Running a business is hard work. You’re always working on ways to be more efficient, save money, and make your team happier. But in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of things, you might not be getting the most important task done: making sure your company has enough cash on-hand to meet its obligations.
Businesses today have various payment-related needs – from optimizing working capital to saving money. That’s why business payment automation is highly recommended. This blog post will discuss common reasons to automate payments that range from optimizing working capital and saving money to improving efficiency and visibility of information.
What Is Business Payment Automation?
Automation is the process of executing a task without any human involvement. Business payment automation refers to the automated process of sending and receiving money from various sources. This can include using credit or debit card terminals to accept credit and debit cards from customers, vendors, and affiliates.
It can also include making payments via ACH (Automated Clearing House) or wire transfer to deduct money from a bank account. To automate the payment process, you can use Solidgate services. This global fintech company provides businesses with payment processing solutions for no-fuss online purchases.
Reasons To Automate Business Payments
The benefits of automating business payments are varied. This section looks at the most common reasons to automate business payments.
Faster Cycle Times
Everybody knows that “time is money.” The more business payments are automated, the more ROI will be in the company. It also means faster invoice processing, optimizing your working capital, etc. Using an automated billing solution means you can access your funds as soon as you’ve charged a customer for a service or product, with no waiting periods on wire transfers or checks.
Cheaper Transactions
It’s all about cost. Paper check processing is much more expensive than electronic checks. You can use an automated billing solution that uses vendor management software that can process and make payments for you on behalf of your company.
Fraud Prevention
Paper checks are a payment method most frequently targeted to commit fraud. Payment automation allows you to monitor the process and increase security and audit trail.
Reduced Errors & Duplicate Payments
Using an automated billing solution will help decrease errors and make sure payments are accurately recorded and processed. It helps to reduce duplicate payments for the same customer when clients use different merchant IDs for electronic payments and orders (ACH).
Using an intelligent automated payment processing service, you’ll know exactly which of your clients have placed orders with each merchant ID, and you can track those orders to ensure you’re not issuing duplicate charges or credits.
Increased Visibility
Automated business payments also provide better visibility for your business. This includes having a clear view of all your invoices and when they are due so you can match them with money received and save on late fees. You also receive more financial data and analytics for your business improvement.
Additional Discounts
Many customers claim that paper checks reduce early-payment discounts. In another way, payment automation can improve discount processes and enable more opportunities to optimize working capital.
Fewer Supplier Inquiries
When using paper checks, it takes a lot of time to communicate with suppliers about invoices and payment status. Automation payments offer real-time visibility of transaction statuses, reducing the time for various negotiations. It also helps to improve supplier and other business relations.
Increased Supplier Satisfaction
Shorter payment cycles mean that suppliers will receive money faster and reduce their days sales outstanding.
Better Cash Flow
Another benefit of automating business payments is that it will help you manage cash flow. Limiting the number of transactions or the periods that payments can sit in your accounts will reduce potential risks to your company – such as accidentally spending too much money in a season or having insufficient funds because you’ve under-invested.
Moreover, payment automation can unite multiple payment methods, like credit or debit cards, mobile payments, eChecks, etc. As a result, you will have a better cash flow for the business.
The Bottom Line
Automating business payments is one way to improve your business’s efficiency, visibility, and relationships between all parties involved. By automating business payments, you’ll be able to identify any problems that may be a hindering process in your company and how you can fix them with easy solutions available online today.
To get a complete picture of your business transactions, you can use fintech companies that provide payment processing solutions for hassle-free online transactions anytime and anywhere.
