Optimising and digitising payment processes and improving customer experiences are vital for businesses wanting to stay ahead of the curve.

Efficient management of accounts receivable is crucial for businesses of all sizes. It serves as the lifeblood of healthy cash flow, enabling businesses to better allocate resources, invest in strategic initiatives, and grow faster.  

The order-to-cash (O2C) and procure-to-pay (P2P) processes are two essential frameworks that help businesses effectively manage their sales, procurement, and payment activities.

In today’s rapidly evolving and fast-paced world, only businesses that adapt and innovate survive. The prospect of economic uncertainty can prompt businesses to adopt sweeping cost-cutting measures as a way of surviving, but this often creates more problems and does not address inefficiencies at their cause.

In recent years, the payments ecosystem has experienced significant transformation, largely brought on by the emergence of new technologies and the acceleration of digital transformation.

Automation remains a hot topic in business, particularly as AI-driven tools gain greater efficiency and the ability to reduce some of the heavy lifting in everyday tasks. For companies looking to optimise the way they operate and realise cost savings, automating key systems and processes can transform a business and its supply chain.

Understanding how to get your customers to pay faster can help you boost and gain greater control over your cash flow.

Inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty remain key threats to businesses as recent global events, such as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the emergency buyout of Credit Suisse by UBS, indicate that decades of relaxed monetary policy and poor risk management have left some companies over-exposed and over-leveraged.

Cash flow is critical no matter what stage of business you are in, but especially in a tough economic environment.

The popularity of eCommerce has exploded over the last three years, with the option to order almost anything online proving popular for retail and wholesale customers. In Australia alone, eCommerce sales were worth $62 billion in 2022, up 8.9 per cent from 2021.

With product supply issues, interest rates rising and the likelihood of a recession growing, SMEs need to proactively secure finance facilities. And they can’t rely on the big banks to help them.

Many companies benefited from a decade of low-interest rates and the fiscal policy measures put in place to minimise the impacts of COVID-19. However, these measures eventually had to taper.