The voice of P2P automation from the finance process gurus at PayStream Advisors

Automated Dispute Resolution Workflow

I have visited numerous credit and collections departments over the years and managing disputes still remains a time consuming challenge for many of them. There are several reasons for this, but all are related to the complexity of commercial trading relationships which typically involve multiple points of interaction between trading partners pointing toward an increased need for networking or collaboration solutions.

On the buyer side of the equation you typically have the requisitioner, purchasing agent, receiving, quality assurance, and accounts payable.   Continue Reading +

Calling all Order-to-Cash Leaders

As you might have already heard, PayStream Advisors is co-hosting a virtual Order-to-Cash conference on February 13, 2013 to share best practices and latest industry trends on how to accelerate revenue cycles, optimize cash flow, and enhance customer relationships within the Order-to-Cash process. This is a web-based, virtual conference, meaning you can call in from the comfort of your own home or office.   Continue Reading +

The War on Paper Yields Dividends

Credit departments are awash in paper. Consequently, credit analysts and collectors spend an inordinate amount of time filing documents, searching paper files for documents, distributing documents, copying data from documents, waiting for others to send them documents, reprinting invoices and other documents, and on and on and on. Paper is too often used to bridge the gaps in the order-to-cash process: customer to vendor, vendor to customer, bank to vendor…and even between internal systems: service tickets to billing, returned merchandise to accounting, disputed Invoices/payments to the problem owner, Sales Force Automation to AR Automation, between multiple business units with their own unique systems, and so on.Paper creates inefficiencies because it is timely to process, is subject to getting lost, is expensive to store, and can require transcription of its contents which is redundant and subject to errors.   Continue Reading +

Receivables and Collections Management (RCM) Comes of Age

In the two years since we first did an in depth study of Credit and Collection Technology, I have been extremely impressed by the strides the vendors have made in filling out their solutions.   Continue Reading +

Buyer Initiated Payments - Challenges and Benefits

The introduction of Mastercard's Payment Gateway, coupled with JPMorgan/Xign's AP Trac into the Accounts Payable and B2b world carries with it a striking promise, the promise of Buyer Initiated Payments (BIP). In the traditional card transaction, the seller/vendor/supplier end is the initiating event that starts the payment process.   Continue Reading +

U.S. versus Europe - Leaders, Laggards and Automative Adoption

Have you noticed that the U.S. is a nation of contradictions? This country came up with electricity, the silicon chip, the personal computer, Amazon.com, the iPod, Google, and reality TV (OK, so that's a bad example).   Continue Reading +

From Abe WalkingBear | Old Set Of Givens (Paradigm) Incompatible with Modern Business

Editor's note | The following article was submitted to us by Abe WalkingBear, and can be viewed in full here. It comes from our previous discussion on Buyer Initiated Payments.

Phoenix, AZ:

It happened again. Following my delivery of an after lunch presentation titled "What Top Business Managers Don't Know About Credit and How It Hurts Their Company" several people approached me and said that they had planned to eat and then skip out on my presentation, but they were sure glad they hadn't. This group of distribution and manufacturing executives were no different than many other top business managers who still equate Credit with accounting and with risk management. They learned a different way...and went away with their thinking changed. In his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, first published in 1962..Thomas Kuhn defines a paradigm as an accepted set of givens which provide a model problem and a successful solution that works for that time.   Continue Reading +

Accounts Payable Automation Paves the Road for Enhanced Discount Capture

Until recently, automation efforts in the accounts payable area were focused on invoice and payment management and the operational benefits that technology delivers – cost containment and productivity enhancement.   Continue Reading +

The Breakdown of Internal and External Communication via Web Invoicng, Front-End Imaging

Over the years, Web invoicing solutions have emerged to facilitate external exchange of transaction-related information and funds between buyers and suppliers. On the other hand, front-end imaging and workflow solutions have evolved to meet organizations’ internal needs around invoice receipt and management.   Continue Reading +

Paystream Report: One trillion-plus in stagnent capital due to outdated B2B processes

It seems fitting that the first post to Paystream Voices is one that identifies the extraordinary importance of automation technologies. A new Paystream Advisors Report has identified an enormous amount of untapped capital stagnating in Fortune 1000 companies, that could be freed up with the implementation of Receivables and Collections Management (RCM) automation solutions.   Continue Reading +