06/13/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/13/2023 10:08
Cloud-based platform seamlessly and quickly reconciles high volumes of payments with remittance information, improving cash flow and boosting working capital
PORTLAND, Ore., (June 13, 2023) - Umpqua Bank today announced the rollout of Integrated Receivables, a powerful cloud-based platform for business customers that will help accounting departments streamline the processing of high volumes of invoiced payments each month, strengthening companies' cashflow management and overall efficiency.
Umpqua's Integrated Receivables helps eliminate a critical pain point for American businesses. The platform, developed in partnership with Fiserv, Inc., a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology, uses algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to sift through invoices, emails, and checks to match a payment to its payer, virtually eliminating typical errors and delays that accompany time-consuming manual processing. Used in tandem with Umpqua's Integrated Payments, which streamlines the process of paying vendors, Integrated Receivables completes the automation of payments end-to-end for companies.
According to Kathryn Albright, executive vice president and head of global payments and deposits at Umpqua Bank, the new platform arrives at a time when businesses face rising costs, accelerating a competitive need for greater operational efficiency.
"As companies face higher costs and shortages in both labor and goods and services, they must continue to identify opportunities to automate office tasks," Albright says. "Integrated Receivables should be at the top of the strategic planning list for all businesses in 2023. It operates as a software-as-a-service in the cloud, offering an extremely effective solution that will greatly reduce the painstaking task of searching for invoices to match with incoming payments. Integrated Receivables also integrates seamlessly with nearly all ERP and accounting platforms. It's a critical tool for any company with incoming payments received via checks, remote deposit capture, ACH, lockbox, wires and other payment vehicles."
Without this kind of automation, the business challenge of reconciling incoming payments will only accelerate. Transactions via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) rose to 30 billion in 2022, according to Nacha, the National Automated Clearinghouse Association. The continued shift to electronic payments leaves companies vulnerable to higher processing costs as businesses are challenged by matching payments to remittance information and uploading the information to their accounting software.
Albright noted the following trends:
"Integrated receivables has lagged behind other automated processes in accounting departments due to the challenge of capturing and matching automatically large volumes of payment information from various sources, such as invoices and emails," said Matt Wilcox, president of digital payment solutions at Fiserv. "Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, scanning technology, and algorithms have now made integrated receivables an affordable and compelling product."
How Umpqua's Integrated Receivables Solution Works:
Integrated Receivables has all the rich features that are essential for driving efficiency:
"Integrated Receivables is no longer a wish-list type of product for companies that process inbound payments," Albright says. "It's a must-have component that's affordable, with a robust return on investment. The platform will free up personnel to conduct more critical tasks and allow companies to completely automate the cash cycle and access working capital faster, giving them another edge at a time when costs are rising rapidly."