AP/AR Automation - Faster Collections Through Process Automation
AP/AR automation that closed the gaps between invoice creation, delivery, and follow-up to bring cash in faster.
The Opportunity
A financial services firm engaged Ajaia to look at its accounts receivable operation. Ajaia began by shadowing the team end to end, from the moment an invoice was created to the moment cash cleared. What the shadowing surfaced was a process that worked at each step but leaked time between them. Invoices were prepared promptly, then sat finished but unsent while other work took priority. Delivery happened in batches when someone got to it. Follow-up on unpaid balances depended on who had time that week, so some customers were reminded promptly and others not at all. None of the individual delays looked serious from inside the process; added together, they put days between the work being done and the payment clock even starting.
Receivables that sit uncollected lose value every day. An invoice chased in its first week collects easily, and one left for a month becomes a negotiation. The days the firm was losing were internal, sitting in the handoffs between creation, delivery, and follow-up. That made them recoverable. If delivery fired the moment an invoice was ready, and follow-up ran on a schedule instead of a memory, the same team could bring cash in materially sooner and stop balances aging into collection problems, without changing anything about the work itself.
Key Challenges
Finished invoices waited days in a send pile, so the payment clock started late on every receivable.
Follow-up depended on whoever had time that week, so some customers were chased promptly and others never were.
Invoicing, delivery, and collections sat with different people, and days leaked at every baton pass.
Every day of internal delay pushed DSO out and let balances age into the disputes that are hardest to collect.
The Process
Sat with the team and followed live invoices from creation through delivery, follow-up, and payment. Watching real work, rather than interviewing about it, exposed delays the team had stopped noticing.
Timed every handoff and found the cycle's lag was internal: creation-to-delivery gaps and missed follow-ups, with customer payment behavior accounting for a smaller share than expected.
Automated invoice delivery and follow-up so each step fires the next without waiting on a person. Each invoice goes out the moment it is finalized, and every unpaid balance is chased on a consistent schedule.
Ran on live receivables and confirmed against the aging report that the internal lag was gone and follow-up was reaching every open balance on time.
Our Solution
An AP/AR automation that moves every invoice from created to delivered to followed up without manual handoffs. Invoices go out the moment they are ready, closing the gap between creation and the start of the payment clock. Every unpaid invoice is chased on a consistent schedule, so no balance ages because a reminder slipped. The team sees where every invoice stands, from creation through collection, without assembling the picture by hand.
Key Capabilities
Impact
The automation took out the delays Ajaia had watched pile up in the room. Invoices now go out the moment they are finalized, and 100% of unpaid invoices are followed up on schedule, with no reminder waiting on someone finding time. Cash collects 40% faster, which shows up exactly where a controller looks. DSO is down, the aging report is thinning, and fewer balances drift past the point where a reminder still works. The team's week now goes to resolving legitimate disputes rather than pushing invoices between steps, and certified staff handle the exceptions where their experience matters.
Key Results
- 40% faster cash collection on every open invoice
- 100% of unpaid invoices followed up on schedule
- Invoices start their payment clock the moment they are ready
- Team time shifted from chasing paperwork to managing exceptions
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