When it comes to managing your organisation’s finances, you need more than just a talented team. You need exceptional tools for your team to use. For many companies, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has become the ERP of choice.  

In this blog post, we’ll look at the advantages of the software, as well as what you’ll need to get the most out of it and optimise your organisation’s financial management.  

In this blog, you'll discover:

What is Business Central
Why you would use Business Central
What Business Central offers for Accounts Receivable teams
How AR automation fills the gaps in business central

What is Business Central? 

Business Central is a comprehensive business management platform designed for small and mid-sized businesses. With it, organisations can track vendor and customer payments, bank reconciliations, and cash flow forecasts. It functions as an Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP), integrating and managing key business processes.  

Why use Business Central? 

Adopting an ERP allows you to integrate vital functions into a single system. When it comes to Business Central, Forbes has named it the “Best Overall” ERP system for 2024. 

It can be either a cloud-based or an on-premise solution and has a mobile app that allows customers to make notes, set tasks, and manage their time. In addition, it provides projections on profitability.  

What does Business Central offer to accounts receivable teams? 

The Business Central ERP is a valuable tool when it comes to managing your finances. AR teams can use it to:  

Create and send invoices based on sales orders or packing slips

Enter free text invoices not related to sales orders

Track invoices and payments received from customers

Settle open invoices with payments or credit notes

That said, AR teams will discover limitations in Business Central if it's their only solution to manage AR. While some helpful features are included, teams will be challenged by: 

Manual invoice presentment that wastes time and makes errors more likely

Limited communication options that make it harder to resolve disputes

Inflexible reporting functionalities that don’t provide enough insight into data

Featured Resource: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Masterclass

How AR Automation and the Business Central ERP Go Hand-in-Hand 

To get the most out of Business Central, you need to combine your ERP with an AR automation solution such as Quadient AR. This will help drive cash flow efficiencies, improvements in customer satisfaction, and more strategic financial management. 

"...among the firms that have deployed AR automation, 87% reported faster processing speeds, 79% said it improved AR teams' efficiency, 75% said it resulted in a better customer experience and 72% said it reduced operating costs."   
-PYMNTS  

Intelligent Collections Management  

Effective collections require an effective strategy. Manual processes are slow and reactive. Not only do they leave your accounts receivable team overworked, but they lead to a ballooning DSO.   

Quadient AR offers smart tools that allow you to take a strategic approach to collections. It eliminates manual tasks, freeing up your accounts receivable team to engage in more strategic work that will stimulate cash flow.   

The software provides you with automated and customisable collections workflows, and you can also create a “rules engine” designed to your specifications. This allows you to customise settings that trigger automatic activities, such as in the instance of issues like a declined payment or customer dispute. Optional actions include sending out a customer communication, notating the account, or creating a to-do item for a team member.   

The software handles tasks like automatically delivering invoices to your customers and regular reminders until payment is received. In the case of a payment going past due, the invoice will be moved into a “late payment” workflow with regular dunning communications going out until the issue is resolved.   

By providing prompt delivery of invoices and consistent reminders, payments are more likely to come in on time, leading to a decrease in DSO. In addition, because your AR team no longer needs to manage these activities manually, they're free to focus their efforts on high-risk accounts and invoices that will have the greatest impact on your cash flow.   

Best-In-Class Payment Prediction  

Quadient AR also helps you combat past due payments and work more strategically. The simple fact of the matter is that despite your best efforts, some customers will still pay late. Quadient AR helps you mitigate this challenge, providing accurate, AI-powered insights into which accounts are likely to pay late and when you can expect cash to come into your business. Using dual algorithms, the software makes these predictions with 94% accuracy providing a near-flawless picture of your cash flow.   

The first algorithm analyses your open accounts receivable and predicts which invoices will be paid past due. The second algorithm looks at past-due invoices and places them in buckets of 30, 60, 90, and 90+ days, detailing when they are most likely to be resolved.   

The software also provides a letter grade that reflects your customers’ last six months of payment activity and highlights whether this grade represents an upward or downward trend.   

By tracking payment behaviour, your AR team can work more strategically. Not only can they better prevent late payments by prioritising high-risk accounts. They can also hold off on following up with reliable customers, which frees up their time and improves the customer experience. 

Featured Resource: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Masterclass

Rapid payments and dispute management  

It seems intuitive to say that the easier it is for customers to make payments, the more likely they are to pay promptly. No one wants to jump through hoops to make a payment, but that’s what manual payment processes require.  

Quadient AR provides customers with a self-service portal where they can manage their accounts. This includes viewing open invoices, payment history, and asking account questions. It also allows them to make immediate payments through the click of a button, paying in their preferred method — be it ACH, credit card, or wire transfer.     

Using the portal, customers can raise disputes. The system assesses the dispute using machine learning and artificial intelligence. After determining the nature of the dispute, it either takes a direct action — such as sending out an invoice in the instance of a customer saying it was never received — or places it in a queue for the AR team to address. 

After payment is received, Quadient AR automatically relays the data back to your ERP so that your team can always access the most up-to-date information.     

Comprehensive Reporting and Essential Insights   

Fragmented data is one of the prime enemies of efficient accounts receivable management and it’s a common challenge of manual AR processes. Data exists in various systems and time is wasted navigating between different solutions and exchanging information. This leads to data entry errors and time wasted resolving them. 

Quadient AR integrates with Business Central as well as tools like your customer relationship management software (CRM) and centralises the data into a single, cloud-based location. Because of this, you have immediate access to all your vital customer information. Data updates in real-time through the integration, so it’s always accurate. 

The platform helps you create reports that are built around the KPIs that matter to your organisation. This reporting capability is a standard part of Quadient AR, meaning there are no extra fees to build the reports that you want. There’s also no time wasted waiting for a third party to create your custom report. You simply press a few buttons, setting the parameters for the report you want, and gain instant access to the data you need.  

The information is presented in charts and graphs that allow you to visually contextualise the information and gain greater insight into the numbers. With no cap on the number of users you can have, everyone on your team has access to the reports and they can be easily shared. Rules can even be set up for updated versions of reports to be run on a set schedule and automatically routed to anyone on your team.   

➜ Optimise Your AR With the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Masterclass

Make your accounts receivable effortless  

You can’t control everything in the world of business, but you can ensure your organisation’s financial stability by increasing your cash flow and eliminating the bottlenecks in your receivables process.   

Combining Business Central with Quadient AR provides you with the means to accelerate collections, improve customer communications, and make smarter decisions based on accurate and easy-to-use data.  

To see how Quadient AR and Business Central pair for effortless AR, check out our Business Central integration page.

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