect online, MSPARK set up a demo and made the decision to purchase the next day,“We chose Anytime Collect because it allowed simple sort options and a clearer picture of our collections information with the ability to have updated information each day in respect to aging, payments, and invoices,” said Criswell.

Results: Since implementation of A/R automation software MSPARK has experienced a 26% reduction in DSO, taking their DSO from an average of 38 days to 28 days – they are getting paid 10 days faster! Anytime Collect also helped reduce past due invoices from 18% down to 2% – that’s a reduction of 88%

Additionally, MSPARK experienced a significant reduction in the labor related to collections and has been able to reallocate their resources and reduce the cost of staffing their accounts receivable team and significantly increase process efficiencies and performance.

View the full success story and others in our Resource Library

Hybon Engineering Vaporizes Epicor ERP A/R Inefficiencies with Automation

Trusted by some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, including Chevron Texaco, ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, and several others, Hybon Engineering specializes in low-pressure gas streams. While the company is an industry leader in the control of gas vapors, their control over A/R was less than desirable.

ERP System: Epicor ERP

Challenge: “Our previous ERP system lacked collection management capabilities,” said Nathan Neilitz, IT Director at HY-BON Engineering. “Because of this, our collectors had to switch from one program to the next and dig through personal emails to gather the most recent account information.  We relied heavily on spreadsheets and aging reports which had to be updated manually, so the data was never real-time, and it was prone to human errors. It took a lot of time to prepare for each customer call, we simply weren’t efficient.”

Solution: The company chose to put their A/R on auto-pilot using Epicor Cash Collect, a specialized A/R module for Epicor ERP that replaced spreadsheets by pulling the company’s customer and invoice information into one place so their collectors know exactly who to call, when to call, and why they’re calling, with all of the account, contact, financial, and communication history at their fingertips. The system allows them to get more done in less time without having to hire any additional employees, “Epicor Cash Collect manages everything from the time we send out the invoice until we receive payment. It’s almost like having another full-time accounts receivable resource, because it automates so many steps which saves us time so we can make more calls.”

Measurable Results: The Company’s ability to automate their processes and increase customer touches has results in a 51% reduction in days sales outstanding!

 “What this system has done for us is pull together the three key elements of success; tools, processes and people. Epicor Cash Collect has given us the automation we needed to optimize our processes, and it gives our collectors instant access to the information they need to do their job more efficiently.”

Learn more about Epicor Cash Collect here.

HealthDay Subscribes to Healthier QuickBooks A/R with Process Automation

Providing health related news for over 5,000 websites every day and content to some of the world’s largest media companies, managed care organizations, health-related government offices, and hospital systems, HealthDay had a big job to do, and a huge number of monthly invoices to prove it. Unfortunately their manual processes did not help them collect those invoices on time and their cash flow was suffering because of it.

ERP system: QuickBooks

Challenge: QuickBooks did not have the advanced tools or automation required to help the organization manage their thousands of invoices efficiently or effectively, “each time I had to send out an invoice to a client, there was this collection process:  I had to open Acrobat, create a PDF invoice, save it, go back to my email, attach it – so it was this whole thing with several steps just to set up an invoice – one invoice – to be sent to a client.”

ERP system: QuickBooks

Challenge: QuickBooks did not have the advanced tools or automation required to help the organization manage their thousands of invoices efficiently or effectively, “each time I had to send out an invoice to a client, there was this collection process:  I had to open Acrobat, create a PDF invoice, save it, go back to my email, attach it – so it was this whole thing with several steps just to set up an invoice – one invoice – to be sent to a client.”

Solution: Anytime Collect was integrated with the organizations QuickBooks software to automate email communications, centralize collection information, and much more. The A/R collector at Healthyday was especially pleased with automated email communications, invoice delivery, PDF creation, cash flow forecasting and dispute resolution features. Learn more about the company’s favorite features here.

Measurable Results: Anytime Collect has significantly reduced aging accounts and dramatically increased HealthDay’s efficiency in respect to collections. With the help of automation, Healthday was able to reduce the number of invoices that age to 120 days or more by at least 10%.

“I appreciate every advantage Anytime Collect can give me to save time so I can concentrate on identifying and solving issues with accounts and work on running the Accounting Department instead of just preparing invoices and emails to go out.”

Learn more about automating QuickBooks A/R and start a free trial here.

Take the next step:

Are you ready to see your own story become a success? While A/R automation is highly suggested, it’s not the only way to improve receivables performance in your company. For example, there are a number of things (18 in fact) that you can do to make your invoice collection calls more successful!

Attend our upcoming webinar “18 Invoice Collection Call Strategies & Best Practices for Getting Paid Faster,” so you can design and implement a more effective collection call strategy and shorten the order to cash cycle with less effort. Click below to learn more and save your spot today!