SAP Biller Direct Whitepaper

7/27/2019 SAP Biller Direct Whitepaper

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SAP Biller Direct Whitepaper 2

Faced with this difficulty the clerk will attempt to solve

the discrepancy, and this is where the business process

breaks down. The task of identifying the parties to talk to,

tracking them down and executing the corrective measures

is manually intensive and time-consuming. And, it has

cashflow implications – if that cash had been collected

earlier, better working capital decisions could have beenmade by the business.

Providing the power to act The implementation of SAP Biller Direct can help solve

this issue. It provides a core environment for improved

billing collaboration, and in conjunction with SAP Disputes

Management and Collections Management modules,

facilitates a more streamlined cash collection process.

SAP Biller Direct gives customers the ability to log into

an online billing information centre, set up for them by

the biller. There, the customer can see a range of billing

information specific to them, such as outstanding invoices,

statements, credits applied to their account and a historyof previous payments. Armed with this knowledge the

customer can download bills into their accounts payable

system and initiate payments. Furthermore, invoice

recipients can dispute bills and collaborate with the biller

online in real time.

By providing this information and an avenue for

communication the customer is empowered to make

decisions and take actions. The biller can see these

decisions and collaborate with the customer on any points

of contention. In our example above, the customer can see

all 10 of the invoices and decide which ones to pay in full

and which ones to dispute. Having decided to withhold

$100,000 the customer can then explain the reasons for

that decision. In essence the customer, through SAP Biller

Direct, is updating SAP’s Disputes Management module,

but the key here is that the customer is providing the

information, not the biller’s accounts receivable clerk.

This negates the need for the clerk to chase the customer.

The information is entered directly and the responsibilitypushed back onto the customer to communicate effectively

and in a timely fashion.

Show me the moneyBut perhaps the biggest innovation SAP Biller Direct

introduces is a reversal of standard payment processing. It

is a change that can help significantly improve a business’s

cashflow forecasting.

Traditionally, when a customer pays an invoice the biller

only becomes aware of the payment when it arrives in the

bank account, at which point the funds are cleared. With

SAP Biller Direct the exact opposite occurs – the clearing

of the funds occurs before the payment.Having decided to pay an invoice the customer notifies

the biller using SAP Biller Direct. Once the biller can see

the notification and the cleared funds, a payment file is

sent to the bank, and money is deposited into the biller’s

account. For the biller, it completely removes the problem

of receiving money and wondering what it relates to – the

customer, using SAP Biller Direct, has logged all relevant

information and notified the biller that the money is

available.

This provides a more efficient means of processing

payments and exceptions, resulting in more precise

cash management and improved liquidity planning.

Figure 2: Advantages for the Biller Figure 3: Advantages for the Bill Recipient

Billing• Lower cost of billing with no printing and postal charges

• Use of open communication and data standards (HTTPS, XML)

• Customer participation in electronic business without EDI

Payment Processing• Efficient processing of payments and exceptions

• More precise cash management and improved liquidity planning

• Faster invoice approval and payments by customers

• Better explanation of payment deductions

Integration• Data integration with accounts receivable and cash management

• Integration with other business processes, e.g. dispute andcollections management

Marketing• Better customer retention (retaining a customer is five times cheaper

than acquiring a new one)

• Competitive advantages through attractive service offerings

• Opportunities for one-to-one marketing

Payments• Simplified and secure processing of electronic payments using

365/24 access to the internet

• Control over the time of payment and management of the

outgoing cashflow

• Favourable payment conditions can be better exploited

• Payment details can easily be analysed

Invoices• Fewer accounting and settlement errors

• Comprehensive data analysis

• Immediate access to invoice copies (no archiving necessary)

Integration

• Upload of invoices into accounts payable (no reformatting of data necessary)

• No changes of existing business processes

• Easy change of master data

• Only web browser needed



SAP Biller Direct Whitepaper 3

Data integration between accounts receivable and cashmanagement is seamless.

The customer also reaps benefits. They experience

simplified and secure processing of electronic payments,

fewer accounting and settlement errors and can upload

invoices directly into their accounts payable system without

reformatting data.

Why not get on board?Working in conjunction with SAP Disputes Management

and Collections Management, SAP Biller Direct can

simplify cash collection procedures, making it an attractive

proposition for high volume organisations – either those

with many customers or a large volume of transactions with

just a few customers.

The modules form part of SAP’s mature supply chain

management solution which now includes contract

accounting, and collections and disbursements as core

functionality. For customers running the latest version

of SAP it is a straightforward implementation. For those

running an older version of SAP, Biller Direct can be

deployed using SAP Netweaver – negating the need toupgrade to the latest version of the software.

Any software that provides business benefits to both biller

and recipient is a strong starting point for the creation

of a compelling business case. On one hand SAP Biller

Direct can be used to improve customer retention, while

on the other it provides productivity gains for A/R and

A/P departments. In a period of market uncertainty

any improvement in cashflow forecasting warrants

investigation, especially when quicker cash inflow can

reduce the need to borrow and open up opportunities for

short-term investment plays.

For further enquiries please contact us:

Oxygen Business SolutionsLevel 1, 33 Chandos St, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia

Phone: +61 (0)2 8879 6510

Facsimile: +61 (0)2 8879 6501

www.oxygenforbusiness.com

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may be reproduced without written permission from Oxygen Business Solutions.

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SAP Biller Direct Whitepaper