Order-to-Cash Processing

The order-to-cash cycle involves tedious processes that can account for up to 30% of total finance costs — yet many organizations' order-to-cash processes aren't ranked among top strategic priorities to improve the bottom line.

The order-to-cash cycle touches key performance areas including order management, order fulfillment, invoicing, credit management and cash collection. Even the smallest error can make the process inefficient, quickly draining available capital and resources. Automating order-to-cash document processes improves cash availability by decreasing the number of touch points at each step of the cycle.

Order-to-cash automation gives companies a competitive advantage by:

Reducing receivables and DSO rates, optimizing cash flow and ultimately leading to more effective management of working capital Improving company debt-to-equity ratio Reducing external financing needs and enhancing credit rating Strengthening business relationships through higher customer satisfaction resulting in increased sales Freeing resources to focus on core business-building activities Lowering order-to-cash processing time and costs

Automated sales order processing benefits

Esker customers report savings of 40%–70% on sales order processing costs, 40%–90% reduction of order processing time and up to 95% fewer order management problems. By optimizing the process of receiving, entering and checking customer orders, businesses are able to ship more orders faster with increased visibility and control.

Esker customers have been able to:

• Shorten average order processing time from 43 minutes to 11 seconds
• Reduce time to complete 6–12 page, 300-line-item orders from 3–5 hours to 10 minutes
• Achieve and maintain +99.6% order accuracy rate
• Support 20% increase in order volume without additional headcount
• Process orders 76% faster than manually
• Eliminate the need for 12 fax machines formerly dedicated to inbound orders
  

Electronic invoicing benefits

With automated billing information access and delivery, companies using Esker solutions and mail services reduce document handling time by up to 96% and cut the cost of sending by 40–80%. Every invoice can be processed automatically and sent electronically in real time along with supporting documents, and customers can choose how they want to receive their invoices.

Esker customers have been able to:

• Reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) by 3 days
• Cut large-volume invoice sending time from 4 days to 45 minutes
• Ensure 100% of billing documents are received
• Cut invoice delivery costs by 50%
• Save 250 hours per week
• Reduce payment delays by a minimum of 5 days