What happens when you ask 500 finance leaders whether their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is really cutting it for accounts receivable (AR)? You get an uncomfortable answer. Only 23% say their ERP fully supports all their AR functions, and 74% say their ERP system lacks the automation their AR teams need. Yet most of them are still using it because it’s convenient, and the thought of adding another system feels like one more thing to manage.
That gap between what finance leaders know isn’t working and what they’re still doing about it, is exactly the kind of problem that tends to quietly cost organizations more than they realize. A new study by research firm Vanson Bourne assigns hard numbers to these realities. The key findings were presented in a webinar by Lee An Schommer, Chief Product Officer at Billtrust, and Tom Fitzgerald, Associate Director at Vanson Bourne.
Here’s what the research found.
Watch the Webinar
Modern AR Starts Where ERP Stops
On average, organizations are managing three ERP systems simultaneously. Growth through acquisition or mergers, regional requirements, cloud migrations — the multi-ERP reality is what scaling looks like. Schommer called the three-system average low based on her own experience. In a previous job, she worked with a Fortune 100 company running 30 different SAP instances.
Managing multiple ERPs comes with real consequences, Fitzgerald said. “Multiple ERPs will often mean disparate data sources, separate workflows, and reporting sitting across multiple systems. It makes it hard to have that end-to-end visibility in AR.”
No matter how many ERPs are in play, the same three limitations came up most consistently when finance leaders described where their ERP falls short for AR.
Common Limitations with ERPs
- Limited automation and AI capabilities (cited by nearly half)
- Gaps in reporting and analytics (over 40%)
- Integration challenges across systems
One respondent summed up the impact of the accounts receivable automation research plainly: Their comprehensive ERP lacked the reporting functionality they needed, so they spent enormous amounts of time customizing stock reports just to fill basic data needs.
Cash Flow Improves when AR has Purpose-Built Tools
The case for augmenting your ERP with accounts receivable software is built on the benefits that finance leaders are already reporting. Organizations that have layered third-party AR software on top of their ERP see, on average, a 23 to 25% improvement in AR performance metrics like Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and Days to Pay (DTP).
- 95% agree AR software delivers greater ROI than ERP-native AR tools
- Teams using dedicated AR software are also 18% more likely to deliver invoices accurately and on time
- 98% of finance leaders agree it saves their finance teams significant time on AR processes each week
How to Reduce Days-to-Pay by an Extra 34%
The gains compound when companies expand innovation across the AR lifecycle. When organizations expand from auto-invoicing and -payments into automated collections, Billtrust sees an additional 34% reduction in Days to Pay on top of what’s already been achieved.
Schommer illustrated the practical difference with a scenario that comes up constantly: the short pay. When a customer pays less than the full invoice amount, an ERP logs it and routes it to collections. A purpose-built AR solution knows more and therefore handles things appropriately. From historical payment patterns, it knows that a particular customer always pays short because they routinely dispute freight charges. That behavioral data means the right intervention happens immediately, not after a full dunning cycle kicks off.
“ERPs are great at being a record. We complement it in a much bigger way, overlaying data intelligence to better handle those unique customer scenarios that are very specific to accounts receivable.”
Lee An Schommer, Chief Product Officer, Billtrust
The same behavioral science transforms collections explained Schommer. Rather than working down a collections list sorted by aging and dollar value, a smart collections system learns that one particular customer reliably pays on day 40. They’re not delinquent at the 30-day mark – they’re a gold star. The system knows you can redirect your energy elsewhere. Smart systems also know which customers respond to email within 5 to 7 days or that another client always needs a phone call.
“You should let your AR system do the work to learn customer patterns and automatically apply that to the collections process,” she said.
No ERP Upgrade Required
One of the big misunderstandings is that you don’t have to wait for an ERP upgrade to start, and when you do migrate to a new version, the AR software will migrate with you. “Your AR solution can flex,” said Schommer. “You can get started on improving cash flow today, while you’re doing a consolidation or modernizing your ERP system. If it’s a good AR solution the time-to-value should be quick and clear.”
50% of organizations plan to augment their ERP system with accounts receivable software within the next 12 months.
Start with the Problem – Not AI Technology
During the webinar, the audience was asked how confident they were in AI’s ability to manage AR processes. The result: 45% somewhat doubtful. Among the 500 finance leaders surveyed: 98% very or somewhat confident. The gap was notable, and Schommer wasn’t surprised by it.
“There’s so much pressure from management to adopt AI, and people are sometimes buying solutions with AI capabilities without thinking through how they’re going to get the transformation underway,” she responded.
Her advice was precise: Don’t pick up AI like a hammer and go looking for nails. Start with the problem. Where does DSO slow down? Where is your team buried in manual work?
“Look at the issues, and then ask whether automation could help, whether AI could help. Before defining an ERP augmentation strategy, you need to start with the problem, not the technology,” she said.
The New Standard: Predictive Accounts Receivable
One of the biggest takeaways from the research is this: The top benefit wasn’t faster processing and big efficiency gains. It was prediction.
Among organizations that have already augmented their ERP, the number one reported outcome was improved forecasting accuracy through AI-driven insights, cited by 61%. Greater visibility into receivables and cash flow followed at 57%. Also, notable: enhanced customer payment experiences came in at 56%.
Strategic outcomes for finance leaders since augmenting ERP with AR software:
- 61% improved forecast accuracy with AI-driven insights
- 57% saw greater visibility into cash flow and receivables
- 56% enhanced their customer payment experiences
What does that look like in real life?
Let’s say a customer who always paid by ACH suddenly switches to card. This is a signal worth investigating, but you have to know when it happens. A reliably punctual payer starts slipping. You better get ahead of it before it affects bad debt and the relationship. A customer consistently at their credit ceiling who always pays on time is a candidate for a higher credit line and more business. This is a revenue opportunity, but does your team have the ability to catch moments like this?
AI is capable of tracking and handling the granular monitoring work needed to see and make these pivots. This is the work that drains teams. AI steps in to identify missing remittance data, applying payments intelligently, and flagging invoices likely to be disputed before they even go out. This is also a key part of the research findings.
“AI can identify transaction patterns that are prone to disputes in advance, allowing us to intervene and resolve issues before they occur, fundamentally reducing the number of disputes.”
Survey respondent
AI Means You can Stop Treating All Customers the Same
Without AI’s behavioral data intelligence, most teams treat every customer the same — the same collections cadence, the same credit approach, the same payment outreach.
Schommer called this “peanut butter style.” AR software with embedded AI puts an end to spreading in on everything. “You’ve got to use AI to really be informed about your customers,” she noted. “They’ll appreciate the fact that you know them and that you’re a partner.”
The findings show executives recognize this potential: 95% of respondents said AI-powered reporting and analytics will be very or extremely important to their organization within 2 years.
Three Takeaways from the Research
- Modern AR starts where ERP stops. Identify the gaps in automation, visibility, and buyer data intelligence across your AR processes.
- Cash flow improves when AR has purpose-built tools. Consider augmentation before pursuing costly, lengthy ERP customizations.
- Predictive AR is becoming the competitive standard. Evaluate how AI-driven insights could strengthen your financial resilience, helping your team get in front of emerging risks.
Explore Vanson Bourne’s research in full below.
The research report, “ERPs Alone Aren’t Enough: AR Software Required for Predictable Cash Flow,” reflects insights from 500 U.S. finance leaders and highlights the growing gap between traditional ERP capabilities and the automation, visibility, and intelligence required to optimize cash flow through accounts receivable.
