Remote work or work from home has become a new normal after the coronavirus pandemic. Many businesses allow their teams to work remotely and manage their responsibilities. This trend extends to the accounts receivable (AR) function, where the teams manage remotely to handle invoices and collections. Without efficient accounts receivable management, it would be difficult to run AR operations. The lack of tracking invoices and payments keeps the AR teams and CFOs in the dark, affecting the cash flow of your business. Inadequate team collaboration while working remotely can disrupt operations and affect the customer experience.

Remote Working Activities of the AR Team

In the B2B environment, businesses have suppliers worldwide, and collecting payments can be challenging. It requires an efficient system to send and collect invoices while handling other AR responsibilities. Following are some key activities of the AR team while remote working.

• Issuing invoices and bills to customers
• Matching invoices with order numbers
• Maintaining customer accounts
• Collecting customer payments
• Processing customer invoices
• Reconciling bank statements
• Issuing refunds and resolving disputes
• Generating financial reports for CFOs

In addition to the above responsibilities, the AR team is also responsible for managing customers and ensuring positive customer experiences. Since the AR team is the first point of contact for many customers, the teams play a crucial role in achieving positive customer experiences and ensuring AR collections best practices. They are also responsible for managing customer inquiries, resolving issues, and managing service delivery disputes. By taking on these tasks, the AR teams help ensure that customers pay their invoices promptly, contributing to smooth business operations.

Common Mistakes Made by Remote AR Teams               

Handling accounts receivables is a pressure game; if you manage it effectively, you will experience smooth business operations. Even though you are careful, making the following mistakes is common among the remote AR teams.

Being disorganized tops the list of mistakes, and it costs you to get things out of control. If you get organized, it will help you keep track of invoices and payments for effective AR handling.

Not following up with customers is another common issue that delays your collections and strains your financial resources. When you follow up and send reminders, your customers are likely to pay your invoices on time.

Failure to keep accurate records can go wrong as it will misbalance your ledger and affect your financial records. Snowballing this error will lead to blunders down the road. Thus, make sure not to make this mistake.

Unsuccessful collection attempts will slow your collection rate, and customers will not pay their invoices. This will turn your revenue into bad debt. To cover this amount, you need to contact a professional collection agency.

Not leveraging technology for AR is another significant issue that most small businesses face because it will make your life easier by streamlining your AR processes. This frees your AR team, increasing productivity and efficiency in collecting payments.

Optimizing Accounts Receivable and Managing Remote Work Teams

With businesses allowing their teams to work remotely, optimizing your accounts receivable processes can help you collaborate and achieve the full potential of the AR processes. Following are the actionable tips to streamline your AR team for remote work.

1. Enforce your remote work team to use single sign-on, as it will help them access all the applications and services using a single set of credentials, making work from home convenient.
2. Using cloud-based solutions can significantly facilitate remote teams and enable collaboration between in-office and remote teams. This lets teams data and information from anywhere without losing productivity.
3. Hiring a dedicated AR specialist can improve productivity by working as a single point of contact for all queries and concerns. It will help you collect AR information from one source without wandering.
4. Empower your customers with automatic payments to reduce payment-related disputes. This helps improve your cash flow by speeding the collection rate.
5. Stay connected with your team through online apps for chat and video conferencing. Share files and collaborate effectively to improve productivity and reduce the number of errors due to a lack of communication. This helps the office-based and remote working teams to be on the same page.
6. Use a project management software or similar application to record time to avoid disruptions during work hours. It will help you organize by planning your work schedule, keeping track of deadlines, and prioritizing your tasks. Using this software will improve your productivity while balancing your work and personal life.
7. By investing in technology, you can boost your efficiency and productivity. This includes a better computer or a laptop system with a high-speed internet connection. It will help you stay connected with your team members in the office and limit disruptions.

Automate Accounts Receivables to Improve Efficiency of Remote Teams

One solution that ensures improving the efficiency of remote teams and the bottom line of your organization is to implement an accounts receivable automation solution. When you achieve automation for B2B collections, you will transform your process and streamline all your AR functions, including invoicing, collections, reminders, and more. Following are the benefits of implementing the AR automation solution in your organization.

• You can save time for your AR teams by auto-sending invoices, payment reminders, and follow-ups. This will speed up your collections and enhance the efficiency of your remote teams.
• Automation will replace manual data entry, improving accuracy in all aspects of AR processes. With accurate data, you can also auto-generate financial reports while keeping your ledger consistent.
• The most significant benefit is improving the efficiency of your entire AR operations, collecting invoices, reducing disputes, and improving the bottom line of your business.
• Implementing automation provides the self-service customer portal, allowing customers to add payment options and schedule payments to avoid late fees.
• Freeing the AR team from handling routine tasks reduces the stress and burden. The teams can be utilized for more essential tasks, improving the organization's productivity.

Final Words

Falling short on productivity and efficiency in the finance department can affect your cash flow and the bottom line of your organization. Optimizing remote teams with the above tips can help you retain your efficiency. Investing in technology to implement accounts receivable automation solutions can further boost your cash flow, speed up collections, and free your AR team from manual data entry. This improves your organization's bottom line, increases customer satisfaction, and also allows remote teams to work in collaboration with in-office teams, owing to cloud-based solutions.