Celonis, the specialist in Process Mining, has made moves towards enhancing cash flow and working capital by launching the Accounts Receivable (AR) app suite in collaboration with Sailfin Technologies. This new suite leverages automation and AI to bolster AR operations, including collections, disputes, credit management and cash application.
The suite has been designed to optimise daily AR management and increase team productivity, potentially saving millions in cash. It is underpinned by the Celonis platform, which provides a single process intelligence layer, supporting improvements, automation, and system transformation across all applications. This approach helps organisations to get rid of system silos and drive process optimisation across their value chains.
Developed in partnership with Sailfin Technologies, the Sailfin AR apps bolster the ever-growing Celonis platform ecosystem. Their creation underlines the important role that independent software vendors (ISVs) are playing in building solutions atop the Celonis Process Intelligence Platform.
Harit Nanavati, GM Accounts Receivable at Celonis and Founder & CEO of Sailfin Technologies, has commended these apps as a "true value accelerator for Finance operations". He emphasises that customers can reap the benefits of Celonis' superior Process Intelligence and Sailfin’s industry-leading AR capabilities in a single package, resulting in a solution that is "better than the sum of its parts and 100% focused on helping organisations improve AR execution."
The suite consists of four apps: Collections Management, Disputes Management, Credit Management and Cash Applications. They offer functionalities such as a prioritised worklist, centralised tracking, intelligent workflows, real-time credit risk monitoring, and end-to-end cash application process automation. The primary focus of these tools is on freeing up valuable time and reducing churn.
Furthermore, these apps come with AI-infused intelligent automation. For instance, a typical organisation may send out hundreds of dunning letters at any given time. The Sailfin AR apps support email inbox integration, enabling customer communication directly from within the app. Using AI, the apps can also identify the intent of customer inquiries and decide whether to respond automatically with a message or alert a team member to take action.
Celonis and Sailfin's combined technology has a proven track record in improving AR operations. CashLine, a consulting and services company, was able to reduce manual work, improve data uniformity and develop actionable insights. This resulted in a 50% increase in collector efficiency, a 30% reduction in overdue AR and disputes, and a 12-day reduction in Days to Pay. The cumulative impact of these improvements were a $38M improvement in cash flow and $1.2M in profit and loss savings.
TTI, another beneficiary of the Sailfin technology, achieved a 20% reduction in % Past Due, improved collections accounts coverage per day by 95-100%, and increased collector efficiency by 40%. Their late payments rate went down from 61% to 44%, improving their cash flow by $10M.
This update comes in the midst of global economic and political tumult, shifting customer expectations, stricter regulation, and the arrival of new technologies. According to The Process Optimization Report from Celonis, 77% of finance and shared services leaders believe that process optimisation becomes more important in times of economic instability. AR teams that can transform their operations to accelerate value realisation can contribute to their organisation’s long-term financial health.