Payment Processing

How Robotic Process Automation Transforms Payments Processing

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) serves as a technological enabler to digital transformation. It collaborates seamlessly with financial operations, empowering professionals to streamline tasks and concentrate on strategic financial goals. 

In day-to-day Processing of Payments, where precision and speed are critical, RPA has emerged as a game-changer, presenting strong advantages for financial services teams.

Automating manual payments processes

The payments process lifecycle in a typical business includes manual data entry, data sorting, manual 2-way matching of invoices to purchase orders and manual routing of invoices for approval. In this process challenges faced by finance teams would include lost, misfiled, duplicate and even late invoices.

Manual day-to-day payments process in a typical company. Source: Fortra Website

A company could have up to 30 controls to verify invoices, by typically, checking the TAX number, does the information match the database, is every field filled in, correct VAT calculation and has budget been assigned to the provider? 

If robotic process automation is utilised within the accounts payable department, the process could look like this.

What an accounts payable process can look like when implementing RPA.

Here are some common questions we receive regarding RPA (Robotic Process Automation) implementation in Payments Processing:

How does RPA work? 

RPA works by using intelligent software robots that mimic human actions. RPA is a technology that automates repetitive and rule-based tasks. 

In the case of Payment Processing, these digital workers could read, extract and interpret data from various sources, such as emails, PDFs, spreadsheets, and some common accounting systems and then perform the structured actions, such as Order & GRN Matching, GRN & Invoice Conversions, Invoice Filing & Uploading, Source Document Posting & Filing, and sending Payment Confirmations to the Supplier. 

What are the Benefits of RPA in the Accounts Payable process?

Process Automation can bring significant value to a business.

1. Efficient Transaction Processing

Robotic Process Automation frees up your experienced professionals for strategic decision making by streamlining transaction processing. Through automating tasks like invoice verification, payment approvals, and fund transfers, it allows for greater capacity within key resources. Task-bots can also analyse transaction data, match it with predefined criteria, and execute payments.

 

2. Automated Billing and Invoicing

RPA is crucial for financial efficiency, automating billing and invoicing procedures. Task-Bots can handle data validation, invoice generation, and ensure their timely distribution, guaranteeing accuracy throughout the process.

 

3. Enhanced Fraud Detection and Security

Automation can play a significant role in ensuring financial transaction security, managing fiscal prudence, continuously monitoring patterns, validating credentials, and promptly flagging potential fraud. It can be designed to ensure an organisation’s unique needs to compliance with security protocols and regulatory standards are met.

 

4. Streamlined Account Reconciliation

RPA can help to ensure greater accuracy and expedience with account reconciliations by automating the comparison of financial records, identifying discrepancies, and generating reconciliation reports. For instance, it can reconcile bank statements with internal financial records, ensuring financial integrity and compliance.

 

5. Optimised Cash Flow Management

Cashflow Management processes can be improved with RPA through monitoring receivables, payables, and forecasting future cash positions. It can analyse historical data and produce reports that highlight cash flow patterns, thereby supporting proactive financial decision-making.

 

6. Automated Compliance Reporting

RPA automates compliance reporting by extracting relevant data, generating compliance reports, and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements, minimizing the risk of compliance errors.

 

7. Efficient Dispute Resolution

Dispute resolution can be automated by tracking cases, gathering information, and facilitating communication between stakeholders, ensuring timely resolution and minimizing financial risks.

 

8. Data Security and Confidentiality

With RPA, robust data security by automating encryption, access controls, and compliance with data protection regulations, safeguarding sensitive financial information for authorized personnel can be ensured.

What are some real-life case studies of RPA in the Account Payable process?

Case Study # 1:

  • Industry: FMCG
  • Challenge: Employees used manual data entry, leading to human errors and costly delays in processing payments. 
  • Result of RPA implementation: 90% reduction in errors, 50% reduction in processing time. 


Case Study # 2:

  • Industry: Banking
  • Challenge: Employees used manual data entry, leading to human errors and costly delays in processing payments. 
  • Result of RPA implementation: 50% reduction in errors, 60% reduction in processing time.


Case Study # 3:

  • Industry: Manufacturing
  • Challenge: Invoice processing of thousands of invoices became a time consuming and tedious task, delaying various other processes resulting in lower customer satisfaction 
  • Result of RPA implementation: increased productivity by 900%, reduced turnaround time by 75%, improved customer satisfaction.  

Where is the best place for us to start?

  1. We would assist you in identifying which processes to automate first so you have the highest ROI. 
  2. We would also assist you with developing and implementing a Proof-of-Concept Task-bot, so you can see how beneficial RPA can be in your own business. (T&Cs apply)

 

In conclusion, Robotic Process Automation can enhance Payments Processing in a variety of areas. The benefits you can derive from this approach is enhanced efficiencies, reduction in human error and an increase in accuracy allowing your team to focus on more strategic financial initiatives.  

Share your contact details below for a complimentary consultation on tailoring RPA to elevate your Payments Processing practices. Our experts are dedicated to helping you harness RPA for maximum efficiency in financial management.