About 40% of businesses pay vendors with paper checks, which take time to deliver, can get lost or stolen in the mail, and might require you to pay a visit to your local bank to deposit. Despite a push to digitize processes, some companies find it more logical to stay with a tried-and-true business payment method. For example, amongst retailers and manufacturers, checks account for 15% and 21% of business-to-business transactions, respectively.
Your clients aren’t going to stop mailing you checks, but you do have other options to streamline your accounts receivable — and get paid faster. Read on to learn how Raistone can facilitate check payments, allowing you to accelerate payment of money owed to you, while your customers keep their existing payment terms.
Why Faster Check Payments Matter
While managing traditional check payments in today’s fast-paced business environment can present challenges, checks are still the preferred choice for many businesses. Hurdles such as manual processing errors, delays in the buyer’s invoice approval process, and extended check deposit times from your bank can impact cash flow and necessitate frequent follow-ups, which consume valuable resources and time. However, there’s an efficient way to simplify this process without completely abandoning a method that still works for many companies.
By setting up an accounts receivable lockbox through Raistone, you can simplify your check receipt process and obtain payment as early as the day you submit an invoice to your customer, all while maintaining the familiarity and reliability of traditional payments.
A lockbox service allows for secure and timely handling of check payments. When customers send their checks to a designated lockbox address, Raistone collects and processes these payments on your behalf. This service ensures that checks are deposited promptly, reducing the time spent on manual processing and decreasing the likelihood of errors. It can also save you the hassle of a trip to the bank.
With Raistone, you can enhance your company’s accounts receivable process by blending the reliability of traditional payments with modern efficiency and accelerated payments. This way, your business can continue to benefit from the familiar method of check payments, while leveraging new solutions to optimize cash management and overall financial operations.
Transform Your Accounts Receivable Process with Raistone
According to recent data, 36% of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) cite difficulty and cost as their barriers to implement technology solutions. Couple this with the fact that their current system works for their business needs, and there isn’t a clear motivator to use new technology.
At Raistone, we have a solution to make accounts receivable processes more effective, without requiring your clients to ditch paper checks. By integrating our services, suppliers benefit from:
- Accelerated payment processing: Our service enhances the speed of processing check payments. Checks sent to our secure lockbox are promptly converted into electronic form, enabling faster funds transfer to your account compared to conventional methods. This can help expedite cash flow and improve liquidity.
- Reduced administrative burdens: The process of handling paper checks—tracking, reconciling, and depositing—can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Our service automates these tasks, minimizing manual entry and reducing workload, allowing your team to focus on more important tasks.
- Early payment opportunities: With Raistone, you will receive payments earlier, through a process known as Accounts Receivable Finance (ARF). This improvement in cash flow can help improve your business operations by increasing access to working capital when you need it.
Accounts Receivable Finance
If a company is seeking to modernize further, ARF can significantly improve business operations. ARF allows companies to accelerate their cash flow by leveraging the power of their unpaid invoices and other receivables. Unlike a traditional loan, ARF does not invoke the stress of mounting debts, allowing you to focus on growth, shorten days payable outstanding and reduce credit risk exposure to your customers.
Improving access to working capital is a priority for many businesses. Raistone helps to identify which strategies to enhance cash flow are the right fit for your company, allowing you to better manage the financial position of your business. Companies can improve operations by streamlining processes, allowing them to keep their preferred systems, while eliminating the administrative hassles that come with managing traditional check payments.
About the author
Sean Makar serves as an Analyst on the Accounts Receivable Finance (ARF) Sales team at Raistone. He manages ARF programs across a wide portfolio of clients, is responsible for onboarding new clients, and growing and maintaining existing relationships. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in finance.
