How Global Business Services Streamline the Order-to-Cash Process

In the dynamic and ever-changing world of finance, it is imperative to stay ahead of the curve and ensure agility is built into your business operation. More and more businesses have integrated global business services (GBS), an evolution of the shared services model that controls the delivery of business support functions to the core business through multiple service delivery models on a global basis.

According to the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON), GBS has become one of the most popular areas in corporate development for driving optimized performance across multiple business support services. “While shared services have traditionally been viewed as a support function to the broader business, the GBS model positions itself as a business partner that can help the organization meet strategic objectives,” the article reads.

In a survey by SSON Research & Analytics, in 2023, most respondents list cost or efficiency as the top strategic priority for GBS and shared services organization (SSO) (73%), followed by service excellence focus (60%) and value or provision at 36%. Other priorities listed include effectiveness (35%), customer view (34%), agility or organizational flexibility (34%), risk or risk reduction (15%) and compliance (14%).

“It is prudent for companies or management to look at cost mitigation or cost-cutting activities when you’re expecting a recession or at least a downturn in the economy,” said Tom Bangemann, managing director at ConAxia (Planegg, Germany), during a live NACM webinar, Future of Finance Evolution for Global Business Services. “Agility or organizational flexibility, where a company can respond quickly to internal or external changes to an environment, most likely will increase in priority.”

Benefits of Integrating More Automation with GBS According to BlackLine

• Working capital: achieve significant cost savings and release cash.
• Higher engagement: free your people to focus on value-added activities and business partnering, rather than chasing customers down for remittance.
• Control of processes: create a fully transparent, auditable, scalable and SOX-compliant process that significantly reduces the risk of human error.
• Improved customer experience: boost customer loyalty by reconciling customer credit accounts in minutes, so customer credit lines are fully available.

How GBS Streamlines the Order-to-Cash Process

Ultimately, it’s all about having the time to make the data timely and meaningful, said Danny Wheeler, AR solutions strategy manager at BlackLine Systems, Inc. (London, UK), during the webinar. “The only way to make that visible is to automate the order-to-cash process,” he said. “This way, you have access to readily available data and can detect which customer made the payment and what account it goes to. You can also silo the cash application and collections teams, which leads to payments getting paid a lot quicker and fewer payment delays. This decreases rework, improves the cash process as the collections team are not chasing customers for bills outstanding.”

Automating accounts receivable (AR) and order-to-cash processes within GBS and shared services allow for improved departmental organization within a company. Sales are able to see what makes a good customer, such as paying to terms or having fewer queries, Wheeler said as well as who they can trade more with and who costs more for the business to trade with.

The finance team also can benefit by seeing what the real risk is to the business and a customer’s payment history. “It can drive on how you interact with a customer and how you operate as a business,” Wheeler said. “It also enables quicker access to cash and ensures financial stability, provides greater detail on payment forecasting allowing for better credit decisions when extending credit terms.”

BlackLine Systems, Inc. is a proud Credit Industry Partner of NACM. For more information on how to become a Credit Industry Partner, please download our media kit or email Annacaroline Caruso, editor in chief, at annacarolinec@nacm.org.