Innovation and technology are reshaping the business world, and that extends to how companies handle risk management.
For some organizations, this means adopting new solutions, such as software, while for others it may mean a radical overhaul of their day-to-day operations. For most, it will be a mix of both.
The Future is Agile
Now that remote and hybrid work is the reality for most companies, adjustments need to be made to ensure operations run smoothly.
Businesses need to be ready to adapt and react — to achieve this, you’ll need automated solutions that ensure business-critical processes — such as accounts payable and receivable — are accessible from anywhere, at any time.
A change in technology is not the end of the transformation. The next step is adopting agile business principles that will not only help you adapt but also stay ahead of the curve.
Teams create agile workflows by focusing on short, achievable goals and through sprint planning. It also requires continually reviewing what works, eliminating what does not, and collaborating to solve problems.
When it comes to tackling risk, companies can use this mindset and apply it to solving the problems they face. Members of the finance team can examine areas of concern — such as late payments or unsatisfactory customer feedback — and set measurable, incremental goals toward improvement.
More data, fewer problems
As automation decreases the workload associated with practices like receivables and payables, greater attention is being paid to data and analytics. This is particularly important when attempting to embrace an agile mindset.
51% of accounting professionals believe that possessing technological skills will have the largest impact on their profession in the next 5 to 10 years.
Regular sprint meetings not only involve planning for what needs to be accomplished but taking a look at what has been done. Doing this requires access to a robust source of real-time information, which can help you identify positive and negative trends in performance.
Solutions like YayPay for accounts receivable are vital tools in this process. The software’s Business Intelligence module facilitates reporting that can provide either high-level overviews or detailed looks at specific statistics based on an organization's unique key performance indicators.
It can also help reveal patterns of payment behavior, as well as things like rates of customer communications, providing a look at where problems may exist.
Technology lightens the load
The use of AI in financial services is growing, but rather than posing a threat to finance professionals, it is providing them with additional tools to make them more successful.
66% of accountants say they would like to invest in artificial intelligence.
In the case of AR automation, YayPay employs AI in multiple ways. It extracts data from items like invoices and receipts and enters it into a financial platform with 99% accuracy. This saves time and money wasted on delays that are often caused by manual input. It also reduces the amount of time spent on data entry by 80%, giving members of the team more time to study the figures and gain actionable insights from them.
Using machine learning, YayPay predicts payment behavior with 94% accuracy. This can help collections teams identify which accounts will need greater attention and follow-up, reducing the risk of late payments and bad debt.
Like advanced analytics, this feature also greatly improves a team’s ability to embrace agile principles.
To learn more about how businesses can adapt their finance to changing conditions, download YayPay’s whitepaper "How to Digitally Transform Finance in 2022."