Every new wave of technological disruption brings with it a dose of fear for workers who feel their jobs are on the line. But the truth is that tech evolution represents an opportunity for staff to unlock their untapped potential, upskill and amplify the value they bring to the business.
SurePayd co-founder Terry Eames explains how Accounts Receivable staff can increase their value and expertise by adopting intuitive tech platforms like SurePayd.
When AR processes are streamlined with SurePayd, is there pushback from staff who feel it encroaches on their job?
Terry: “I guess it depends on where you sit in the chain of things, but the evolution of technologies is a part of life. It’s inevitable, but the technology empowers people to take on higher level tasks.
When we automate manual tasks staff might need re-training, which brings a lot of opportunity. Typically, a company implementing SurePayd will transfer staff from doing manual or menial tasks to more customer facing ones – and that’s where they can become even more valuable.”
What business advantages come from allowing technology to handle the minutiae?
Terry: “In accounts receivable, once the technology is brought in staff are able to actually build relationships with big customers. Relationships – that’s what people are good at, but technology isn’t. Often we hear that staff haven’t been able to do it because they haven’t had time, dealing with all the accounts manually.
Bringing in technology to automate things helps deploy resources to the best use.
That might mean allowing AR staff to build a relationship with a customer who is 10% of your sales, but using SurePayd automation capabilities for smaller customers who might only spend a few hundred dollars. You don’t really want the cost of someone attending to that smaller account, and they tend to want the convenience as well so it balances out.”
Can automation benefit supplier customers too?
Terry: “Yeah, absolutely. When you build these relationships and give customers what they want, they're a lot more likely to stay with you as customers rather than become an attrition number.
Even for smaller, low-touch customers – if you’re servicing them well, they'll stay with you. Typically 70% of the customer base is small customers, representing 30% of revenue. The lifetime value of these customers is still significant, but it’s not always affordable to service them one-on-one or one-to-many. Automation lets you better service your needs as they require them, and channel your human resource to the bigger or more complicated clients.
In AR, automation helps guarantee you’ll get all the money in while dealing with any issues. You’re going to keep your customers. And how good is that? It’s a win-win-win.”
