E-Business collaboration tools: changing the face of modern finance. (Selected Topic).(Brief Article)

Over the last decade, most companies have implemented robust collaboration across the physical supply chain to shorten the order-to-ship cycle. However, when it comes to the invoice-to-cash cycle, the financial supply chain is still run manually in most companies. The transactions and processes connected to invoices and payments often are very paper-based. The interactions between all the parties involved, such as the credit and collections department, customers, internal departments, such as sales, customer service and other external trading partners, such as logistics providers, also are frequently manual.

As economic turbulence continues and CFOs are faced with the pressures of managing cash cycles to new performance standards, companies are looking to smooth the financial supply chain. The role of credit and collections departments has now become extremely strategic and closely scrutinized to raise the level of efficiency. The need for proper and timely collaboration for credit and collections departments with customers, internal departments and external partners is demanding new levels of transformation.

Collaboration: What Does it Mean in the Current E-Business World?

As we look into moving to the new generation of digital age processes, it is important to note that collaboration is the fundamental element. Collaboration, in its traditional sense, is collective interaction between multiple parties. So, what is the meaning or definition of collaboration in e-business?

Collaboration, in e-business terms, connects all the parties involved in the process, enables information sharing and facilitates structured and controlled interactions through proper channels--connectivity, electronic information and workflow.

Connectivity provides the core network for interaction. E-mail systems and Intranets have proliferated over the last several years as common collaboration tools for employees; for credit and collections departments, connectivity with customers, internal departments and trading partners, and can be enabled by modern web-based systems. These systems also leverage existing e-mail systems, intranets and extranets. These systems not only eliminate regional, inter-departmental and intra-enterprise barriers, but they also bring together a network of people around specific processes, such as financial supply chain.

Electronic information is the lifeblood of collaboration. Once connectivity is established with the people involved, the next major aspect is sharing information. Modern e-business systems capture information in electronic formats that make it very convenient to share. In most companies, this information is resident in several paper documents and forms, in people's heads, and in voicemails and e-mails. The most important information for credit and collections are invoices, debit memos, credit memos, payments, receipts, PODs, packing slips, sales orders, purchase orders, contracts, collections logs, deduction forms, dispute logs and write-off approvals. With modem collaboration tools, such information can be captured into electronic ...