Theresa Rago is the Finance Systems Manager at Starr Companies. Her AP department was processing the same client invoices again and again in the most repetitive and manual way. It was painful and a total waste of time.
Without setting up recurring payments for businesses to run automatically, you create a bottleneck. The finance function can’t scale alongside the rest of the company and is constantly fighting to catch up with company growth.
Plus, you frustrate suppliers as long payment cycles can leave them without working capital. The manual nature of traditional payment processing means that supposed ‘recurring revenue’ becomes unstable and unpredictable.
It can lead to poor vendor relationships and leave your business struggling without key inventory.
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Setting up a recurring payment through a bank has limitations
When it comes to personal finances, many people set up recurring payments through their bank.
Whether it’s for rent or a car payment, banks have made it simple to schedule automatic ACH payments once a month or at any other frequency.
Running a business is different
But running a business is different.
It’s not enough to make the payment. You need to record the payment and all of the payment details in your accounting system based on cost centers, GL code, and other variables.
Manually entering all that information for each recurring payment is tedious and prone to error.
It leads to missed payments, angry vendors, and a lot of embarrassment.
That’s why you want to automate recurring payments for business.
Step-by-step guide to recurring payments with invoice automation software
So you need to set up automated recurring billing for payments? That’s where CoreIntegrator comes in.
CoreIntegrator AP automation solutions have Recurring Invoices functionality built directly into our industry-leading AP automation platforms.
They will create recurring invoices for any frequent bill. You will save hours of time processing the payment information, and speeding up the process. The system-generated recurring invoices are then automatically processed according to the rules you define.
This means that you automatically capture all the required AP data for vendors who do not send invoices because you are “contracted” in one way or another to pay those vendors over time for a set amount. These payments generally originate from an open purchase order, contract, or subscription.
A good example is rent. Rent or lease payments are contracted over several years. The amount due and due date remain the same over the course of the lease.
Another example is furniture leasing. You pay the lease payment each month, but you still need to add all the information about that payment to your accounting system.
With AP automation you simply schedule the invoice to appear in the system based on payment terms.
Then, on the scheduled days, AI automatically mocks up an invoice for the payment so it looks like a regular invoice. After that, it populates all of the invoice data including header information, GL coding, and description.
This is what it looks like when the AI is done:
At this point, the invoice is ready for additional approval if necessary. Or for integration with your accounting system and payment.
How to process recurring payments with CoreIntegrator Solutions
Processing recurring payments for business in simple with CoreIntegrator.
Log into CoreIntegrator
Start by logging into your CoreIntegrator software solution and head to the recurring invoices tab.
First, make sure the vendor profile is set up properly in your accounting system. That will give your CoreIntegrator solution all the information that it needs for a recurring transaction.
Schedule Recurring invoices in 3 easy steps
- Enter all the appropriate details about the recurring invoice. The vendor, the amount, description, and how it is coded, etc.
- Next, determine the frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.). Include a begin and end date to make sure it doesn’t get paid beyond the specified contract or PO term.
- Finally, you determine the approval process. It can be upfront to approve all payments for the scheduled invoice, approval of each invoice after it appears in the system, or both!
If you’re a visual learner, see how our A/P One AP automation solution automates your invoices all the way from procure to pay:
Artificial intelligence does the rest!
Advanced AI called Smart AP then fills out details about the invoice. It applies GL coding. Then, the AI sends the invoice through an approval workflow if necessary.
But for pre-approved recurring payments the invoice and data go directly to your accounting system or payment portal for payment.
That’s truly touchless recurring invoice processing!
This ensures your vendors aren’t clamoring for cash flow as there’s no chance of missed payments. Plus, since your business’ subscription payments are on time, every time, you’ll never leave your people without the tools to operate with success.
Set up recurring payments with ease
To get up-and-running within a matter of days, just contact one of our CoreIntegrator team members. If you’d like to see how it can impact your organization, schedule a demo now.
Recurring payments FAQs
If you still have some questions about invoice processing, payment gateway software and recurring payments, we’re here to help.
How to prevent duplicate payments?
CoreIntegrator’s technology can help prevent duplicate payments by using integrated payment information to ensure that no two payments are the same. The system allows users to set up rules to automatically detect and prevent duplicate payments.
What’s the difference between automatic bill pay and recurring payments for business?
Auto bill pay simply sends payments set up on a bill pay schedule – paid to a vendor or supplier on a regular basis. The bank notes the transaction but no other data about the payment is captured.
Instead, recurring payments for business is a workflow that generates a mock invoice and then uses AI to record all required invoice data to your accounting system for each recurring payment.
How long does it take to set up automated recurring payment?
We can have you set up on our A/P One AP automation solution in under a month. Once set up, you will be able to set up automated recurring payments with just a few clicks of your mouse!