Finding the Power of the Right Customer Portal

Customers expect the world in today’s competitive environment and companies should be prepared to give it to them. This means offering faster, flexible, and more accessible services, allowing them to more quickly execute essential operations like payments.

Offering a successful customer portal builds loyalty by eliminating delays and error-prone manual work  and empowering intelligent, automated, accessible performance throughout the business.

Finding the Right Solution

All customer portals are not the same, companies must thoroughly evaluate which offering elevates payment operations from routine tasks to a strategic differentiator, designed to deeply align with and anticipate their customers’ evolving needs. Many companies are turning to Serrala’s customer portal to change how they manage their accounts receivable (AR) and interact with their clients. This secure, cloud-native platform is designed to track the progress of all incoming cash within a single interface with automated actions for progression. No more chasing, confusion, or delays.

For customers, the portal serves as a convenient, one-stop payment interface accessible 24/7. They can easily access and pay invoices online, review all outstanding orders, contracts, and associated invoices, along with payment terms and credit agreements. This level of transparency and self-service helps customers optimize their own cash flow by giving them greater insight into upcoming payment due dates.

The portal also accommodates various payment preferences, offering multiple options like ACH transfers and credit card payments, which makes it easier and faster for customers to settle their bills. Furthermore, the customer portal facilitates real-time communication, allowing customers to raise queries directly on the portal in association with specific orders. This streamlines communication, helps resolve issues quicker, and reduces the likelihood of disputes, fostering stronger customer relationships.

From the perspective of the business, implementing Serrala’s customer portal, often part of the broader AR automation solution, brings about substantial operational efficiencies and financial improvements.

Differentiators

A primary benefit of Serrala’s customer portal offerings are the significant reduction in manual workloads, potentially by over 80%. By digitizing inbound payments and automating processes like cash posting, the portal frees finance teams from tedious tasks such as chasing payments, manually processing credit cards, or handling disparate payment methods. This allows staff to refocus their efforts on strategic growth initiatives rather than firefighting.

The portal also plays a crucial role in eliminating errors and disputes. By providing a simple, clear interface and centralizing all communications related to invoices and payments, it takes ambiguity out of transactions. This helps minimize errors and prevents protracted, costly disagreements with customers.

When customers find it easier to pay, they pay quicker, which directly contributes to a drop in DSO, sometimes by as much as 10% to 30%. Moreover, built-n full compliance and audit trails can enable the team with visibility into all customer interactions and payment history. This acceleration of cash flow is vital for improving cash flow forecasting, making it easier for organizations to plan for payroll, inventory, and growth initiatives, while also reducing reliance on external financing.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

Put the customer first. While businesses reap internal rewards from a customer portal customers and their needs should come first. Serrala’s customer portal enhances the customer experience by making payments simpler, agreements more transparent, and processes quicker, thereby strengthening customer relationships and fostering loyalty.

Get a 10,000-foot view of your organization. Portals ensure total visibility and control over all incoming payments. AR teams, including collections, credit, and cash application, can track the progress of all incoming cash within a single interface. This unified data flow, enabled by seamless integration with any ERP or CRM systems, provides a comprehensive view of current and historical payments, credit agreements, and collection processes. This helps in making faster assessments of overdue accounts, deciding on follow-up actions, and creating more realistic cash flow forecasts.

Gain a competitive advantage. With economic volatility the new norm, businesses need every opportunity they can get to reduce costs, improve metrics, and bolster their financial success. Payment portals automate and digitize essential aspects of the accounts payable process, freeing up workers to spend time on other important tasks. Hear how a Wav credit analyst transformed their collections with a Serrala customer portal in this on-demand webinar, where you will also learn to accelerate cash flow with key features like 24/7 self-service, automated workflows, and real-time tracking. Additionally, get practical tips to modernize your collections strategy in this webinar.