Order-to-Cash (O2C) is a simple but critical process that impacts the business’ bottom line. However, when handled manually, it can be time-consuming and, as such, prone to errors. Fortunately, intelligent automation that combines robotic process automation, analytics, and AI can save the day by reducing repetitive manual-heavy processes, free up the workforce, and eliminate human errors.
As CFOs take on a more strategic role within the business, the challenges they face today include:
Improving working capital : Increased global competition and technology-driven disruption is putting pressure on enterprises to drive growth through innovation.
Continuous innovation : Cash flow and liquidity are critical for any business. Enterprises have traditionally tried to manage cash flow and working capital by increasing days payable outstanding (DPO). Sometimes, they would also resort to delaying payments to vendors/ suppliers. However, government and regulatory pressure have forced prompt supplier payments and negated DPO as a sustainable way to manage working capital.
Greater efficiency : ERP investment has largely over-promised and under-delivered, and time-consuming manual effort still dominates in many areas of finance. This is particularly true in the order-to-cash (O2C) process, which has seen little or no reduction in the number of staff it takes to process customer orders, invoice, chase and receive payments and handle reconciliations and cash management. And in many cases, headcount has even increased as new processes have been introduced to tighten credit controls and reduce the risk of bad debt.
Business partnering : As finance takes on a more strategic role within organizations, it’s vital that CFOs free staff from the manual drudgery of chasing numbers and invoices to be able to go out into the business and work as partners.
These challenges are best met through O2C process automation as the agile and intelligent solution provides greater visibility and deeper insights.
CFOs have greater responsibilities, working with large volumes of hard-to-manage data in a limited time. It can be challenging to deliver actionable, forward-thinking insights to adapt or grow in changing financial markets. Dedicated O2C technology and AI benefits CFOs in different ways and helps them bring the enterprise into Industry 4.0 seamlessly.
Automating O2C processes brings a significant change to managing the enterprise. It can be done in one shot or incrementally. The objective is to mitigate risks and improve the bottom line. There are a few best practices that can stand you in good stead with regard to O2C automation.
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Clearly, O2C automation empowers CFOs by bringing about a stronger data-driven foundation to the enterprise. With a faster and stronger O2C cycle, they can help enterprises enhance workforce performance, minimize lead times, and improve cash flow management. In a nutshell, with O2C automation, there’s a better chance of delivering significant resilience and growth across the enterprise. By bots save times and improve efficiency order to cash automation cycle in oracle